Many teenagers want to work to make some extra income, but if you’re still a high school student with no prior experience, where do you go to find a decent job? The best jobs for teens are those that will allow you to work around your schedule, and that can be a challenge sometimes. The good news, however, is that there are things you can do to increase the odds of finding the perfect job, meaning a job that fits your schedule and has a decent pay as well. Keep reading to discover expert tips for how to get a job as a teenager, even if you’ve never worked a day in your life!
- Choose Jobs That Align With Your Interests and Goals
The easiest way to give yourself the greatest advantage in a job is to choose one that leans into your strengths and interests. If you know you want to be a computer programmer, you can look for jobs at offices that hire IT people. Though you may not initially be qualified to do any actual programming, this is one of the best ways to get to know full-time programmers and learn what they do on a daily basis, while picking up some valuable skills along the way. If you love being outside when you work, your first job could include working at a construction company, landscaping company, or even a home-improvement company. Most of these businesses hire part-time help even if you have no experience.
If you’re a people person, try being a server at a restaurant or a clerk in a retail store. Lots of summer jobs involve these types of opportunities, and they teach you a lot of real-life skills, from communication to cash management. If you love being active and moving around as you work, you can work as a maid, a car wash attendant, or even a moving company. In fact, finding a job as a dog walker is one of those outdoor opportunities that some people have turned into 7-figure gigs by adding upsell services (like training, extra long walks, or dog sitting), building up a loyal recurring client base, and group clients together so you’re able to walk multiple dogs at once. Don’t discount the earning potential of a job like this just because it’s typically associated with part-time work or an hourly rate.
- Ask the Adults in Your Life for Recommendations
Many adults know of people who need extra help in their businesses, and if hard work doesn’t bother you, you can easily qualify for most of these jobs. Keep in mind that many teen jobs involve a lot of physical work, but every job teaches you very important skills, and these jobs are a great place to start when work experience is what you need. In other words, you can’t be very picky when it comes to a job when you’re a teenager, but you should never consider any job to be unimportant.
Adults also may need extra help themselves, whether they manage a business or they need help around the house – think house-cleaning, closet or garage organization, and yard work! Plus, adults were young people looking for a job at one point, so most of them are very willing to help you find a job of your own. And while many of these jobs pay only minimum wage, if you look hard enough you can find ones that pay a little more or grant you the skills to break out on your own in an entrepreneurial stint. The point is, the adults in your life, including teachers and parents’ friends, can be a huge help in helping you find a good job, and you’d be remiss not to tap into their wisdom, network, and experience.
- Create a Basic Resume
Regardless of what type of job you want, a resume can help you get it. Managers will be impressed that you have a resume, since many teens don’t, and it can give you that extra edge and help you get the job in the end. Don’t worry that the resume doesn’t list a ton of prior jobs because employers know that you’re still young. That said, you should still aim to craft a resume around your achievements and involvements, ranging from volunteering to leading clubs in school. The goal is to convey the ambition, dedication, talent, and value that you bring to the new job opportunity on one page to position yourself as the most desirable and hungry candidate.
What exactly should you include on your resume? First, basic contact information, which includes an email address and your cell phone number. List your educational information next – the school you go to, when you expect to graduate, and any clubs or extracurricular activities you participate in. If you have any work experience, list that next. If you don’t, write about the type of job you’re looking for and what your career goals are. If you present yourself optimally, the hiring manager will be impressed with your forward-looking goals and ambition, regardless of how long the resume is.
- Go Ahead and Start Applying for Jobs
To start with, your goal should be to go out and ask various places if they are accepting job applications. Many will say “yes,” and you should aim for filling out three to four applications each time you go out there. Keep in mind that if you want to apply for a place such as McDonald’s, you’ll need to fill out an application for each location because each of these is a separate franchise with separate managers. Jobs that promote customer service skills usually need a lot of employees, including coffee shops and restaurants, so there may be many local opportunities available.
Remember that some of the time, especially if the facility is in dire need of extra employees, the manager may decide to interview you on the spot. Be prepared for this, and present a very professional front. If you find a job in the food service industry, they likely won’t require any previous experience. While it’s very rare that a restaurant or diner will hire teenagers, even older teens, for a leadership position, it doesn’t hurt to mention and demonstrate your interest in taking on greater responsibility, even if that means shadowing the manager, filling in for sick employees, or taking over the least desirable aspects of the job to earn your stripes and prove your dedication if you’d like to advance up the chain or to leave with a stellar reputation and recommendation.
