Do you remember how a few weeks ago you were so excited for it to be summer? No more classes, no more homework, no more waking up early, no more school drama. All that lay ahead was summer, sun, and fun! You were ready to hang out with your friends all summer, sit by the pool all day long, read some books, watch a little bit (okay, a lot a bit) of Netflix, and maybe party just a tad. You had your very relaxing summer plans all ready to go, with one small exception - your summer job.

If you're reading this, odds are you're a broke college student, or a broke high school student, or some variation of "broke". You NEED a summer job in order to pay for expenses that may pop up this season, and save up some money for the next semester (mostly for all those late night Dunkin runs), but you've run into kind of a big problem. You need a job, but everywhere that's hiring right now is looking for someone who already has experience. The grand paradox of the whole situation is that in order to get experience, someone needs to hire you, so if companies are looking to hire employees with job experience then that makes it impossible for you to get the experience needed to be hired. Are you following me?

Here's my advice to you, because I'm in the same boat. Apply anywhere you can, even if it's not necessarily a job you'd enjoy. Apply to work in the fast food business, apply to work at a restaurant, apply to work in retail, apply to your local movie theater. Even if you don't know for certain if they're hiring at the time, fill out an application. Even if you don't think your resume offers a lot to look at, complete what you can and send it in with your application.Look for anything and everything you can apply for - if a company is hiring they'll normally advertise it, whether in store or online, and even if a company isn't hiring at the time, they'll usually keep your application in their system for a certain number of days for future use.

Another piece of advice that I've found to be super helpful in the job search is to talk to employers in person. If you're in a store or a restaurant and you see a "Help Wanted" or We're Hiring" sign, even if the application is online, go talk to a manager about the process and let them know you're interested in the job. Make a good impression, because that will help you in the long run as you search for a job. I know it's stressful now, trust me, I'm right there with you, but hang in there because when you get your first job interview I promise it will feel so good, and eventually you'll get your first job (or just a summer job in general) and things will start looking up. You got this.