Looking for Work?
Experience? What Experience. This is my First Job.
It takes a while when you are a young person to find that perfect job. They generally don’t teach you the stuff you need in school to prepare you for the job market. At least, when I was going to school, that was the case. I can’t imagine that it has changed all that much in 50 years. I hope it has, but somehow, I don’t think it has. I base this assumption on the young people I saw entering the job market while I was still working.
It would be nice to have known what business-like language was. Of course, that vocabulary is going to change from one job to the next, but generally speaking, using LOL or WTF is going to pretty much go over like a fart in church.
The best preparation for a young person facing the prospect of getting their first job is how much they listen and help in the family.
If you’ve got a kid who volunteers to do the laundry, who volunteers to go shopping, who is respectful and knows the basic subjects of math and language skills, you might have a winner.
If they know how to type on a keyboard (not their phones with their thumbs) all the better. If they aren’t on their phones all day, you’ve got a winner. Just saying.
They aren’t going to know already what to do in the job. Each job is different, but there are practices that thread through from one job to another. Be nice. Be polite and respectful. Listen to instructions. Look people in the eye when you are talking and smile.
Thanks for reading.