CAREER START : Job Prospects Are Brightest for Those Willing to Flip Burgers or Wait Tables
For those in search of a quick job, the first stop could be one in the service industry, be it flipping hamburger patties at a fast-food joint, waiting on tables, guiding tours or any number of jobs that involve constant contact with customers.
Service jobs are still to be had because even when times are tough, people still go out to dinner, shop for groceries and take the kids to Universal Studios.
There are no common rules for applying for service jobs, but at the very least employers are looking for people with outgoing personalities who can charm even the crankiest customers.
And unlike white-collar jobs that are advertised in newspapers or on job bulletin boards, there’s no straightforward way to finding where the service jobs are. Most rely on word-of-mouth to attract applicants.
But these days, even getting a job as a waiter or hotel clerk can be tough, especially at the upper-end businesses where customers pay the biggest tips. Many such businesses are cutting back on hiring as people spend less, and some have shut down altogether because of the recession.
In Los Angeles, for example, the famed L’Ermitage restaurant closed last summer after 16 years in business, and Lawry’s California Center, a showcase of restaurants and shops that has been a Los Angeles attraction for 30 years, has laid off nearly half its employees and is now only open for lunch.
But there are still opportunities at more affordable restaurants such as Hamburger Hamlet Restaurants Inc. and IHOP Corp.’s International House of Pancakes chain, which have been prospering despite the recession. Analysts say the recession has prompted many people to switch from white-tablecloth restaurants to mid-priced, full-service restaurants.
Even Chasen’s, considered by many to be Los Angeles’ best restaurant, recently started serving lunch after 55 years as a dinner-only locale.
What does it take to get a job at Chasen’s?
“I’m looking for some kind of sparkling personality,” said Scott McKay, Chasen’s lunch manager. Applicants also should have some fine-dining experience--”Denny’s won’t work”--he said. The payoff for a job at Chasen’s--even on the lunch crew--can be handsome though not lucrative. Lunchtime waiters and waitresses typically take home $50 a day in tips, he said.
McKay said he interviewed 75 people when Chasen’s started hiring for its lunchtime staff in September. McKay ended up hiring 14 applicants.
As in most businesses, the key to getting a decent-paying restaurant job is experience and knowing the right people. But even that won’t help if you don’t have the right personality.
Personality is also a must for getting a job as a tour guide.
“We’re looking for extremely outgoing and enthusiastic people, with a lot of poise and personality, who can think on their feet,” said Michael Sington, director of studio-guide training at Universal Studios.
Tour-guide jobs at Universal Studios start at only $5.75 an hour, but many are willing to put up with the low pay in return for an entree into the movie industry.
Indeed, about 70% of the studio’s 170 tour guides are actors or film students, Sington said. Among Universal tour guides who went on to become famous is Michael Ovitz, chairman of Creative Artists Agency and one of the most influential men in Hollywood.
Prospective tour guides are put through a rigorous screening process. About 100 people typically attend one of the studio’s open calls for tour guides held throughout the year, Sington said. Only 20 make it into a two-week class that includes an orientation, an audition, a cold reading of a tour script and a one-on-one job interview. About 14 are eventually hired.
For those with more modest ambitions, a job in a hotel might be the answer. But even there the number of qualified applicants has lately exceeded the number of openings.
