Teens and Employers Weigh In on Hiring High Schoolers

Annalise Wood applied to work at 18 businesses this spring before finally landing a job as a cashier at Shelburne Market in July. The 18-year-old Hinesburg resident, who will attend Bates College in Maine this fall, hoped to get work experience and save some money for college.

Most days, she checks out customers at the register and sometimes gets to restock shelves, which she considers a “special treat.”

As a teen still living at home, she has to work around the activities and vacations her parents plan, which can complicate scheduling. Her boss is understanding that she needs flexibility in her work hours, Wood said.

As a young employee, “not everything is in our control,” she said. “If you’re going to be gone, you don’t really have a choice.”

Teens play a significant role in the Vermont workforce — as retail employees, restaurant servers and counter staff. Among Vermonters ages 16 to 19, almost 53 percent have jobs, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Vermont has the third-highest percentage of teens participating in the labor force among the 39 states that include this age bracket in data for the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Minnesota ranks first with 57 percent of 16- to 19-year-olds employed, and California comes in last with about 22 percent.

Yet some teens surveyed for this article said they feel like they aren’t treated the same way as older colleagues. Their earnings are often at the low end of the pay scale, which went from $13.67 to $14.01 an hour in January, when the state increased the minimum wage. That might be partly because, in addition to learning job skills, they’re also figuring out for the first time how to negotiate raises, manage scheduling conflicts and navigate challenges with coworkers.

Nora Bolton works as a floor lead for Plato’s Closet in Williston. When her manager is away, she takes charge of directing staff and assigning tasks. With about two and a half years on the job, Bolton, who is 16 and lives in South Burlington, is one of the secondhand-clothing store’s longest-serving employees. Because of this, she was promoted to her current position about a year ago. Sometimes, she said, she finds it a little awkward to oversee older coworkers.

“They don’t listen to a 16-year-old girl, and that can be frustrating sometimes,” Bolton said.

Bolton puts her earnings toward clothes and shoes and upkeep for her car, she said. She recently realized that she was paid less than the amount that Plato’s Closet is advertising for new workers. She asked her boss for a raise and got a small bump. A new, older coworker makes about the same wage Bolton does, despite having less experience, she said.

Samantha Bradley, 17, a pizza maker at Cucina Antica Bistro in Shelburne, started working at the restaurant two years ago to help pay for gas and other car expenses. Her mom doesn’t own a car, so Bradley uses hers to run errands, drive to school and work, and stay at her dad’s in Leicester, about an hour away from her mom in South Burlington.

Bradley made $13.18 an hour in 2023 and got a raise last year to $15 an hour. Starting workers at Cucina Antica earn Vermont’s minimum wage. Most of her coworkers are fellow high school students, she said.

At many restaurants today, tips go into a pool for distribution among all staff, but at Cucina Antica, only “front-of-house” employees, such as servers, earn tips, Bradley said. The owner, she added, is a little “old-fashioned” and pays workers by paper check, not direct deposit.

“You’re not just training someone to do this job. You’re often training them to do their first job.” Dawn Wagner

Not all local employers have found that hiring high school students works for them. Linda Cook, owner of Linda’s Apparel in Vergennes, said she had trouble with student employees’ reliability and with scheduling those who had commitments on sports teams. Once she hired a teen who didn’t know how to use a vacuum cleaner.

“Kids just don’t seem to want to work the way they used to,” Cook said from behind the register at her shop. “They want to be on their phones.”

At Daily Chocolate in Vergennes, owner Dawn Wagner has hired two students since she opened the shop five years ago. Every year, about five to 10 of them apply to work there, but scheduling is a challenge. Once school starts, students aren’t free until 3:30. “I’m closed at four,” she said.

Some teens can only work one weekend day, but these inexperienced employees also need time to learn on the job, and their limited availability is sometimes “inefficient,” Wagner said.

“You’re not just training someone to do this job. You’re often training them to do their first job,” Wagner said as she cut into a large block of chocolate on her shop counter.

“It’s one thing to teach the procedures of the business. It’s another thing to teach someone to make eye contact, to say hello, to make change, to figure out when someone’s ready to be waited on.”

Chloe Speyers said she has had great experiences with teen workers at Haymaker Bun, where she is general manager of both the Middlebury and Burlington locations. The job allows them to practice customer service skills that they can use later in life, she said.

“Learning how to understand and talk to people is a huge part of working in the food-service industry, particularly in the front of the house,” Speyers said.

At the same time, they share the latest details of their lives and what’s happening in their communities, she said. One teen baker has worked for Haymaker Bun for more than four years.

“It’s been so amazing to watch her grow,” Speyers said. “It’s really rewarding to have been part of her high school experience.”

This article was originally published in Seven Days’ monthly parenting magazine, Kids VT.

The original print version of this article was headlined “Help Wanted | Navigating family, school and work can be tricky — for teens and their bosses”