It’s a classic scene: pull up to the drive-thru, the food is served by a teenager. Maybe he is smiling, or perhaps he is scowling, but he can because this is probably his first job. But a teenager’s first job seems to be coming at a later age.

According to Alex, manager at Kohl’s in Monument, they usually hire people in their late twenties and up. In fact, he will almost always hire the older person.

According to the website www.areavibes.com the unemployment rate in 2000 was 4.4%, in 2010 that number had shockingly risen to 9.1%. With this many unemployed adults, it’s no wonder teens can’t find jobs.

Junior Nate McBride has even noticed this change within his job at McDonalds. He was hired five months ago at the new McDonalds on Baptist Road and has noticed that McDonalds has hardly been accepting any new employees.

“They don’t have the money to,” McBride said.

He was persistent and continued to contact the manager, and ended up with the job.

“It gives me the money for freedom, but then I can’t go out on weekends to spend it,” McBride said.

Even though it is time consuming, he would still recommend a job as a teenager.

“It gives you something to fall back on,” said McBride

Manager at McDonalds Keith Hayes hires teenagers sixteen and up. About thirty five of the fifty employees are high school teens, joining the work force.

“I like persistence,” said Hayes.

The McDonalds managers look for extracurricular activities with their potential employees, particularly those involving dedication and teamwork.

With the interview, many questions focus on teamwork and potential leadership.

When asked what the most important thing when looking for a job at McDonalds is Hayes simply said, “Come in with a smile on your face.”

Senior Matt Saliba works at the Wal-Mart on North Academy Boulevard. After searching for a job for seven months, Saliba branched out and got the call from Wal-Mart two days after his eighteenth birthday.

“It’s a disadvantage to be under eighteen,” said Saliba.

Saliba makes the point that it’s a lot harder to find jobs than people realize. Saliba’s advice is, “Don’t limit yourself… try everywhere.”

Junior Anja Allenspach has searched for a job “pretty much everywhere”.

Her search has not reached past Monument, as she hopes to find a local job. She also has high standards, and didn’t apply to the fast food places.

Allenspach thinks the reason it’s so difficult to find a job has less to do with the economy, and more to do with Monument. She goes on to explain that in Monument there isn’t that many places and most of them are full of employees.

“There aren’t any more places I haven’t applied to.” Allenspach said.

When asked if finding a job will be worth the entire struggle, Allenspach responded yes without the slightest hesitation.

One of the first stepping stones to independence is harder to get for teens everywhere. Managers are hiring the older people, and teenagers have less means to commute. The message rings clear: keep looking everywhere and go after the desired job.