Anonymous wrote:I always recommend retail or food service. Learn what real work is. How to deal with customers, co-workers, bosses. Work nights, work weekends.

My (now college freshman) did both retail and food service over the two summers before going to college last Fall.

This. Any job that is outside your SES. Where your kid really experiences how people are treated. Then maybe when you send him/her to the top schools and they graduate, they'll understand why its so important to help others.

Anonymous wrote:My college bound DC has done a lot of volunteer work but never had a paid job. She wants to get a job this spring/summer before going to college. What kind of jobs would you recommend?

When I was in school many years ago, I worked like most other kids. My kids did not work paid jobs. They worked in the lab doing research (unpaid). It helped moving on to the next step in their education.

I always recommend retail or food service. Learn what real work is. How to deal with customers, co-workers, bosses. Work nights, work weekends.

My (now college freshman) did both retail and food service over the two summers before going to college last Fall.

Camp counselor in training, student teacher in summer school, piano/violin/math/chess/French/robotics/debate coach, food kitchen volunteer, house-sitter, research intern at well-known institutes in DMV.

Except for the housesitter gig - feed the cat, water the basil and tomato plants, get the mail in - did not get paid for anything. But earned boatload of SSL hours (several hundreds), and fulfilled the mandatory service hours for the 4 honor societies he holds leadership positions in at school.

Impressive but unhooked non-W.

First job at 15: hockey referee for 5-7 year olds. Very stressful, would get screamed at by parents. Pretty good intro to the realities of the world.

2nd job at 16: worked at a restaurant in Disneyland for a year. Some of my coworkers had been working there for 25+ years. They told me: "Go to college, kid. You don't want to end up here at my age. Keep studying hard." Pretty fun job, I ate a lot of fried chicken sandwiches. Most customers were pretty nice. The holidays were always fun because guests were drunk and sneaking booze into the part.

3rd job my senior year of HS: worked at a mid-size airport in my city for a private aviation repair company. I worked in the office, taking jet part orders by phone, typing out the invoices on a typewriter, and getting ready to ship out the orders. Even back then, if you need to replace the door to the microwave on your GV, it was going to cost you a minimum of $5K. I got my own high speed golf cart that I was allowed to drive across the tarmac to access the airport employee and pilots-only cafeteria (great view!).

Who lets a 17 year-old have free range of a golf cart on a busy commercial airport runway? It was insane. Also, it was pre-9/11.

Literally any ordinary teen job will build character and give them some nice pocket money.

DH and I: grocery store worker, seafood store worker, waitress, babysitter, assistant in a newsroom (this was not a cushy internship ... it was a real minimum-wage job), assistant in a medical records office

Kids: Waiter, delivery person, ice cream stand worker, babysitter., camp counselor

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DS works at a fast food restaurant, taking orders outside. Pretty tough during the winter.

I've seen this everywhere. Why do they stand outside now? What's the purpose?

They have more time to make the order, which they actually time how long it takes each car to get through the drive through.

Anonymous wrote:My DS works at a fast food restaurant, taking orders outside. Pretty tough during the winter.

I've seen this everywhere. Why do they stand outside now? What's the purpose?

I had several jobs before I went to college because my parents made me get a job at age 14 (babysitting at 12). Ice cream shop, flower arranger in floral shop, drug store, used children's clothing store, concessions and front gate at youth sports complex, restaurant hostess... My mistake was never getting an office job throughout high school and college. Even with my bachelor's degree it was hard to get even entry level work without the experience.

Kids lifeguarded/dog walked

Before college, I worked retail in the mall.

My jobs in HS included camp counselor, shelving books at the public library, and being an admin. assistant.

My current college student taught martial arts classes (and still does when home on breaks).

-gym
-daycare

This was all on a military base, and was a great environment for DD.

-smoothie king

Spouse became team lead. Kind of odd having a 17/18 year old lead of adults but this happens a lot. I’ve seen it happen three times.

-hungry howies
-taco bell

The owner of the pizza shop refused to put me on payroll. So I was paid under the table for quite some time. Taco Bell fired me because I had a seizure and couldn’t come in to work.

Overall it was a waste of time and energy. Oh yeah, my co worker offered me coke, I of course thought he was referring to soda.

Between me, spouse and our 2 kids, these are the jobs we had either in HS or the summer after graduation before starting college:
Retail work in bakery
Lifeguard at pool
Retail at large store in mall
Babysitting
Friendly's-type restaurant server
After-school care for child with disabilities
Telemarketer
Retail/stocking at pool store
Internship in local business office