Jobs for Teens: 3 Great Reasons to Work

Finding your ideal job or vocation is a process and starting early will give you an advantage.

You will have more information about what you like and dislike doing, you will find out earlier what your best skill sets are, and what environments you enjoy working in the best.

My First Job Experience

The introduction to my first job opportunity was through my mom, who knew the owner of a boat marina on the waters of Keuka Lake.

The business needed someone to pump gasoline for the boats and yachts that pulled up to the dock, so I drove down to apply in person as soon as I heard about the job opening. I filled out an application, interviewed with the owner on the same day, and got the job.

That was the summer of my 16th birthday, and I have to confess that one of the motivations for working during my "time off" was my mother's mention that when she was a teenager, she made money topping onions and harvesting potatoes in the hot, dirty fields.

I feared that if I didn't get this job I would be working in the dirty muck fields near our town (my mom was a teacher and knew quite a few people). Needless to say, a job at the dock on the lake was so much more attractive to me!

Jobs for Teens: Reasons to Work
#1 - Work to Learn About Yourself

The business owner at the boat marina had a reputation for being pretty hard to work for. I'm sure since the business was "his baby" he wanted to make sure that I would take it seriously.

I worked hard, did whatever he asked me to do, and checked back with him periodically to make sure I was completing the tasks the way he wanted.

I learned how to pump gasoline into boats and how handle different requests that customers had (customer service). I also learned to process credit card transactions (retail sales).

Soon the owner had me painting the outside of the business in between handling customers (multi-tasking), and when I finished that he had me keep the tool room organized where they repaired boats (organizational skills). Later that summer he even gave me responsibilities in the business office and taught me how to keep the books for the business (filing, accounting, and office management).

I learned a lot about myself at the first job that still holds true today. I like taking on a lot of responsibility, and being given the freedom to complete tasks on my own. I enjoy using my customer service skills, realized I have great organizational skills and enjoy a lot of diversity in my work.

Jobs for Teens: Reasons to Work
#2 - Work to Gain Skills

In addition to learning what you like and dislike, and what you are good at, as you work you will gain transferrable skills. Those transferrable skills will help you qualify for future jobs.

Working at the Marina, for example, gave me experience in customer service and office work, which I was able to leverage to obtain a job in an accounting office at a local winery when I was 19.

Jobs for Teens: Reasons to Work
#3 - Work to Gain Employment References

Since I was reliable, and flexible to learn different tasks at the boat marina, my employer was very pleased with my work and gave me excellent Employment References for my next job opportunity.

Being a small business owner in a quaint vacation area, he was well known in the area. The fact that he had a reputation as a task master was a good thing for me; getting a great reference from him was quite outstanding.