Gainful Employment for Teens

For many teens, thoughts of prom and car payments mean one thing—it’s time to start looking for the all-important J-O-B. Not only do you want a job where you can rack up some spending money, but if you’re like most teens, you probably want to get valuable workplace experience and – let’s face it – you want to spend your precious time doing something cool. As the school bell inches closer, don’t just spend time daydreaming about earning tons of cash instead of paying attention to that afternoon Spanish class. Take action. Make a plan, come up with an ideal job, and go out and get it!

Scoring the Perfect Job
It doesn’t happen while daydreaming
The first thing you need to do is decide what kind of job you want and need. Do you want to work part-time, full-time or are you just looking for work over the summer? How much money do you need to make? What kind of experience do you want to get? Is it okay if your job is far from your house, or do you want to try to work close to home?

Once you have answered these questions it’s time to create a resume that tells potential employers what makes you stand out from all of the other teens looking for jobs. Go to http://jobstar.org to look at some sample resumes or click here for a sample resume that you can use by filling in your own information. Make sure your resume lists your skills, experience in other jobs and any school experience that might make you marketable. If you take a copy of your professional-looking resume to each place you would like to work, you will present an impressive professional image of yourself.

The most important sale you can make: Yourself
Now that you have a resume it’s time to start marketing yourself. Start by telling your friends, family, teachers and anyone else you know who might have connections that you are looking for a job. Give everyone a copy of your resume and ask them to let you know if they hear of any job openings. Now you have a network of people who are working for you to help you become employed.

The next step you should take is to start actively looking for job openings. The local newspaper is a good source for job listings and so is the Internet. If you find a job that looks appealing, print out a copy of your resume and send it in with a cover letter telling the employer what you will bring to the company. If you don’t see any good jobs in the newspaper or online, do not be discouraged. Put the newspaper down, grab some resumes, make a list of places in town that you’d like to work and drop off a resume at each one. Many times the best jobs come not from the classifieds, but from literally pounding the pavement and meeting people. Lots of employers, especially those that are popular with teens, do not list job openings because they know people will come in and ask for work.

Follow up, follow up, follow up
Once you apply for jobs or drop your resumes off at places you’d like to work it may feel like you are finished and all you have to do is wait to be hired. Do not be fooled. The most successful job applicants are persistent – but not annoying. A good rule of thumb is to wait a week after applying and then give the employer a call (unless you responded to an advertisement that said phone calls were not allowed.) Or, if you met somebody in person who you would like to have as a boss, send a thank you note after your meeting. Following up leaves a good impression on potential employers.

Give yourself a job
Not interested in keeping regular hours and reporting to someone? You can also make money and gain great experience by working for yourself. If you are under 15 and can’t legally work in your state, self-employment might be one of the only ways to bring in some cash.

There’s always the traditional teen job of babysitting, which can be great, especially if you already have some experiences. However, there are lots of other creative ideas as well. For example, you can: mow lawns, wash cars, walk dogs, pet-sit for people on vacation, clean houses, start a catering service, paint houses, organize and run neighborhood yard sales for commission, garden, be a messenger or errand-runner, write, take pictures, design web pages, tutor younger students and the list goes on.

The trick to self-employment is self-promotion. To start your own summer business you’ve got to market yourself and network. Make flyers and post them in your neighborhood. Tell friends and family about your business and ask them to spread the word. Once you have some customers, ask them to recommend you to their friends and family. This will bring more customers and it will be a safer way to do business because everyone you work for will know somebody that you know.