I was fortunate enough to grow up in a household that didn’t require me to have a job. In fact, my parents would often dissuade me from the idea.
“You have your whole life to work. Why start early?”
But, looking back, I can see a few reasons why “starting early” actually ended up being beneficial.
For one, the interviews that the types of jobs most high school students apply to are pretty basic and easy. But, this is why they are so important. This exposure to simple interviews, such as the ones given by Subway or McDonald's, builds a confidence that can carry over into bigger interviews later on in life that may have more at stake.
I don’t even want to imagine the idea of walking into an interview for my first full-time, professional career without having ever been to an interview previously.
Just looking at my level of confidence from my very first interview to now gives me the evidence to write this.
Holding a job while in high school also allows teens to learn a different type of responsibility. They are now in charge of showing up to work on time, completing their job correctly and everything in between. And now, instead of a parent, teacher or coach supervising, the teen has a complete stranger in charge of them.
This exposure to people outside the teen’s everyday life will also help build social skills and teach them to navigate the world in a way they may not have had to before.
Dealing with customers and coworkers can be very challenging, but it is an important skill for everyone to learn. And, it’s better to learn it at a minimum wage job instead of in the professional field later on.
Earning an income also teaches a teen the idea of money management and enforces the idea of what a dollar is worth. For kids that may have their parents to rely on to fund their every move, this is not something they have had to think of before.
Speaking from experience, it is easy to spend money you didn’t have to earn, but it's much harder to spend money that wasn’t simply handed to you.
Learning how to be responsible with money is an important skill for all teens and all adults to learn.
While these are only a few of the benefits of working in high school, I believe they are important. All the skills and experiences above will only help as teens grow up and go out into the real world. Having a job in high school is about much more than simply making money it's about learning life skills.
