'I've got to be the job': Tecumseh teen launches car wash after applying for 100 jobs and getting none

A Tecumseh teenager who was unable to find a summer job despite applying for more than 100 of them has gone viral on social media for starting a car wash in front of his family home.

Batista Cervini started the car wash four days ago, he said, and has washed around four or five cars a day at $20 per car for a half-hour wash.

"Nobody wanted to hire me," the 16-year-old said.

"So if there's no jobs, I've got to be the job, you know?"

Windsor regained its position as the city with the highest unemployment rate in Canada in June as unemployment rose to 11.2 per cent.

It also had the highest youth unemployment among census metropolitan areas in Canada in 2024, at around 20 per cent. 

What's more, the overall unemployment rate rose last month despite stagnant population growth, a reversal of a trend seen over the past two years in which rising unemployment has been blamed on population growth outpacing job growth.

Not a single interview

 Now there's a near-record-high number of people looking for work, according to Workforce WindsorEssex.

Cervini applied to dozens of entry-level jobs, including jobs at restaurants, hoping to earn money for college so he can study to become a paramedic, he said.

But he didn't get a single interview.

"It's pretty disappointing, honestly, because people say they're hiring, but I don't see it," he said.

But, he said, he doesn't believe in giving up in hard times.

"God is making something big coming," he said. "When you want to give up, that's when you keep on going."

Cervini stands in front of his family home on Lesperance Road from 11:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. holding a sign advertising his business.  

People tell him they respect his hustle, he said.  

Asked what kind of pitch he'd give to employers thinking of hiring him, he said, "I'm a hard-working young man. I do not give up, and I believe I would be a really good candidate. I always try my best – 100 per cent effort or nothing."

Potential employers reaching out

Already potential employers have posted messages on social media offering interviews.

And one showed up to court Cervini personally.

The owner of Piskey's Mobile Auto Wash and Detailing said he decided to spend a day helping Cervini wash cars after his clients kept forwarding him social media posts about him.

"If he wants now, he can come with me for the rest of the summer … and we can just go wash cars house to house,"  Luke Piskovic said.

"He's already got work ethic. He's standing out here with a sign. I'd rather hire on that than schooling." 

Piskovic called himself an advocate for entrepreneurship and said washing cars, picking weeds or doing other tasks people need done is a better way to earn money than working at a fast food job.

One of Cervini's customers said she admired his initiative and wanted to support him and show kids they can achieve anything if they work hard.

"I'm really impressed," Laura Imperioli said.

"Keep grinding. Keep doing what you can do. It's tough out there, but I promise you some of these personality traits of just working hard are really going to pay off in the future. So this is really admirable."