S/O Best job for teenager for benefits, possible future job growth after college

[Anonymous]

DD is 16 and wants a job (would be first job). We are a middle class family, with HHI in the $220K range, so money from job will be for her own use. DH and I come from poor backgrounds and have worked since we were both 14, so it feels normal to us for her to work. We'd like to find something with benefits to get her accustomed paying into 401K, meeting expectations to someone other than family (being on time, having to be somewhere, time management) and learning how to perform under pressure without us there to save the day..

She is not interested in babysitting, life guarding, tutoring or food service. I think she heard that Target raised their minimum wage to $13hr (starting in June), so that's her first choice. But I'm wondering are there any other options out there? Any places that offer tuition reimbursement for long term part-time employees? or 401k matching for part timers? She'd like to work about 25 hours in the summer and 8-12 hours during the school year. I was thinking about TJMAXX, HomeGoods, Marshalls, Starbucks or Wegmans/Giant.

Any suggestions/discussion/opinion on the topic is greatly appreciated.


Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Most places will not offer benefits for part time employees

[Anonymous]

Unless she wants to work in retail after college, why not get an internship in a field she is interested in? An internship may pay little or nothing but can be invaluable for experience and connections in a profession.

[Anonymous]

Any job is good. Benefits aren’t likely in a part time job. I am a parent of teens who either work or are looking for work so I’m pretty experienced in the benefit issue.

[Anonymous]

All of our connections for internships (we don't have many) have turned out to be duds. And we live in the far out burbs of Nova. So that's why I was suggesting the retail. DD would love something where should practice/improve her Spanish (she is currently on a 8 week foreign exchange program in Spain). Her goal in life is to either work in international law/international public service or an astronaut??? Our NASA internships were the duds.

[Anonymous]

She can apply for internships too. Most are gotten by applying like a job not through connections.

[Anonymous]

I've been helping DS start looking for a summer job. First, forget about benefits, it's extremely rare for a PT job. Many of the big retail chains only hire age 18+. The biggest categories are camps, cashier at food places, grocery store (stocking, retrieving carts). If she's not interested in those and wants some other retail work, try small local businesses.

I'm having DS go to our county's youth job fair later this month to see if there are any other ideas beyond cashier/counselor. But, really, either of those are fine for a first job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DD is 16 and wants a job (would be first job). We are a middle class family, with HHI in the $220K range, so money from job will be for her own use. DH and I come from poor backgrounds and have worked since we were both 14, so it feels normal to us for her to work. We'd like to find something with benefits to get her accustomed paying into 401K, meeting expectations to someone other than family (being on time, having to be somewhere, time management) and learning how to perform under pressure without us there to save the day..

She is not interested in babysitting, life guarding, tutoring or food service. I think she heard that Target raised their minimum wage to $13hr (starting in June), so that's her first choice. But I'm wondering are there any other options out there? Any places that offer tuition reimbursement for long term part-time employees? or 401k matching for part timers? She'd like to work about 25 hours in the summer and 8-12 hours during the school year. I was thinking about TJMAXX, HomeGoods, Marshalls, Starbucks or Wegmans/Giant.

Any suggestions/discussion/opinion on the topic is greatly appreciated.


Thanks.

I'm sorry, but this type of comment drives me absolutely crazy. Please correct your misperception - you are upper middle class. OK, please carry on.

[Anonymous]

Teen jobs don't lead to future job growth. That title is off. In other words, it doesn't matter what the job is is long as she learns responsibility, punctuality, ownership. That's what is going to contribute to her future job growth. Not title or (snicker) benefits.

[Anonymous]

Any job experience is good for a teen. She should look for something of interest even if it is not a career goal. Like to bake? work at a bakery. Like crafts? work at AC Moore. Like sports? Dicks Camping? REI. Also consider the discounts..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Any job experience is good for a teen. She should look for something of interest even if it is not a career goal. Like to bake? work at a bakery. Like crafts? work at AC Moore. Like sports? Dicks Camping? REI. Also consider the discounts..

+1. OP mentioned meeting expectations, being on time, having to be somewhere, time management, etc. and any job will give her DD that experience.

I started working retail in the local mall at 16 and that was a great experience. No, I didn't have a 401K (that's ridiculous to expect at 16) but I did learn a heck of a lot and it prepared me for the next job experience. At this age you build on experience, rather than come right of the gate with an actual career.

[Anonymous]

Mine helped me. I took it and each step after that was like a skipping stone to the next.

What was it? Working for a dentist. I did filing, sometimes reception, insurance phone calls, and sometimes cleaned instruments or put together the next set of clean trays (when each patient comes in, they each need a set of cleaned instruments, fluoride choices, some fresh disposable items).

That was 15-20 years ago though. With digital files and adults having harder economic times, they may have done away with teen assistants.

No I did not get into dentistry, but it helped me stand out as compared to my peers who worked at the ice cream shop.

And then every job from there got bigger.

[Anonymous]

The only useful benefit for a part-time teen employee is the employee discount. No one is going to do tuition reimbursement or 401K matching for part-time retail clerks. Pick some stores related to her interests. See if they have other teens working there, which will indicate that they are open to hiring them and that they have some experience working around school schedules.

[Anonymous]

You are dreaming and out of touch with reality if you think your teen can get a job with benefits when there are kids from 4 year colleges who struggle. Why don't you just make her contribute to a Roth IRA?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD is 16 and wants a job (would be first job). We are a middle class family, with HHI in the $220K range, so money from job will be for her own use. DH and I come from poor backgrounds and have worked since we were both 14, so it feels normal to us for her to work. We'd like to find something with benefits to get her accustomed paying into 401K, meeting expectations to someone other than family (being on time, having to be somewhere, time management) and learning how to perform under pressure without us there to save the day..

She is not interested in babysitting, life guarding, tutoring or food service. I think she heard that Target raised their minimum wage to $13hr (starting in June), so that's her first choice. But I'm wondering are there any other options out there? Any places that offer tuition reimbursement for long term part-time employees? or 401k matching for part timers? She'd like to work about 25 hours in the summer and 8-12 hours during the school year. I was thinking about TJMAXX, HomeGoods, Marshalls, Starbucks or Wegmans/Giant.

Any suggestions/discussion/opinion on the topic is greatly appreciated.


Thanks.

I'm sorry, but this type of comment drives me absolutely crazy. Please correct your misperception - you are upper middle class. OK, please carry on.

+1