Working with others is always a skill that people will need in life. When teenagers get a job, it helps with those skills. However, applying for a job, doing interviews, and even being able to balance work and a social life is hard, and so many people already have jobs in high school, yet haven’t started the process of getting one.
“I think other teenagers should get a job because it’s just good for work experience. It helps you learn to communicate with people,” said Audrey Fisher (11) who is currently job searching.
Communication is key not only for a job, but also for future careers. Learning communication as a teen will help elevate your skills in the future. Jobs don’t only help with communication but also so many other things as well. Some things that it helps with is teamwork, problem solving, and time management.
After talking about why highschoolers should get a job, let’s talk about the steps of getting one. Applying for a job is the first step. People normally have a hard time with applying because they don’t really know where to look.
When asked about how she has applied for a job Fisher said, “The first part is just applying. It’s a lot of scrolling through just Indeed, trying to find a job that is your preferred distance. Once you find one of those, it’s just applying, making your resume, putting in your hours.”
Even though Indeed is a good place to look out for jobs, people can also look at Linkedin or even go into places and ask if they are hiring. As well as many other places where people can find resources to send in applications. When applying make sure to read all of the questions and put everyone’s best foot forward.
After looking for a job and applying to one, now it’s time for the employer to get back to you and schedule an interview. Everyone is scared of things, however there are so many things people can do to help with the fear and stress.
“There’s always ways to do practice interviews, like mock interviews and just going into it with the mindset of being yourself and just you having to allow yourself to relax a little bit,” said Fisher (11).
You can see from Fisher, who just completed multiple interviews at many different places, it truly does help going into places and being prepared, but also being yourself and having a personality. Many jobs don’t choose interviewees who act like robots, they want people with different personalities.
Journie Nelson who is one of the hiring managers at Culvers said, “when interviewing teenagers it is more taking a chance, because there are ways to build up a teenager to have a good work ethic and to be a part of the team, because they are very youthful and very hopeful. They are in this age where they are very inspired and need to think about the future.”
Interviews aren’t always a straight forward thing because each job is different and each job won’t be the same interview process. Some interviews only ask a couple of questions and then they say they will get back to you while others want to know everything and will start to go over how they do everything.
If they go over everything that is when it is important to really pay attention because many employers want to see that you are picking things up quickly. You will learn new skills through the job however you still don’t want to change all the skills that you already have.
“The skills they bring is the energy, we’re a very busy restaurant so having people with good energy helps a lot. As well as their attitude and the joking around, it brings a level of lightheartedness to the job,” said Nelson.
While each job is different, each person is too. There are no two of the same people, each person has their own personality and different experience levels, so do not worry if you do not have much experience going in, because you will gain plenty on the job.
No matter where you work you have different skills for everything as well as different experiences, Cerenity Watton (11), currently employed, says, “Working as a teen has given me so many different experiences and opportunities to meet different kinds of people. It helps my communication skills a lot with customers and guests.”
When working in a job, bad and good things can happen at any point. In order to have good things happen all the time, you need to find a job that works with what you like. For an example: if you like being around kids, try working at a daycare or a summer camp.
Though working as a teen can be fun and give you plenty of experience, there are also many struggles that come with that. Many teenagers struggle to balance their school work and their work for their jobs, plus sports, clubs, and activities on top of that.
“Some struggles I face as a teen is my time management. When I work a lot I don’t always focus on school too much, and same with work, I often take off work for school, ” said Watton (11).
While there are a lot of struggles with having a job as a teen and finding one as well. Many students are going through the same struggles every day.
As well as many teachers are here to help you with the exact problems you may be having. Harlem High School has teachers that specialize in making sure students are prepared not only to get a job in high school, but make sure they are prepared for one after high school too.
Melissa Hagerman, a work based learning teacher at Harlem said, “We want you guys to have all those experiences within the safe walls of a school so that when we can’t keep you here anymore, you guys are able to do it on your own.”
While teachers may help you prepare for a job, they can not say exactly what to say, students have to put in work to get the job themselves. Another thing teachers can help with is finding a job, and where to send in an application.
“We have a lot of third-part resources. So we work with workforce connection, and they help with the companies that they have contracts with already and see if we can align students for that,” said Hagerman.
While there are hundreds of resources to help you get a job including teachers, websites, and even paper applications, the hard part is up to you. You must put yourself out there and send in your application. While it may not be easy at first, and it might take a while to get hired or even get an interview scheduled. Do not give up, keep trying and putting your best foot forward. So with this advice, go out and apply, do the interviews, and get a job. Learn more things about yourself through the job, and meet new people because experiences in a job is a once in a lifetime thing.
