HOUSTON – If you have a child, grandchild, nephew or niece looking for work, get them to the George R. Brown Convention Center Saturday. Dozens of companies plan to hire on the spot.
The event begins at 10 a.m. Saturday and is open to anyone between the ages of 16 and 24.
Forget summer games. People looking to get paid can get it by 2 p.m. Saturday. Hotels like the Hilton Americas, engineering firms, banks, Walmart, McDonald’s, Landry’s, Kroger, HEB and others plan to hire on the spot. They are looking for youth willing to bring their identification and social security cards to the hiring event at GRB.
Once inside, there will be coaching before interviews. Participating banks will even offer savings advice, checking accounts and debit cards without fees.
It is the largest of six hiring events hosted by Hire Houston Youth, a city program.
Dave Moss, owner of several McDonald’s franchises hired a teen last month.
“This young man had no clothes (which) I could identify with,” he said.
Moss grew up homeless in Third Ward. Now, he organizes the on the spot job fairs. The event, started by Mayor Sylvester Turner’s office, employed 1,100 youth in 2016. Last year, 5,000 earned jobs. This summer, the goal is 7,500.
It is part of the city’s plan to boost Houston’s economy by attacking unemployment 16- to 24-year-olds, statistically the age group most out of work, according to city staff.
With summer coming, authorities worry about crime, too.
“If (youth are) just sitting home idling they’re going to get together with some groups, some gangs and wind up robbing or committing crimes,” Moss said. “We just don’t want that to happen.”
So with work clothes donated by Career Gear and bus passes from Metro for kids in need, Hire Houston Youth is attacking excuses, too, while trying to give more youth reason to work.