Most adolescents look forward to getting their first job: it is
a badge of their maturity and social worth, an important recognition
of how they are changing. At their best, summer and after-school
jobs provide teenagers with a chance to learn new skills, increase
their self-confidence, and ease their transition to adulthood. At
their worst, they offer little more than a menial wage in exchange
for grueling, repetitive, mind-numbing, unskilled labor that teaches
adolescents nothing about themselves or the world of work.
The experience of finding and keeping a summer or after-school
job should not be taken lightly. Researchers have found that those
first few job experiences have more significant effects on a child's
future work habits than many parents think.
Getting that first job outside the home can be a landmark for
adolescents. It's an event that clearly differentiates them from
their younger siblings and schoolmates. It is often the first formal
acknowledgement by adults outside their family and school that something
they know or can do has value in the adult world.
For a child who's having difficulty in school, a summer or part-time
job may be an opportunity to succeed. It can help him feel good
about himself, perhaps for their first time in a long while.
But the symbolic importance of this rite of passage, combined
with teenagers' inexperience with employers and job interviews,
means that for many adolescents, finding a first job can be confusing
or even frightening. It puts their self-esteem on the line.
In addition, many teenagers have misconceptions about what prospective
employers expect from them. When a colleague of mine spoke to a
group of fifteen and sixteen-year-olds about finding jobs, she found
that some of them thought that they should be wearing a business
suit and carrying a briefcase to an interview for an entry-level
job. Others in the room thought they could show up as if they had
just walked in off the beach.
Perhaps more important, may teenagers don't understand that their
employer needs to make a profit, and that their work should contribute
to that profit. This is a particularly difficulty concept for many
teens to understand, for it's unlike the relationships they have
at home or at school.
Although it may feel as if you're doing your child a favor by using
your influence to arrange for a job, that's often not the case.
In many ways, the process of thinking about and searching for a
job is as least as important to your child's self-concept as the
work itself. Their sometimes-awkward attempts to figure out where
to apply, and the daydreaming about how they will spend the money
from their paychecks, help teenagers try their new and more adult
self-images on for size.
The teenager who finds her own job will usually have a much greater
sense of accomplishment. If you arrange for a job for your child,
that denies the child's need to try out her new sense of independence
and competence. This doesn't mean you should be uninvolved. Rather,
you should play a supporting role instead of taking the lead.
One way for teenagers to express their independence is the way
they spend their paychecks. As with allowances, a paycheck allows
teens to work on money-management skills under the guidance but
not the control of their parents. For some teenagers, the sudden
influx of money from a job gives them a distorted sense of personal
economics. This misperception can have disastrous results once they
can no longer count on their parents for room and board.
Studies in the late 1980s at the University of Michigan found
that fewer than 10 percent of high school students who had jobs
contributed more than half their paycheck toward family living expenses.
Fewer than 13 percent saved half their earnings toward their education.
More than 60 percent spent most of their money on discretionary
items such as clothing, entertainment and eating out.
Long before a child begins to work, the family should discuss
that child's plans for spending and saving earnings. This is also
a good time to discuss the family budget, and whether a child will
be expected to contribute toward living expenses or schooling.
THE IDEAL JOB
The ideal summer or after-school job should provide adolescents
with four things from a developmental standpoint:
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They should have an opportunity to show that they can shoulder
some responsibility.
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They should be given a chance to learn and master new skills.
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They should feel that their work, effort and creativity are
valued.
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They should be able to work alongside adults and deal with
people who are different from their neighbors and classmates.
Unfortunately, most summer and after-school jobs obtained by teenagers
offer few, if any, of these opportunities. Too often, their jobs
require little training, are not creative, involve little responsibility,
and isolate the workers with other teenagers. The sole reward they
offer is the minimum wage. In fact, highly repetitive and mindless
jobs like those in fast-food restaurants often make adolescents
cynical about the world of adult work. The tasks are routine, unchallenging,
and regimented. The teenage workers feel, and in fact are, completely
replaceable.
Despite those problems, certain aspects of almost any summer job
can help children mature. They get experience seeing situations
from other people's perspectives. What's it like to wait on someone
rather than to be waited on yourself? How does it feel to be nice
to total strangers all day, even if you don't want to be? They also
see how their behavior affects other people. (If you come to school
five minutes late, only you will suffer. But if you're five minutes
late to your job, someone else may have to cover for you, or you
may have to work for someone else who's late.)
When you're talking to your teenager about jobs, remember that
the best jobs often pay nothing at all. Volunteer work for non-profit
organizations and social service agencies usually offer adolescents
a much more valuable set of experiences than most entry-level summer
jobs. Many volunteer positions require training and the acquisition
of new skills. The work is more varied, and the volunteers usually
feel more valued by the organizations than those who work for the
minimum wage do. (The coordinators of volunteer programs are acutely
aware of the fact that they have to "pay" volunteers in
something other than money!) Volunteer work also often puts adolescents
in touch with people from a wide range of social and cultural backgrounds.
This experience can help them become more sensitive to other people's
problems.
Volunteer work can also pay off financially in the long-term more
than a typical entry-level job. Employers of college-age workers
are generally more impressed by a work history that shows how the
teenagers accepted responsibility and followed through on projects
than one that shows that she can grill a hamburger or operate a
cash register.
If your teenager needs money, and you can afford it, you might
even consider paying a token "salary" for the volunteer
job out of your own pocket. It's an investment both in your child's
future and in the quality of life in your community.
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