How Your Summer Job Can Get You Ahead Later in Life

Summer’s around the corner! How are you spending your summer break? Playing video games and relaxing with your friends sounds pretty fun… But how about getting a summer job? Besides earning your own money and making new friends outside of high school, summer jobs come with a long list of benefits including:

Building Up Your CV

When you and thousands of other students graduate high school, competition for new jobs gets fierce. But if you’ve been working summer jobs for the last couple of years, your impressive CV automatically puts you ahead of the pack. In Ontario, teens can legally start working from 14 years of age. Every summer job you take on in your teens will put you another step forward. Hopefully, you’ll also collect glowing references from past managers that will reassure future employers that you’re hardworking, reliable and a huge asset for their company.

Need help putting together your first CV? Check out this guide.

Exploring Possible Careers

Summer jobs are an excellent way to get a taste of different careers. Enjoy cooking? A job as a dishwasher in a restaurant gets you a behind the scenes look at how a chef operates. Love animals? Get a job at a vet clinic or shelter and chat to the veterinarians and nurses about what their jobs involve. Perhaps working with younger kids as a camp counselor leads you towards a teaching career.

The cool thing about summer jobs is that they’re only for a few months. So if working in a café wasn’t as interesting as you thought it would be, apply to be a lifeguard or retail assistant next summer.

Gaining Skills That Last a Lifetime

Future employers will look for transferable skills when hiring; these are skills and abilities that can be easily transferred from job to job. Summer jobs help you build transferable skills like accountability, punctuality, leadership, time management, and listening, to name a few. You’ll get practice using your initiative, taking responsibility for your actions, working with deadlines, meeting sales targets, being a team player and dealing with difficult customers – all highly useful skills whether you’re 14 or 40!

Learning How To Manage Money

Getting your first paycheque sure is cool! Suddenly you’re making your own money and can buy the things you’ve always wanted. As a teen, you don’t yet have major expenses, so it can be tempting to spend every cent you make. But that will get you in hot water later in life! Use this time to learn how to manage your money properly. Investopedia suggests the SAVE, SPEND, SHARE method:

• Save 50% – set this money aside for a rainy day
• Spend 40% – treat yourself to that shirt or game you’ve had your eye on
• Share 10% – donate money to help others in need

So say you get paid $100, you would put $50 into a dedicated savings account, $40 is yours to spend now, and $10 goes to a cause or charity you care about.

Establishing Good Relationships

Getting a summer job opens up your social circle to a whole new set of people! You’ll learn how to quickly make new friends outside of your school, and get used to working with different personalities. Even if your job is only for a couple of months, do your best to make a good impression. The connections you make now might help you get a full-time job when you’re done high school.

Ready to get your first job? Check out Youth Connect’s 8 things you should know before starting a part-time or summer job, or meet with educational and career consultant Marlene Kaiman for advice on finding a summer job that suits your needs and aspirations.