Hiring Teens for Summer Work - Dilemma

hire all 4 since you were looking for 3-4 teens. Set the clear guidelines & have each teen sign off on it. I think the teen in question would greatly benefit from this opportunity!

I would give her a chance. You can teach her. She has never had a job so she really probably didn't have a clue what to expect in an interview. You can take this time to mentor her and she will have an easyer time when she get's her next job.

Do you have a tight friendship with the girl's mother? These sort of things can get a little sticky if you don't have a very, very clear-cut way of communicating. It's kind of like hiring a friend or a family member to work for you. They feel they may be able to get over on you because you know them, much to the chagrin of the other employees.

If it were me, I think I would have just avoided the whole hiring the friend's daughter thing. If the question were to come up, I would say that I wouldn't want to put strain on the friendship by hiring the daughter. I know if someone said that to me I wouldn't be mad or upset. In fact, I would respect my friend for being honest with me.

I love love love helping people but mostly teens. Please hire her and take her under your wings. Give her sound guidance, tell her your expectations, praise her for minor and major accomplishments, let her know she is worthy.

She will never know the importance of being timely or how to be prepared with taking notes if no one has ever told her. Make your expectations known in advance and ask her if she is up to meeting her employers expectations. Remind her that in this job, you are her employer and not her friend and there is no preferential treatment. Also let her know that if she doesn't understand anything that you welcome her with open arms to ask as many question necessary.

Just from my experience I wouldn't hire her. The parts of the interview that she blew show she thinks the job is a gime. If she can't even try during the interview I don't think she is going to try at the job.

We have kids work here, who got the jobs through one of their parents working here, and you can tell at the interview who will work out. It is always ugly when things don't work out.

I think you should give her the job and mentor her. When you hire her, point out that you almost didn't hire her because she was there on the wrong day and because of her flip answers. Let her know that just because you and her mother are friends, she won't be given any special favors and you expect her to conduct herself in a professional manner. Tell her that if she fails, you will have no choice but to let her go, mother's friend or not. That way she'll realize that you did her a favor; she will know she made mistakes in the interview that did not go unnoticed; and hopefully she will be grateful enough to put her best foot forward. If not, let her go. You won't be doing her any favors if you keep her on if she does not live up to your expectations. Logical consequences for her transgressions!

I would give her a chance WITH a clearly spelled out job description that included direct supervision and the terms upon which you could let her go. I would actually do this for all 4 of them.

Use very specific language, not "vague" terms.

- Work hours are from 7:45- 3:10.
- Proper attire is required (shorts that are no more than 2" above the knee, sneakers and t-shirts without logos/sayings)
- Pack your lunch daily. You will be given 40 minutes for lunch, which in our experience is not enough time to order or leave and return ON TIME
- You will have two 15 minute breaks each day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon
- No cell phones during work hours. You may use them during your breaks and lunch time.
- Failure to follow these guidelines will result in: 1st time, verbal and written warning; 2nd time you will be let go.

Really, really specific language. Otherwise you are setting yourself up for interpretation and negotiation with a generation that is masterful in these arts!

I don't see this as a problem. You are a manager and this is part of managing people - the mature and immature. What an excellent opportunity to help your friend, as well as influence a wayward child back on the path of her life, even for only 3 months.

i'd hire her, make my expectations abundantly clear (and high!), and let them all know in no uncertain terms that failure to meet your expectations will result in warnings followed by dismissal.
that gives everyone plenty of clarity, and will give your friend a head's up if her daughter isn't delivering.
good luck!
khairete
S.

I would give her a chance. If you don't who will??

Hire her. Everyone needs to start somewhere. Keep in mind she is an immature teen (like most teens) and don't go in with expectations of a seasoned soldier. She will need guidance., and she will make mistakes.

You are afraid you will lose your friend if you don't hire her daughter. If you do hire her the same danger is there if the girl fails you. Just know this.

