Summer hiring starts heating up for teens

Petco needs dog grooming assistants. Sports Authority wants merchandise handlers. Jamba Juice can use some juicers. And RiteAid hopes to find a "wellness ambassador."

From pet stores to pharmacies, the job market for teens is warming up along with the weather.

And for teens thinking about a summer paycheck, now's the time to pounce. Hiring is expected to be better than during the pits of the recession, and there'll be less competition from jobless adults looking for part-time, seasonal work, according to several hiring studies.

"Companies are doing better and have more room to hire teens. It's not a breakout year, but there's steady improvement in the job market and teens will get their share of that," said John Challenger, CEO of Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. in Chicago.

Challenger's annual study of summer teen hiring, released in April, said there's been a rebound from 2010, when teen hiring hit an all-time low of 960,000 - the lowest level since 1949. Last year it was up 13.2 percent as 1.08 million teens landed employment in May, June and July.

This summer? Challenger estimates 1.2 million teens could land a summer job.

But don't procrastinate: 80 percent of managers in a recent survey say they expect to have all their summer hiring wrapped up by Memorial Day, according to SnagAJob.com, a Richmond, Va.-based website for hourly jobs.

The good news this summer is that teens will have far less competition from unemployed adults, who were desperate to take any job possible during the recession and often applied for seasonal jobs. Both Challenger and SnagAJob say teens' biggest competitors this summer will be their peers, not parent-age adults.

You can get started online. For instance, typing in "Teen Jobs" at SnagAJob.com brings up nationwide listings grouped by city.

And consider your application - whether you drop it off in person or push "send" from your computer - to be your first impression with a potential employer.

"It might be 30 seconds or a minute long, but it's essentially a first interview," said Moyer.

If you're stopping by an office with an application, show you're serious: dress appropriately, be friendly, meet the deadline.