CAMAS — Talulah Rodrigue was already feeling a bit frustrated when she arrived at Hayes Freedom High School’s first-ever career fair Thursday.
Rodrigue, a 16-year-old junior at the school, had been searching for a part-time job for more than a month. She’d applied to several Camas employers she thought might appreciate her previous experience caring for young children and training to be a barista, but the only response she’d had was silence.
“It’s a little frustrating because I need to find a job as soon as possible,” Rodrigue said. “I haven’t heard back from anyone yet — not even a single email.”
Other students who attended Thursday’s job fair shared similar stories of fruitless job searches, reflecting Washington’s high unemployment rates among youth.
Alex Weeks, 16, also a junior at Hayes Freedom, has applied to at least 10 jobs this year but only heard back from two employers, one of whom thanked Weeks for applying but said they’d hired someone else.
“It’s very frustrating,” Weeks said. “I’ve been looking for a full-time (summer) job for a long time.”
Hayes Freedom math and engineering instructor Danielle Handley, who also works as a part-time career specialist at the tight-knit Camas high school, was the driving force behind the inaugural Hayes Freedom career fair.
Handley said she is well aware of the challenges facing her students when it comes to finding part-time or summertime employment.
“I know at least three recent grads who have been unsuccessful going on a year and a half now and have had very few responses (from employers),” Handley said. “I think a huge part of it is that we’ve shifted away from being able to walk into a business and say, ‘I’m here to fill out an application.’ It’s increasingly difficult to make sure someone sees your resume.”
Handley, along with Hayes Freedom career and technical teacher Kelly Johnson, have been trying to guide students through their job searches, making sure they have a professional resume and cover letter that not only speaks to their strengths but also mimics the language used in help-wanted ads.
“If you don’t put certain words in there, you don’t get seen,” Handley said. “You want to make sure your cover letter and resume are using as many of the words from the (advertisement) as you can.”
Youth employment
According to the 2023-2024 Youth Employment Report by Washington’s Workforce Training and Education Coordinating Board, “youth between the ages of 16 and 24 have traditionally faced substantially higher unemployment rates compared with older working-age adults.”
Handley said young people, particularly the students who are attracted to Hayes Freedom’s nontraditional structure, often have challenges that can make finding the perfect part-time job more difficult.
“They often have family obligations or trouble fitting around a school schedule … that limit their ability to be available enough hours,” Handley said.
According to the state’s report, not only do economic downturns negatively impact young adults’ ability to find steady employment, but the COVID-19 pandemic “presented additional challenges for young Washingtonians as they disproportionately work in industries where remote work isn’t feasible, shutting off traditional employment opportunities during the bulk of the pandemic.”
Youth employment numbers have increased since the height of the pandemic, but the report shows that, across Washington, “youth continue to struggle” with relatively high unemployment rates.
Disappointing turnout
Empowering young people and helping them find success in their job search was Handley’s intent when she coordinated Hayes Freedom’s first career fair.
“I had been talking with students and engaging with them about their search for jobs,” Handley said. “And the district had a larger college and career fair earlier this year at Camas High School, but that’s further away and may have felt a little less accessible to our students.”
So Handley set out to hold a smaller, more intimate career fair at Hayes Freedom.
The response from area businesses, nonprofits and government agencies was initially very positive. A week before the April 17 event, Handley had a list of about 30 employers scheduled to attend the career fair. By Thursday, only two-thirds confirmed they planned to attend the career fair. In the end, just six vendors actually showed up.
“I was disappointed,” Handley said. “The six vendors were wonderful to have. But I had a list of about 30 vendors and had emailed directions two days before the event and received confirmation responses from almost all the vendors, so I need to reach out and see what the disconnect was.”
Handley said the career fair attracted dozens of students who showed up with stacks of resumes, ready to share their skills with the employers in attendance, including OnPoint Community Credit Union; Vancouver-based Covalent Architecture; Clark Public Utilities, the city of Camas, Clark Regional Emergency Services Agency and Therapeutic Associates Physical Therapy, a Camas-based physical therapy business.
“I was happy that the students really turned out and did such an amazing job,” Handley said, adding that, despite their frustration, she knows her students are not going to abandon their quest to find work.
“No one is giving up,” she said. “And I’m having more conversations with students who are finding creative ways to be entrepreneurial in the meantime, starting side hustles, offering babysitting and yard work, or making their own products to sell to friends. At least there are opportunities today for people to find alternative means of employment.”
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect that Talulah Rodrigue is a junior at Hayes Freedom High School.
