We get teenagers applying for construction jobs here every day. I review most of the applications. Sadly, we have to reject most of them for the following reasons:
1. Failure to commit to the job. If I see that a 15-year-old kid has had nine jobs in a six-month period, it is clear that he didn't commit his time or effort to any of them and would do so again to us.
2. Laziness. Contrary to the above, the kid has shown a marked lack of initiative and leadership training that he would normally get in middle school or Scouting. If he has never held a volunteer position with such as Habitat for Humanity (if only to learn a trade that we use) then I know that kid is not going to stay the course through OSHA safety training and then trades training.
3. Criminal record. We check out every application through the usual sources, and it is alarming how many kids have felony records -- and then try to conceal it. We do dangerous things, and if we can't trust that kid to tell the truth, how are we supposed to trust him in a dangerous construction site?
4. Lack of personal discipline. If the town manipulator can control him via the worst vices she had reduced him to, then how can we trust him with, say, the concrete details of a bank branch we're under contract to build?
For a 15-year-old kid to get a summer job, you must:
a. Show us that you trust us as much as we'll have to trust you.
b. Show us that you will take your training seriously and will be back the next summer, because we'll have to pay you during your two-weeks of mandatory safety and trades training.
c. Show us that you are trainable, and will adhere to your training. Usually, that indicates a good report card from school.
Fifteen years of age is the usual time to start a career. You may not like everything about it, we will definitely require that you attend college and come back with a degree (on your dime) but we'll have a job open for you, at proper pay for your new set of skills and higher degree of maturity you will have gained in college.