The Benefits of Teens Getting a Job

Starting at age 14 in the United States, teenagers can get a job with limited hours. While the initial draw of a job is to make money, there’s a long list of other life skills, education, and perspective teens gain from a job.

In fact, college admissions officers told Quartz that applicants who hold jobs over the summer are far more enticing than those who volunteer at an orphanage in India or interned on Wall Street.

According to Susan Warner, an independent college counselor in New York City:

Colleges will forever find holding a job more attractive, and far sexier than going to Costa Rica to build houses and surf in the afternoons,”

Jobs, especially the mundane, unimpressive kind, can expose kids to different mindsets and social classes. And unlike volunteer travel, kids need to work to not only obtain but also retain a job – a good lesson for kids to learn before launching a career. Other benefits of working a job include:

Learning how to fill out an application and be interviewed Possibly experience rejection (if application isn’t accepted) The experience of being managed and directed by a boss Possibly gaining exposure to different mindsets and social classes (i. e. privileged kids working minimum wage) Being given the responsibility to follow a schedule that neither the teen nor their parents designed Experiencing boredom at work Learning the appropriate way to interact with co-workers and customers