Summer Jobs for Teenagers

Owing to the ongoing pandemic, teens in Hong Kong have had a rough first half of the year. They’ve had to miss school, keep social-distancing in check, and live under a cloud of fear and uncertainty. The good news is that things seem to be on the mend right now in Hong Kong and fortunately, a lot of companies out there are eager to offer summer jobs to teens and help them get back on track to learning and success. 

One might ask why summer jobs for kids who are already under tremendous pressure from school to perform well academically and otherwise. Summer jobs are important because such experiences are needed for the overall/holistic development of our kids. While academics and extra-curricular activities are crucial for children, real-life work experiences are also quite critical and instrumental towards development of key life-skills.

Let’s take a look at what kind of summer jobs are on offer across various sectors that’ll help our youth continue to advance and will also assist with their character development.

Investment & Accounting Sector

Investment and accounting related jobs will help teens understand the operational, growth and financial aspects of running an organisation. Here are 2 examples of such openings:

• DE Shaw - DE Shaw, an investment company, is looking for trader/analyst interns. Interns are expected to research, analyze, and perform due-diligence on potential investments. The students will also need to employ a number of technological platforms to analyze market data and make qualitative decisions based on this analysis.
• ESF (Summer Intern - Finance (Jun to Aug 2020) - ESF is offering summer jobs in their finance & accounting department. Students will be expected to undertake activities such as input ledger data, work with vouchers, verify school’s bank reconciliation, undertake fixed asset count, and update accounting schedules, among others.

Education Sector

Teaching/ education industry is an ever blooming sector in Hong Kong. If the previous trend is any indication, several younger kids will be joining various camps over the summer. Teenagers could assist in these camps and care for the younger ones. Such jobs can help teens to develop patience, improve their ability to multi-task, and sharpen their creativity. We have listed down 2 such offers:

• MMM Summer Camp - The Metropolis Museum is looking for university and high school students to assist with the MMM Summer Camp. They offer $6000 per month for a full-day’s work and are located at Wong Chuk Hang.
• In Learning Center - This Learning Center is looking for English Teaching Assistants to conduct interactive classes for primary school children during summer.  They are offering $4000-$6000 a month for interns.

Administrative Jobs

This is another area teens can help with and gain insight into the importance of behind-the-scene tasks to help organisations run smoothly. 

• Summer Intern-Home Affairs Department - This internship offers the opportunity to learn about how the Tuen Mun District Office operates at the district level. The intern will be required to offer administrative support, including assistance with processing applications of summer general activities.
• YMCA - YMCA of Hong Kong is a well-recognised organisation that offers diversified services including formal education, sports, recreation and adventure, fitness and wellness, and youth leadership development. Interns at YMCA will be expected to assist in day-to-day operation of the Continuing Education Program, produce marketing and promotional materials, undertake telemarketing, enable database management and provide administrative support.

Translation Jobs

There are quite a few translation jobs on offer. Students can get hands-on experience in all aspects of translation business right from pre-production of documents for translation to proof reading and editing. Translation related jobs can help students hone their communication/writing skills, help them to focus on details, and facilitate effective problem-solving.  Listed below are 2 companies that are looking for interns:

• Elite Translation - They are looking for interns to join their translations business operations and train with them to become a language service professional.
• Korean Translation - This job includes translating Korean and English video content into Chinese. They even allow remote working arrangement.

Virtual Opportunities

For those students who may not be comfortable joining the workforce in-person, there are several virtual openings in the market they can take up. Below you will find 2 such options:

• FWD - FWD offers life and medical insurance, general insurance, employee benefits, and financial planning.  FWD Virtual Internship offers an opportunity to undertake remote working. In this 4-8 weeks internship running from July to August, one will be required to accomplish assigned work and take part in day-to-day business operation and various projects.
• Standard Chartered - Standard Chartered is a leading international bank operating across Asia, Africa and the Middle East. They are looking for young talent to join Mox on an internship programme in a Compliance role. The candidate will be assisting the Compliance team on regulatory compliance projects with exposure to various Compliance areas.

Advisory and Consultancy

If your teen likes to win arguments, has a research-driven mindset, and can make sense of large amounts of data, then an internship in advisory and consulting sector might be a good fit for him/her. Here is a leading company offering internship.

• EY - EY is a global leader in advisory services. They are looking for interns for their following service lines:

1. Assurance
2. Advisory
3. Tax (include People Advisory Services)
4. Transaction Advisory Service

Internship period is early June to end of August . Exact internship period will depend on specific service line requirement.

Food and Convenience Sector

If your teens are showing interest in the world of e-commerce and entrepreneurship, the following summer job might be right up their alley:

• Foodpanda - In Foodpanda’s Internship Program 2020, candidates would be asked to take up responsibilities, and participate in projects to gain hands-on experience in the business field of interest. They offer opportunities in several business functions including account management, business development, marketing, finance, business intelligence, people operations, among others

You’ll notice there are plenty more opportunities out there to explore on leading job portals, we just have to nudge our teens to find themselves the right one. It has been observed that part-time work/summer jobs can help teens discover their natural strengths, traits, and career aspirations.  It can even help them improve their social etiquettes and communication skills. Once the teens start working part-time, they understand the value of money. They see how much work goes behind earning a living, thereby understanding the importance of the hard work their parents are putting in. 

Hope your kids’ summer stint is a huge success full of fun and learning!