SANTA BARBARA – The Santa Barbara Zoo will hire 40 adults and youth for summer jobs at the sixth annual job fair on Sunday.
It's that time of year when teens and young adults start thinking about summertime and begin looking for a job. Last year, nearly 23 million youth in the United States, ages 16 to 24, entered the workforce.
The zoo is offering seasonal employment and a special program for those teens that have never had a job.
"The Guest Experience Specialist Program focuses on the young workers as well as anyone else but we've included a lot of training opportunities in that program," said Corinne Santini, Santa Barbara Zoo.
Carlos Rea works in the zoo gift shop as a supervisor and got his first job six years ago when the Guest Experience Specialist Program first started.
"I started selling tickets at the front gate, started working with money, with people. The zoo just pretty much just put me out there because they believed in me," said Rea.
He was 18-years-old and was turned down from other jobs because of lack of experience. Now Rea helps train youth who where just like him.
"With this economy it's really hard to get jobs especially with no experience and that's what the zoo offers to young adults is to get a full rounded basis of experience so when they're out in the world they're confident in their skills they learned here at the zoo," Rea said.
When the youth get hired, they rotate through three different jobs in guest services, retail and food services.
The zoo will hire 40 youth and adults ages 14 and up to add to their staff of 160 for the summer.
"Anything they learn here is transferable," said Santini. "They learn transferable skills and if they spend the summer with us, work three departments, on a resume the next employer will definitely look at them win a different light."
The Santa Barbara Zoo job fair takes place on Sunday, February 5 from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the zoo, 500 Ninos Drive, Santa Barbara. Parking is free for participants. No reservations or appointments are necessary.
