"Around February, March is when we surprisingly get a lot of applications because I think they anticipate a seasonal business like ours to ramp up," Jason Hillman said.
Hillman said his business has hired roughly 1,000 teenagers across its five locations in the past 15 years. This summer alone, the company received more than 800 applications.
"We just got done hiring close to 15 (employees) or so staff per store," he said, and he added that the bulk of those are high school students.
Hillman praised their work ethic and attitude.
"We are super glad to be able to have this age demographic and their parents that are instilling them into the hard work of life to kind of get them ready for the rest of their life, and we feel like we have a pretty big responsibility to continue that at work."
It's a group that includes Madeline Davenport, who joined the team last year. Now, she's helping guide those new to the job.
"I think it's a very good skill to teach these, like, new incomers to do what's right and what's wrong," Davenport said.
Outside the paycheck, Davenport said she believes the skills she's developing will be useful as she ultimately seeks a career in interior design.
Download the ABC11 News app
"The communication with customers out the window really would help," she said, adding she previously worked at a community retirement home.
Despite a strong May jobs report, as well as upward revisions in March and April figures, examples of students like Davenport are becoming less common. Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed unemployment rates among 16-to-19-year-olds sagged, increasing from 13.4% in May 2025 to 14.7% in May 2026.
Longer-term trends show a decline in youth summer employment. Data analyzed by executive coaching firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas found summer job growth for teenagers has dropped from more than 2 million in 1999 to just over 800,000 last year, with projections showing further declines.
Hillman spoke glowingly of his experience working locally as a teenager.
"(My boss) William Whipple started out explaining the importance of working hard as a young kid, (and) that's kind of kept with me," said Hillman, referring to his time at Carolina Auto Spa in Cary.