At the ripe age of 17, all you really need is a car and a full tank of gas. For teenagers, these two individual images represent a freedom that has been limited since the time of birth. The exciting feeling of being able to go wherever you want to go is now in your grasps, and the ability to do whatever you want to do (for the most part) can be achieved. Unfortunately, these symbols of teenage liberation cannot be produced without the presence of green slips of paper that fit perfectly into a traditional wallet. Enter: The Summer Job.
Summer work has always been considered one of the largest elephants in the room around the dinner table during the months of April and May. We know we have to tackle the daunting tasks of filling out applications and creating resumes. In my opinion, at the core of what makes it daunting is not in the actual application; it's the fear of rejection. Generally, as Millennials were raised in a society where everyone receives a trophy; the concept of losing is foreign to us. Now when there is an opportunity where we might lose (i.e. not get the job), we become scared, and without the right support, it might just mean we do nothing at all, paralyzed.
Once we move past the stage of fear, we enter the stage of waiting. This means that all of our applications are in and we are waiting for the call or email back. The sad truth of this matter is that often these calls never come. The even more depressing truth is that down the road - these calls will come even less. Pressures like the minimum wage, automation and older people taking part-time work in retirement or just to make ends meet means looking for work in the summer is a lot different than when our parents had to do it.
Congratulations, you got the job. What’s next? Well, for starters you will be getting up early in the morning and getting home late at night. After all, you want to make money, right? Wrong. Your paycheck will not be as large as you thought it would be after taxes are taken out. That’s all right; you will have a chance to meet new people including that very loud woman who is yelling at you for not bagging her groceries fast enough. Sometimes summer jobs are not always what we expect. In fact, summer jobs tend to be less about the money and more about the learning experience. You will learn dependability. You will learn that not everything is handed to you on a silver platter. Most importantly, you will learn basic people skills. All of these learned forms of human capital will outweigh the short-term physical capital in the long run.
After all was said and done, you finally bought that car and filled it up with unleaded juice. You can do anything now. You have confidence because you conquered your fear, you are happy because you beat out all of those other applicants, and you are smarter now that you learned a few life lessons. The only question now is, where should you go?