- Practice for Your Potential Interviews
Eventually, you’ll graduate from jobs you tolerate to a good job you actually love, but in order to reach those more desirable jobs, you’ll have to first ace the interview. Whether interviewing for part-time work, a summer job, or a full-time post-graduation career job, the interview for any work opportunity needs to be taken seriously, as this is the beginning of your professional reputation. A successful teenage interview is going to be a combination of preparation, presentation, professionalism, and eagerness to pursue the opportunity at hand.
In terms of presentation, you should obviously sit still, sit up straight, and make eye contact with the interviewer. Regarding professionalism, don’t fidget, and when a question is asked, pause for a few seconds to get your thoughts straight. Always answer honestly and completely. In terms of preparation, the managers know you don’t have a ton of experience, but they want to get to know you a little better before going any further. Therefore, it’s worth taking the time searching and rehearsing an array of behavioral interview questions so you’ll know how best to answer the questions you can anticipate and how to respond to those that catch you off guard, as well.
If you’ve never had a job before and fear your lack of on-the-job competence is your Achilles heel, not to worry because it’s your soft skills employers are concentrating on most pre-hire. These are skills that allow employers to get to know the real you, instead of what you can do for them if you’re hired, as they’ll teach you the job-relevant skills once you’re an employee. Therefore, the more you practice your interviewing skills, the better off you’ll be, regardless of your lack of work experience.
- Go Online to Search for Jobs
There are numerous ways to search for jobs online, and the online marketplace is perfect for finding jobs that teens can do on a part-time basis. The best part about searching for jobs online is that you can get very specific regarding what you’re looking for. Two of the most popular sites include Indeed and Monster, but a quick Internet search can suggest more of them easily. On the right jobsite, you can find jobs at movie theaters, restaurants, corporate offices, and so many others.
Searching online for jobs is a good way to practice your technology, research, social media, and LinkedIn skills as well, which are likely to be very important regardless of any future job you might have. Your work experience includes starting with a part-time job and moving into other types of jobs as you gain more experience. Don’t try to have it all at once; you need time to gain experience one job at a time, and as it was mentioned earlier, no job is considered unimportant.
- Check to See If You Need a Work Permit
Some states require that workers under a certain age have a work permit before applying to jobs. You’ll need to check this out before you start applying. Right now, all you’re likely thinking about is making some extra money and not your future career, but it’s crucial that you take all of the right steps to get there. Regardless of the type of job you want or even how bleak your bank account may look, you still need to start at the very beginning and check to see if a work permit is needed where you live.
To do this, check with your local clerk of court or labor office or even your school because one of these will know for sure where to find out this information. Whether you’re looking for a virtual assistant job or a job at a local diner, you may or may not need a work permit, and you’ll need to know this for sure before you go any further, particular if you’re under 18.
- Network on Work-Related Websites
A lot of time, networking is the best way to get a job. A great place to start when looking for a job is a professional social networking website such as LinkedIn. You can create a profile for free and immediately start networking with others, and doing so will jumpstart your digital professional profile and public employment record online, which will only help open up the doors to more job opportunities in the future. The minimum age requirement is 13 years old to get onto LinkedIn, and once you’re there, you’ll have numerous tools to help you network with others. It’s also an easy way to learn how to be more professional, since it is a site just for professionals!
When it comes to social networks, this is one of the best, and since people post on it daily, you can check the site on a regular basis if you don’t find something you like the first time. You can also specifically mention that you’re in the market for a job, and anyone who comes across your profile will notice it and will likely respond.
- Always Follow Up With Prospective Employers
A part-time job allows you to gain valuable experience in the job market, but the job market is also very competitive. Because of this, you need to gain an edge over other applicants any way you can. One of the things that it’s good to make a habit of is sending each person you interviewed with a thank-you note. This may sound a little ridiculous, but it can make a big difference. It’s one of those “soft skills” that can help you stand out above the rest in a hiring manager’s mind.
