Just as the glorious feeling of summer freedom reaches its peak among high school and post-secondary students, the toppling reality of a temporary full-time job soon follows close behind.
But while snagging something for a few months used to be a simple pick of your pleasure, changing economies have brought tighter budgets and a fair bit less to choose from. The good news, even for those who haven’t thought about work until now, is there are plenty of sources available to assist in the search.

“There are several local services that provide employment support for youth as well as some online services,” says Tracey Kipta, operational planning and communications manager for the Alberta Employment and Immigration’s south region. “For example, an e-resume review service, which is free. They can get some free publications or access via email some tip sheets and booklets on looking for specific employment for youth.”
For face-to-face assistance, there are local opportunities such as the AEI office on 5 Avenue and the Aboriginal Employment Opportunities Centre, where both job boards, referrals and job search support, as well as one-on-one help in interview techniques, resume building are all available.
Fifth on Fifth Youth Services has been aiding those ages 15-30 for the past 16 years in categories such as employment opportunities and operates the local Hire a Student program. Geri Hecker, the program’s executive director, says the available support is essential but changing times call for much more proactive thinking from the students themselves.
“We really aren’t seeing as many (jobs available),” says Hecker, who says it’s not necessarily because jobs are drying up but because there aren’t as many vacancies. “What’s happened is a lot of students are hanging on to their jobs year round. They are starting to work at younger ages and we’re finding they hang on to what they have.
“For those coming in and looking for something specifically for summer, it’s a tight market.”
Even some of the summer-only businesses students could count on like College Pro Painters are using repeat staff these days and aren’t providing as many new positions. And Hecker says the ones who are finding the temporary summer employment are usually starting to look as early as February.
However, that’s not to say there aren’t opportunities out there still.
“I was talking to a couple of businesses and was being told that now that the weather has dried up, they see themselves really moving forward in getting some (projects) done,” says Hecker. “So they could be some more of those (summer) jobs coming up and July and August may have some good opportunities.
“We’ve got our job board going all the time here so just come on down and take a look. We’ll have everything up-to-date and employers need to make sure they get any openings to us because we have people coming in every day, all day long.”
Even more good news for students — or anyone else — looking for part-time, full-time, temporary or permanent employment is AEI reports an expectation in job increases throughout the province.
“We continue to see an improvement in the economy and further increases in jobs is expected to continue slowly,” says Kipta. Jobs are expected in many sectors including: construction, manufacturing, agriculture, customer service, health care, trucking, engineering, oil and gas, and professional services.
“Lethbridge and area are already beginning to see improved employment conditions in commercial and residential construction sectors, as well as other sectors such as health and the service sector.”