Keep in mind...... it's only for the summer. Why not give the girl a shot?

I would hire all 4, including her. It sounds like she really could use a strong adult presence in her life.

You stated you were planning on setting high expectations in writing. I would make sure you do this with all the employees and make it perfectly clear that if those expectations are not met, their employment will be terminated.

FYI... I would never tell them to arrive 10 minutes early, if they aren't being paid for those 10 minutes. They should be told that starting time is 9:00am and they should be fully ready to begin working at that time. I can arrive 2 minutes before I begin working, and be sitting at my desk working on time. My colleague arrives 15 minutes before scheduled work time and has a hard time being at her desk ready to work on time as she needs her cup of coffee and her morning social. Each person is different.

It's a business decision. You might only need to hire 3 and not 4. You might be able to have her be a fill in person and have fewer hours than the other 3. If her immaturity is something you can work with vs something that will cause harm to the company or herself on the job, AND you have the room AND you want her representing your company and then hire her. But I would hire her only if you can really work with her. You can be honest and say, "Friend, I'm sorry, but I don't think she's a good fit." Not everybody is.

The truth is that sometimes kids' behaviors do have consequences. My SS applied for a paid internship at my former company (the kind of gig that could have turned into a job after graduation had he played it right). I put my neck out for him. He then failed to check his email for nearly 3 weeks and missed all the further correspondence/forms from HR. He not only lost the internship, he embarrassed me. I was clear with him that it was the LAST time I would do any such thing for him. They were right not to hire him. And as mortified as I was, that wasn't about me. That was about him. He couldn't be counted on, so he didn't get the job.

If you give her a job, make sure she's clear that you are boss and not friend. If that line can't be drawn, then it's not going to go well.

And about the 10 minutes thing - when I was a cashier, I was expected to be counted in and ready to punch the clock at my assigned time. That usually meant being there 10 minutes early to put away my coat or lunch or anything else I needed to do. Being "on time" meant being ready to hit the floor so someone else could go home. There are simply jobs where you have to have all your prep DONE when the job starts. It sounds like this is one of them. Lay it out to them what "on time" really means here.

I would tell the teen that she did poorly in the interview but would like to hire her on a trial basis knowing that you might have to let her go if she dosent do a good job which includes showing up on time. the right date, working hard and well with others. This is your income and you arent ready to slack off you need hard workers. Set the tone straight for what you expect. Do not let her flippent attitude effect the others. If they see her goofing offf with no reaction from you they will too soon follow. If it ruins your friendship it wasnt as strong as it should have been.

I would give her a chance. you never know she might turn out to be your best one out of the 4. she is young and her nerves could very well be getting the best of her and that is why she made a mistake.

As long as you write out what is expected for the job... start time, breaks, end time, proper clothing, no phones on work time, language use ( cursing), wage, paid/ unpaid lunch etc and all of them do what is expected then there shouldn't be a problem... if they can't follow them then no matter who it is out of the 4 or all 4 will have to go. Have them sign a contract with it clearly writen out and how many warning before they are fired. That way if it comes out ( if it doesn't work out) you can show the mom of any of them why they were fired. You can even have them sign the warnings you give them so they understand and there isn't any confusion. Treat this like a regular job.

You can't expect anyone to show up 10 mins earlier than the start time unless you are willing to pay them. But you can give them a warning on being late even if they are one min late or not ready to begin work right at start time and suggest that coming a few mins early will help them get into work mode.

when we had our cafe we hired a girl and she was so absent minded and always forgot things... she was so nervous! my mom kept wanting me to fire her and I wouldn't because although she made mistakes she was honestly trying her best and worked her butt off! After a few weeks she turned out to be our best waitress and ran circles around everyone! So just because she messed up right way doesn't always show what they are going to be like as an end result.

