Columbus employers challenge city’s low WalletHub ranking for summer jobs

May 17--Matthew Davis hears the ranking and immediately disputes it.

Recently WalletHub, an online financial site, ranked 150 United States cities for the best and worst places to find summer employment.

Using 18 metrics that included median income of part-time workers, availability of summer jobs and the percentage of insured part-time workers, Columbus ranked dead last. The best place to find summer employment, according to WalletHub, is Washington, D.C.

"Maybe three years ago it was the worst, but not now," Davis said.

The 20-year-old Harris County High School graduate, who will be a senior at Young Harris College in north Georgia, has worked the last three summers at Whitewater Express, the Chattahoochee River's lone outfitter.

"This has changed everything," Davis said. "Before, the only thing that was available were fast-food jobs. That is not the case any more."

Davis is one of many local young adults who have found the Columbus summer job market easier to navigate since the urban white water course opened three summers ago. During the peak of rafting and zip-line season --April to August -- Whitewater Express employs more than 100 seasonal workers as raft guides, zip-line operators, clerks and managers in its Columbus and Phenix City stores.

Owner Dan Gilbert said he has found the local employment pool deep.

"The bulk of our seasonal employees come from this area," Gilbert said. "One of the things is you have to be 18 to work for us. So we get some from Columbus who have graduated from high school, but most of them come from Columbus State University and Auburn."

The summer workers, depending on weather and schedules, can make between $500 and $600 a week, Gilbert said.

Whitewater Express Manager Will Chambliss said the summer job opportunities also spill over to downtown restaurants.

"Most of the people who raft with us will eat downtown," Chambliss said. "That means job opportunities for people at places like 11th and Bay and Your Pie."

One of Columbus' largest employers, supplemental insurance company Aflac, does not have a summer hire program, but does offer a 10-week paid summer internship program for qualifying college students, according to spokesman Jon Sullivan. The spaces are limited and qualifications are contingent on degree matriculation, grade point average and other factors.

Davis, who lives in Ellerslie, said many of his friends work at Callaway Gardens, a resort in Harris County. In addition to Whitewater Express, Callaway Gardens is another large local summer employer of high school- and college-aged workers.

"Traditionally, we have more than 100 summer positions filled by high school or college students," said Callaway Gardens Director of Marketing and Public Relations Rachel Crumbley. "While we have filled a good number of jobs for this summer, there still are available positions."

This marks the 65th year the gardens have operated.

"Working at Callaway Gardens has become a rite of passage for many students who live in this region," Crumbley said. "You can talk with teachers, judges, lawyers, doctors and dentists -- some nearing retirement -- and they have memories about working at the gardens, at Robin Lake Beach, in the restaurants, at the golf course, all over. Some of their children and grandchildren are even working at the beach this summer."

For Davis, the work at Whitewater Express plays into what he wants to do when he graduates from Young Harris with a degree in outdoor leadership. He started three years ago as a raft guide and has worked into a management role as well as a fly-fishing instructor. This summer, he looked at working elsewhere, but decided to come home to the part-time job in Columbus.

"This is what I want to do when I graduate," Davis said. "I want to own my own outfitting business."

Chuck Williams: 706-571-8510, @chuckwilliams

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