Summertime jobs in the Neighbourhood; offer them please!

Autodriver Jaykumar is our Man for All Seasons. And a newspaper like ours finds such people valuable. Today, three members of his family work on assignments for us. And one of them has just earned a summertime job.

Jaykumar is not your usual kind of auto-wallah. He has his hours of work. Four hours in the morning, four hours late in the evening. A few loyal clients, a few odds jobs. And Jay's income streams are like the roots of the lone cotton tree at the rear of our office complex.

But Jay is valued more by the families in the colony; a place where the evening breeze blows across the Adyar river and state ministers are neighbours.

He is a master at electronics. He is the go-to man when television sets conk out or radio sets choke, like water taps in tail-end areas.

Jay spends much of his time at home, at his repair job and some evenings in the famed Ritchie Street, looking for parts at cheap rates that can fix the TV and radio sets at home.

Jay also doubles up as our circulation man during the seasons when we publish our theme Guides. And the daily news-sheet during the annual December Season.

Over the years, his two sons have come to be employed on assignments at our newspaper.

The senior, who works at a IT company does a weekly stint at our billing desk.

The junior likes the outdoors and he is happy to roll out carpets, fix lights and arrange the refreshments at our events.

Last week, their cousin, who had dusted his tenth standard exams asked us if he could get some work. We sign him up to assist our manager; keep files, write bills and run errands.

Summer Jobs is a concept that our companies and stores have not promoted well at this time of the year. There are scores of young people who want to earn some money that can pay for their studies or equip them with new skills and earn a certificate.

And employing these young ones who live down the street has benefits. They know the area well so running errands is cool, they have contacts and can tap them smoothly.

So why are we not employing them?

To promote this, our newspaper launches this week a section in the Classifieds for Summer Jobs. Employers can get their needs advertised for free! Hopefully, this small service will gain momentum this summer.