Summer Jobs Tougher To Find

Gulf Shores Orange Beach Temporary workers may now face challenges in the job market from other people looking for work.

by Chad Petri

Published: Sun, May 10, 2009 - 8:16 pm CST Last Updated: Sun, May 10, 2009 - 8:53 pm CST

This is the time of year when teenagers are looking for summer jobs. In some cases, there's more competition and sometimes fewer openings. For the fourth summer in a row, Osmar Neto is bussing tables at the Oyster House in Gulf Shores.

“It's so good so busy and it got a good food,” says Neto. He's one of 30 people being taken on as seasonal help. Manager Patrick Quinn says that's the same as last year for good reason.

“People are always going to go on vacation, they're always going to go out to eat,” says Quinn. Many of the employers we spoke with say the job market is getting more crowded and those seasonal workers may face challenges from people who are grossly over-qualified.

“We had a guy with a medical degree he was looking to bus tables so everybody's hurting,” says Quinn. He says he's had double the number of applications compared to last season and they started coming months early.

“We get to pick the cream of the crop, more qualified candidates this year than we do last year we'll be able to provide better service, it's a good problem to have,” says Quinn. It's a different story for Phyllis Pearson’s condo cleaning and laundry businesses in Orange Beach.

“We hire people, they come and work for a couple days, see how hard it is and don't come back, unfortunately, my door's a revolving door,” says Pearson. She says she's holding off hiring 10 seasonal workers for now.

“We don't have the work right now, until the volume picks up I can't afford to put additional people on payroll,” says Pearson. At this time last year Pearson says she had more than 40 people on staff, today it's down to around 17.

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