Lynn students work at getting summer jobs

LYNN – Deavonie Cowan-Bowen learned his first lesson about the working world Monday when he admitted to city youth service coordinator John Kasian that he does not know his Social Security number.”Memorize it,” advised Kasian, “It’s more important than your girlfriend’s phone number.”Kasian will be dispensing that sort of hard-headed advice to local teenagers through May 29 – the deadline for submitting summer job applications in City Hall room 311.The city Community Development department plans to fill jobs in June and – if Cowan-Bowen is hired – he will start seven weeks’ worth of work July 6.”Last year, I had 400 applications for 150 jobs,” Kasian said.Cowan-Bowen admits he launched his summer 2014 job hunt too late, but said few employers were interested in giving a 16-year-old a job. Now a year older, the Lynn Vocational Technical Institute sophomore said he is also wiser in the ways of job hunting.”I’m trying to start looking earlier,” he said.Playing basketball and video games occupied Adler Telfort’s time last summer, but Telfort said his parents motivated him to look for a job this summer after halting his $10 a week allowance. He hopes his experience shoveling during the winter will help him land a summer job.”I need money,” he said.Kasian said positive traits that describe any valuable employee – promptness, professional appearance and a good work attitude – are characteristics he will look for when he scans youth applications and considers hiring decisions.About 60 of the students hired will work for local businesses and organizations, with the rest employed in municipal jobs, including parks cleanup work. The city combines federal and state money to pay wages ranging from a minimum nine dollars an hour for workers to a minimum $11.50 an hour for youth supervisors.Kasian said Eastern Bank and other participating business help cover workers’ salary costs. Community Development works with North Shore Youth Career Center, 20 Wheeler St., second floor, to provide young people with summer jobs.Matthew Torres planned to fill out paperwork at the center after dropping off his application with Kasian Monday. The English High School sophomore said his parents expect Torres and his three brothers to pitch in to help cover household costs and to set their sights on their futures.He wants to be a police officer.”I like to help people,” he said.Summer job applicants should bring a birth certificate or passport and know their social security number when they go to City Hall room 311 or 20 Wheeler St.