I totally agree with hiring her and giving her good guidance and structure. Take it one step further and have a formal hiring meeting. Tell her exactly when to be there, and if she's late you have a topic to start with. You need to address the flip attitude. She needs to know at the outset that she doesn't get to treat you like a family friend, but rather a supervisor and you won't tolerate certain things. Treat her respectfully and openly, and tell you you expect the same in return. A great life lesson!

I would give this girl a chance. If she was awful in the interview, rude, and not interested, I wouldn't hire her. But if she made a few mistakes (like showing up on the wrong day - not a good thing at all), I'd give her the benefit of doubt and see if she can handle the job. Put the expectations in writing and let her know in advance that she needs to work as hard as her coworkers.

Well I agree with all of the other posters! It might be good for you to give her a chance for her sake...you may have the patience and the relationship to guide her into how to handle the job world, etc. But, I do think you probably need to be very frank with the mom before the job begins. Tell her that you are going to hire her, but she lacks experience that the others have. Tell her that you are hiring 4 and you may let go of one, and it might be her daughter just as much as it might be one of the others. I would think that this mom would be understanding as long as you are honest with her about how you feel. I think a set of written standards is a must for all the kids you are going to hire for sure.

With the upheaval in her life, this could provide her the opportunity to put her energy and effort into something other than her life stressors. Have clear and high expectations in writing. By giving her a chance you are giving her an opportunity to grow and learn, not to mention some structure, which could be very good for her. If it doesn't work out, then so be it - you will have the expectations contract in writing, so you can use that as your guide.

Well, these are teens for one thing. They do not have work ethics, it is up to you to teach them all that concept. It will involve a lot of teaching every day.

I think your expectations might be more suited for adults who have experience in the work field.

Kids are still learning the concept of time. I would expect teens to be late or exactly on time. That is of course something that teaching them would fix the issue.

I would feel I had to hire her just because she is a close family friend. It might upset everyone if you didn't. If you can take her under your wing, so to speak, and be a mentor to her it might be something that would mold her into a wonderful person and future employee.

I love the clear expectations. Also, mention to all that there is a probationary time to make sure it is a fit for both of you. Maybe this isn't the right job for them or maybe they are not able to keep up such high standards yet... anything to make sure they know that they will easily be let go if they cannot keep up to the standards. I would have no problem with someone firing my daughter if I heard she was late ___ times, didn't show up one day, or wore the wrong thing, etc.

I'm with the parents that say to give her a chance. However, I do think that you need to let her know about her errors/mistakes for the interview, but that you're going to hire her anyway, and that she'll be given no preferential treatment. I agree with MomOf4--mentor her. But hold her to high standards.

I would also suggest, before starting the job, that you call the mom, who is your friend. Tell her that this is private and confidential, and that under no uncertain terms do you want her to talk to her daughter about it all, because as the employer you will handle addressing the mistakes with her directly. But tell her that as her friend, you want to let her know that you do want to give her this chance to learn and grow and that she'll be given a fair opportunity to be mentored along with the other 3 teens, if she meets the expectations, but that you wanted her to know that she got off to a rocky start and will be expected to tow the line and if she doesn't she will be let go... Tell her that if it doesn't work out, you just want her to be prepared, but that you see reason to hope that she'll shape up. That way, the mom will have a clue ahead of time that the daughter is being given a fair chance but that it's up to the daughter to be responsible.

Wow, you are in a tough situation. I personally would probably go ahead and hire her but know that you are bringing some frustration into your life. Since you know the family and care for them (and know she is probably really struggling right now) this job could change her life. "Could." I'm sure she will most likely disappoint you a few times and be a pain in your neck. Although, your guidance and knowing that someone cares and believes in her might prevent her from going down the wrong track. Not to mention, she will have something positive to focus on this summer. Hopefully, she will take this job seriously and be very proud of herself...what she's learning and so forth. You will most likely be a great example that she needs in life right now. I guess it boils down to whether you are ready to take this on in your life or not.

You have stated really good reasons to hire her and none to not hire her.