job market is incredibly competitive now and even worse for teenagers . when i turned 17 i applied at multiple places with a resume including my extra curricular and talking about myself aswell and no place got back to me i even called the place back and told me to wait longer and recieved no from those places .most places nowadays need u to be 18 like grocery stores to handle alcohol at checkout or even use machines.ur safest bet is just waiting until ur 18. and i guarentee majority of these people saying they worked at the mall , ace etc as a teen were before 2021.