Seedlings

The Joy and Travails of Finding Your First Job

 

"Work spares us from three evils: boredom, vice and need”—Voltaire

What was the first job for which you received a pay stub?   I remember the exhilaration I felt when I looked at the dollar and cents I had earned and the adrenalin of anticipation of how I might spend, what seemed to me, an incredibly large sum.  What was the amount?  If I remember correctly I was working for $1.25 an hour so the wages for two weeks would have been about $100.

But that excitement pales in comparison to the pride I felt when my supervisor told my father what a hard worker and quick learner I was.

I don’t remember much about how I got that first job other than that my father scouted it out and took me to introduce me to my prospective employer.  In hindsight it seems like it was a foregone conclusion I would be hired.

Unfortunately, it is getting more and more difficult for teenagers to find employment.  The last two summers the number of employed teenagers were near record lows.  And, despite a slightly improving economic outlook, this summer doesn’t look much better.  Teenagers are still facing a tough time finding work—nationally 24% of the 16 to 19 year olds looking for work are jobless. 

Knowing how valuable that work experience can be for teenagers, let me offer a few suggestions on the ways in which you can help your child get a job:

• Start early. The best time to be looking for summer jobs is during the winter or early spring.

• Help your teenager put together a resume.  We didn’t need resumes when I applied for my first job.  I recall filling out an application but I wouldn’t learn what a resume was for another six or seven years.  Working with your child to create their resume is a wonderful opportunity to affirm their accomplishments and to help them begin to appreciate what employers are interested in.

• Review what to expect in a job interview.  In fact, you might want to consider role-playing with your teenager what a “real” job interview might feel like.  If your child has classmates who are also in the job market see if your child would be willing to be interviewed by the classmate’s parent.  And, of course, you could extend reciprocity.

• Did you ever suffer rejection when you were applying for jobs as a teenager or young adult?   It can be crushing to teenagers particularly if they have been very successful in school and extracurricular activities.  They make take it as a general statement about their worth or inappropriately extrapolate what the rejection means about their future.  Or, they may disparage the prospective employer, describing them as stupid or worse.  You can exercise your empathy muscles, share rejection experiences from your repertoire or that of others your teenager admires, and help your child understand that being turned down for jobs happens to everyone and that other prospective employers won’t know that he/she has been rejected. 

What tips might you offer to the prospective employee or the parent of that teenager?

“Satisfaction lies in the effort, not in the attainment.  Full effort is full victory—Gandhi

 

The Path to Achievement: Lessons from the Life of James A. Michener

“Achievement without knowledge and hard work seems to me impossible” - James A. Michener 

James A. Michener is perhaps the second or third most popular author ever in the genre of historical fiction.  He was known for sweeping sagas, covering the lives of many generations, and set in diverse geographic locales.  Among the more than 40 best-selling books he authored are Centennial and Tales of the South Pacific (which would inspire the Broadway musical South Pacific). 

Michener recognized the value of work and education.  His prolific writing allowed him to acquire substantial wealth.  During his lifetime he gave approximately $8 million dollars to establish an art museum in the small town he had grown up in.  At his death, he left his entire estate (reported to be $10 million dollars) to his alma mater, Swarthmore University.

Perhaps the most profound piece Michener would ever write, in terms of life wisdom, was entitled “The Path to Achievement” and appeared in a condensed version in the January, 1977 edition of the Reader’s Digest.  I would like to share some excerpts from the experiential reflections James Michener shared about how he acquired the powerful work ethic and thirst for education which led to his ultimate success as an author.

Michener was adopted into a large family.  His widowed mother did “sweatshop sewing of the cruelest kind, yet saved enough to send six children through high school and two through college.”  At the age of 11, James worked six days a week during every summer and delivered newspapers seven days a week during the winter months, rising at four every morning.  At age 14 he was apprenticed to a plumber and worked ten hours a day during the summer months and four in the winter.  Reflecting back on the rough circumstances he grew up under, he noted: “Instead of turning me against work, this ingrained in me the attitude that sensible people work hard to attain sensible goals.”

James Michener then described what he considered the pivotal experience in developing an authentic work ethic.  His family fell temporarily apart and he was placed in the local poorhouse.  Here he bunked with a group of “memorable old men” on the top floor of the poorhouse dormitory.  As he listened to these derelicts describe the specific disasters which had overtaken them, Michener concluded most of them had failed because of their inability to work intelligently.  This experience generated a “positive reverence for work” and helped him see that work was the “principal means whereby people achieve what they want and avoid what they do not want.”

In 1977 Michener had detected a trend in which “many of our best young people are questioning the assumptions of the Puritan work ethic.”  He respected “the young person who has the courage to keep casting about until he or she finds work that is meaningful.  But in looking, one should also be learning.  The only way to attain the goals of which the youth speak is to acquire the necessary training.”

Michener’s story probably triggers lots of memories of what chores, tasks and jobs we tackled in our youth and what lessons we gained from these experiences.  Today’s economy and labor laws may make it more challenging to “give” our children job experience at an early age. 

What types of opportunities are you creating for your children to help them discover “The Path to Achievement”? 

Let us realize that the privilege to work is a gift, the power to work a blessing, and the love of work is success.” - David O. McKay