Baltimore City Students Prepare To Begin Summer Jobs

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Weeks before school ends and the start of summer begins, thousands of Baltimore City students are preparing to punch the clock at a summer job. The city hosted its first Youth Works interview sessions this weekend.

Gigi Barnett explains time is running out for teens to sign up.

A packed gymnasium at Coppin State University is filled with students interviewing and completing paperwork. Their goal: get a summer job through the city's Youth Works program. It's homegrown talent businesses can get and groom early.

"This is a way for employers to begin to train their future workforce right now," said Ernest Dorsey, Assistant Director of the Mayor's Office of Employment Development.

The program pairs college and high school students between 14 and 21 with a public agency or private business.

Jeremy Bagley is a college student in Rhode Island and came home this weekend to interview for a sixth year in the program. He wants to work for the FDA one day and Youth Works might take him there.

"This is a stepping stone," Bagley said.

The interview is a critical part of the application process because the city has more than 10,000 applicants and only about 5,000 positions to fill.

"It's very nerve-wracking but once I got up there, I just breathed and smiled," said 15-year-old Na'Kera Perkins.

Perkins hopes her smile will set her apart from all the other students in line. She could seek the typical teen summer job this year, but she's hoping the program will expose her to long-term career options.

"I want to experience different variations of jobs, instead of fast food," she said. "I just can't do it."

In addition to all of the on-the-job experience students will get this summer, they'll also get some cold hard cash: $8.25 an hour during the five week program.

Time is running out to sign up for a summer job through the Youth Works program. The required online registration portion closes on Friday. For more, click here.