High school keeps you busy if you are involved in various organizations, but it's very important that you find time to get a job of some sort before you head off to college. Whether it be a part-time job at a local restaurant or just a summer job at a sno cone stand, having work experience is extremely beneficial before you go off to college, or even just in general.
1. It teaches you time management
Having a job when you're young prepares you to be better with managing your time in the future. You learn how to organize your day and balance your priorities. This helps you be more responsible, and will make managing a more time-consuming job in the future easier because you've had practice.
2. You learn the value of the dollar
Working opens your eyes to how the economy actually works. You start to understand the importance of a budget and knowing what you can afford. You learn that working for $7.25 an hour only pays for a sandwich without a drink. It's way better to learn about saving and spending before you're actually on your own. When you work for your own money, you begin to value the money your parents provide more and appreciate what you get.
3. You have to deal with people of all ages
When you're at school, you're mainly just around your peers all of the time. Once you get a job, you are around people of all ages including your coworkers and the customers. It's good to learn how to communicate with different generations while you are young because it could help with future jobs and will help in life just in general.
4. You take away little convenient skills
With every job you have, you will learn cool new tricks to make things easier or to communicate better with others. Whether it's rolling silverware, making drinks, cutting fruit, or counting money, it can be useful as well as how to keep customers happy or how to deal with complaints.
5. You gain references
Jobs provide you with connections. If you work hard and stay on peoples' good sides, you could possibly use them to put in a good word for you when you try to apply for future jobs.
6. You make friends you probably would never had met
Your coworkers will come from all different walks of life, and your paths may have not ever crossed if it wasn't for meeting at work. There are some pretty incredible people out there.
7. It gives you an extra purpose
It's nice to feel like you have obligations outside of going to school. Even if you are just flipping burgers, you are making a difference and contributing to society.
8. You learn how to earn what you want
When you are making your own money, you get to decide how you want to spend it. It's nice to know that you earned your own stuff and that you have the ability to save up for things you want.
9. You gain experience working for someone
Even though you have experience working for your teachers, it's different working for an actual boss. You have to learn how to do things someone else's way instead of your own. This will help prepare you for all the different college professors you will have as well as future employers.
10. You become better respected when others recognize everything you have wasn't handed to you
No one likes a person that gets whatever they want without doing anything. We all know that person who's parents give them whatever they want and do everything for them. Society will better respect you if they know you are helping your parents out or see that you're taking some responsibility for yourself.
11. You realize why you're going to college
Last, but not least...working minimum wage jobs helps you see what you're really working towards. It's very complicated to make a living with $7.25 an hour. You would have to work a lot of hours and miss out on a lot of things you wouldn't want to miss out on. Working a small job before you go to college gives you more motivation to finish and reach your goal.
