I’m 16 years old and am planning to move out as soon as I turn 18, so I need a job desperately. I went around to 6 different locations, and all but one told me to apply online. The 6th, a pet store, gave me an application but pretty much told me they weren’t going to hire me. I went home and applied to all 5 locations. It’s important to note that I’ve had two jobs already, didn’t get fired from either and both managers were willing to give good recommendations. I know this is more experience than most kids my age have, so I figured I’d have a shot, especially because most of the places had hiring signs in their window. So I applied, and radio silence for four weeks. I finally called one of the stores, thinking that the online applications didn’t go through or something, and they agreed to interview me. I show up, and low and behold, they had my online application right there. They did hire me, but told me I could only work on weekends and are paying me 10/hr. I know that’s more than minimum wage, and maybe I shouldn’t be complaining, but I my past two jobs paid more than this, and with my experience and the fact that they’re hiring a lot of people right now, the starting wage should’ve been higher. That, and I feel like online applications are just a way for companies to ignore them. For example one of the places I applied to was Panera, and instead of getting an email about a job interview, they spammed me with emails about applying for a job, as if that wasn’t exactly what I had just done.