The goal with the note isn’t to be lengthy or verbose; instead, it should be specific enough that it touches on small details you picked up from your interviewer, thus impressing them with your attention to detail and the extent to which you paid attention and remembered their anecdotes. Sometimes the small act of following up can be the difference between you getting the job and a competitor candidate against whom you were neck and neck.
- Don’t Just Consider Regular Jobs
When you’re looking for teen employment, don’t just look for regular jobs (or those posted on LinkedIn or with “Help Wanted” signs in the windows in your town). You may want to explore contract or 1099 jobs, which simply means you get paid by the project and not by the hour and without a set salary or benefits. These jobs can include creative gigs like that of a graphic designer, freelance writer, or video editor, and can be found on freelancer marketplace websites like Fiverr or Upwork. The only complexity you have to remember is that with that 1099 form comes the requirement that you pay your own taxes.
If you’re okay with a seasonal or summer job, you may want to reach out to summer camps, holiday (winter break camps), or other seasonal operations that will likely need part-time help of some type. You can also consider online jobs, including taking online surveys, though many of these jobs pay in gift cards, instead of actual cash, and they may not provide a steady stream of reliable work.
- Learn What You Need to Improve
Good luck is not the only prerequisite for getting a job. Even entry-level jobs will require some type of skills, particularly communication skills. That said, other more job-specific skills may be learnable or improvable for free from home by leveraging Google, YouTube, or even purchasing a job-relevant or industry-specific online course. Having a completed course certification and the skills and credentials it taught under your belt is a significant boost to your resume and a big step up in showing a recruiter that you’re not only serious about the job, but are dedicated to constant learning and self-improvement, which makes for a great and teachable employee.
- Consider Doing Unusual or Unique Jobs
There are numerous jobs that are a bit unique compared to others, and most of them involve some type of remote online work. Some of the best online jobs include rating and reviewing video games, testing apps or beta startup products, and even doing basic data entry work in your home. Some of these jobs pay well and some do not, so you’ll have to research them thoroughly to make sure the pay is acceptable to you.
This being said, online jobs can be either permanent jobs – especially if you enjoy working from home – or jobs that are temporary and will allow you to make an income until you find something more permanent. Some jobs may provide the inspiration for a lifelong career, while others are simply a temporary means to an end to help kickstart your work experience and accelerate your incoming cash flow, both of which are worthwhile endeavors.
- Start Working for Yourself
If you’ve tried everything and still haven’t been able to get a job, a good next step is to go to work for yourself or start a new venture of your own. Everyone has something they are good at, and once you figure out what yours is, you can pursue the entrepreneurial path of creating your own opportunity and working for yourself. You can start a lawn service, babysit, house-sit, be a dog walker, weed people’s yards, go shopping for busy people, or even be a tutor. If you consider what you do well and go from there, it’s easy to understand how starting your own business can be lucrative.
If you’re going to do this, make sure you do it right. Get a business license, buy some business cards, keep track of all of your expenses and income, and most importantly, pay your taxes. Do everything “by the book” because if you’re ever caught not doing it that way, you might get into trouble with the IRS. The best part about working for yourself is that you can determine your own schedule, which is perfect for busy teenagers, and you’re likely to make more money than you would with any other job, as the only constraints on your earning potential are how much time and effort you choose to dedicate to your venture.
Conclusion
Finding a job when you’re a teenager is not as difficult as you might think, and the more you put yourself out there on LinkedIn and by networking with business owners, on job sites, and even with young adults, the better chance you’ll land an opportunity. The smartest thing to remember is that the job market fluctuates, so do some market research and be prepared for what might happen, from the seasonality of certain fast food restaurants to the additional duties that might generate extra cash during the holidays, like gift wrapping or seasonal marketing. It’s also good to remember that this is the start of your career, not the end of it. Because of that, you should treat every job you get as a stepping stone to becoming what you wish to be some day.
Most importantly, don’t give up because it can take anywhere from two interviews or twenty (or more) to finally get the job you’ve been hoping for, but as a young person, you have plenty of time for multiple employment (or entrepreneurial) and money-making pursuits, from your first part-time job to the type of work that will become your lifelong passion. Now that you’re equipped with these tips, age shouldn’t stand in the way of your ability to make the most of your free time and start earning your own money, as you’re well prepared with the knowledge of how to get a job as a teenager.
