High school students searching for summer jobs in the Caledon area
By Jon Yaneff

As second semester is under way in local high schools, students should be getting interested in obtaining work for the upcoming summer.

High schools such as Humberview Secondary School, Mayfield Secondary School and Robert F. Hall Catholic Secondary School all have students vying for summer employment throughout the Caledon area.

The head of co-op at Robert F. Hall, John Greer, said he encourages students to start their summer job searches early by distributing their resumes as soon as possible, such as the end of April, because they would be competing with college students as well.

"Some mistakes kids make is developing poor resumes and filling out application forms incorrectly," said Greer.

Caledon Community Services are among the student employment centres in the area, which help young people find jobs. The service centre takes care of all employment services and has free resources for job searches.

Melanie Alderfer- Mowat, an employment specialist at Caledon Community Services, said students should try to find jobs based on what they like doing to add a spark to their working days, so its just not a typical 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. day.

Alderfer-Mowat also recommended students update their resumes with activities such as school volunteering and awards they may have won, as well as search job listing to see who's hiring for summer full-time and part-time positions.

The Town of Caledon parks, recreation and leisure department hires more than 100 youth seasonally all year, including about 60 to 70 for summer camps, which take place in July and August.

"The Town of Caledon is the largest employer of youth and as campers train they become interested in becoming staff, as not only the pay is reasonable but they socialize with people their own age," said Heather Savage, the manager of parks, recreation and leisure at the Town.

There are two coordinator positions opening up geared toward university students. These jobs require emergency first aid training and a criminal reference check. The first job is a camp administrator (between May to September). This person would deal with summer staff meetings, registrations, organizing the camp carnival event, liaison with parents as well as book trips, while working at the Town offices. The second job is an assist integration co-ordinator, who would supply support workers to people with disabilities and want to attend summer programs, as well as oversee the 12 positions the Town hires as support workers.

Other positions being filled are camp counsellor, senior camp counsellor and integration camp counsellor. Positions have already been filled, such as camp director and specialty programs coordinator, but staff could aspire to these positions in the future.

Once youth have been hired, there is house training, which includes prevention and dealing with suspected bullying procedure, creative program design, positive child management techniques, parent communications and provincially mandated qualifications called High Five's Principles of Healthy Child Development, which is one-day training everyone in the Ontario recreation industry is required to complete.

Since competition is fierce, before the Town hires they also have a leader in training program to help prep youth, as well as they can volunteer their time for a week at a camp to give them an advantage.

Sometimes only 20 to 25 of the 60 to 70 youth are new since around 30 are asked back provided their performance from the previous year is up to standards.

"We also look for students who volunteer in the community and have experience working with children, such as baby sitting or day cares," said Savage. "Camps target kids 13 to 15-year-olds, so we need leaders who are enthusiastic and can moderate this age group."

Youth interested in summer camp jobs with the Town should forward their resume to the human resources department at hr@caledon.ca or fax them to (905) 584-4542.

Caledon Community Services focuses on helping anyone in the community with their resumes, cover letters and interview skills. They also have fax machines, computers and photocopiers to assist people.

When searching for a couple of weeks and having trouble finding work Alderfer-Mowat suggests, "Don't give up, look through many resources and sooner or later you will find work."

Job Skills in Brampton, at (905) 453-7896, also provides help to students and youth in Peel Region looking for summer jobs.