Reply to Summer jobs for 16-year-olds

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Reply to "Summer jobs for 16-year-olds — can we make a list?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The goal is teaching her responsibility, a work ethic, keeping her busy and money — all of it. Also, giving her exposure to different people and different kinds of work. Right now, she doesn’t have a clue what she’d like to study in college or what she’d like to do for a job in life. I realize she’s young for that, but she’s not going to figure that out by laying around surfing social media or hanging out at the mall all summer.

She isn’t scared of working and wants to work — this isn’t something we’re forcing on her.

Frankly, I don’t want to pay her for chores — that’s part of being in a family and doing your part. She has gotten paid for extras but it isn’t the same and it isn’t enough. She needs to start learning how the world works.

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I would also add that the process of getting a job is also valuable. DD worked for the first time last year, when she was 15. Went through an interview, filled out all the tax forms, etc. She interviewed a lot to land her summer job, and the process and rejections also taught her a lot. She is much better at communicating now, follows-up when she does not hear back, writes more professionally, knows how to dress, etc.

As a counterpoint to that, I have a nephew who is a college freshman. Great kid. Very hard working, honest, ethical, etc. A friend of the family setup an interview for him, which he did not pass. For starters, he showed up freshly showered with messy hair, and wearing a T-shirt. The friend was in the interview, and even when she lobbed softballs at him, he didn't know what to do with it. Like when she asked him about the decade plus he had spent playing soccer at a high level, he could not translate it to how he should talk about team work, work ethic, supporting his team mates, all the sort of stuff that could directly translate to work life. Even with significant coaching, he still has a hard time connecting pieces of his non-work related experience to work. After watching him, the friend talked to her kids about how to prepare for interviews, because she had not realized that this is something you have to train for.[/quote]

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