Ron Lieber wrote a great piece in today's New York Times, "
A Primer for Young People Starting Their First Job"
It's aimed at recent college grads who have just found salary jobs and not necessarily hourly positions like you'd find on myfirstpaycheck.com but it's great advice and everybody should know about health insurance, taxes, retirement, and such.
A fan of myfirstpaycheck.com just sent this article by Mary L. Gavin for Education.com to our attention that she thought we should share because it was a great overview on the summer job and internship experience, and we agree! But think they should have highlighted our great resume builder.
One of the great things about our site is that we managed to keep it so flexible. So while, our name seems to imply that we only allow job postings, feel feel to post (and search) for internships and volunteer opportunities as well.
That being said, I wanted to pass on this article by Tara Weiss on Forbes.com with advice on how to take advantage of a summer internship and turn int into a job offer.
Basically, "Treat it as a 10-to-12-week job interview," says Alex Taylor, a vice president of university relations at Bank of America.
And while this was written for internships, all of the advice is applicable to any entry level job. Especially this one, Don't be shy about asking
questions, especially if you need clarification on an assignment. No
one wants to be a pest, but it's best to get it right the first time.
An article from Kiplinger.com with practical and inspiring advice on job opportunities for kids (and their parents) who are too young to legally work.
Janet Bodnar writes,
"Of all the financial topics we discuss with our children, I suspect
that the job market ranks near the bottom. If anything, kids are likely
to hear us complain about work -- which could explain why 79% of
teenagers surveyed by Junior Achievement have no interest in taking up
their parents' careers.
There's a lesson here for parents who want to get their kids off the couch this summer: Prodding alone won't do the trick. Kids need your help to figure out what they can do and how to sell themselves to employers.
For example, children younger than 14, who can't work legally yet at traditional summer jobs in stores and restaurants, are perfect for the service economy. You can give them ideas of the services for which adults would be willing to pay."
While I normally wouldn't rely on Wikipedia as a resource, it's a good place to go for a summary of FICA.
It says, "The Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) tax, a kind of payroll tax, is a United States employment tax
imposed in an equal amount on employees and employers to fund federal
programs for retirees, the disabled, and children of deceased workers.
The FICA tax pays for Social Security and Medicare. The Federal Insurance Contributions Act is codified as 26 U.S.C. ch.21."
One of the not-so-fun parts about earning your first paycheck is paying your first income tax, but there are exemptions for students and people with low incomes (this is probably you). For example, FICA (Social Security and Medicare) taxes do not apply to service
performed by students employed by a school, college, or university
where the student is pursuing a course of study. For more information check out the IRS' site here.
An issue I haven't really thought about before, resumes in Word vs. PDF. Blogger My First Job Hunt: Discourses examines the issue and decides, "Personally, I much
prefer a PDF resume because you can use Word to create a nice, clean,
easily readable resume that reflects a little of your personal style
without having to worry about how it will get ruined when someone else
opens it on their computer."
I'm not sure I agree with Monica though, how many people out there use PDF's on a regular basis? I think the real trick is to have your resume formatted so that it's easily readable no matter what the computer. You don't need many lines or indents or anything, it just gets distracting
A funny story from blogger Barry Spencer,I recently started to read, about his first job, and how he still uses the skills he has learned from it. While I wouldn't try what he did at your first job, I think his story should encourage you to go out and find work and stick with it when it gets a little boring.
When I was in high school, I worked as a part-time bagger/janitor/deli clerk at the Star Market in Wellesley, Massachusetts. On slow weeknights I would get bored and practice my comedic talents by telling jokes over the public address system. If I didn't have any jokes, I would read weekly specials using a subtle amount of "exaggerated exuberance". Other times, I announced random newspaper articles or excerpts from the manual for the Hobart deli slicer.
Attention Star Shoppers. If the meat grip is not needed, it may be stored out of the way by sliding it to the top of it's travel, rotating it under the carriage tray and allowing it to rest on the retaining clip. Thank you for shopping Star Market.
The customers were the best audience ever. 20 to 30 people scattered throughout the store, each in their own world, each weighing important purchasing decisions; jarred peaches, canned peaches, or half-price dented can of peaches? Is this cantaloupe ripe? Should I buy more Space Food Sticks? The humor blind-sided them - I loved to interrupt their "focus" and watch them laugh.
My experience on the microphone at Star Market helped me later in life, when I started to give presentations. Most audiences - particularly VC audiences, need to be shaken up in order to get their attention. They need to be taken out of their "safe place", challenged by something unexpected, captivated early, and filled with curious anticipation.
A great job posting by way of Kristy Headley, "Since I am currently searching for a long-term job, and I know many others who are still looking for local ones, I thought I would share this valuable, common-sense quip (with equally healthy doses of seriousness and hilarity).
That being said, read, and enjoy."
I would say most of these pieces of advice make sense, but I think the point of point "don’t offer a full-on resume on expensive stationery when applying for a record store clerk job," is not against resumes, but rather having a good idea of what your potential employers are looking for in a hire.
Helpful hints for summer job
seekers
friends at Madhatter Music Co. (who are, incidentally, not hiring):
- don’t come in wearing a dirty shirt.
- don’t walk in with four of your friends,
ignore the counter guy’s greeting, whisper and giggle furtively for five minutes in a cluster by the front door like 11-year-old girls about to go ask Clay Aiken for a
tampon, and THEN come up and ask for a job.
- when told the place in question isn’t
hiring, don’t go “aw, man. you sure?” If I really DO need an employee but I’m suffering from a bout of temporary amnesia, it’s probably going to still be affecting me four seconds after the first time you asked.
- have a basic grasp of the English language,
decent posture, and the ability to talk without sounding like you’ve got a dog-choking wad of Bubblicious in your mouth.
- conversely, don’t offer a full-on resume on
expensive stationery when applying for a record store clerk job.
- most importantly, remember that -
especially in a small business where the owner is usually there all the time - it’d help your cause if you’d ever set foot in the place prior to asking for a job. Don’t you
think the owner of such a specialty business would already have a pool of resourceful, knowledgeable REGULARS to hit up first? People who already have a clue about what that business is all about?
Hope these are helpful to those of you out
pounding the pavement today. Especially the one about the dirty shirt. I mean, for Christ’s sake, really.
xoxo
Keith
Madhatter Music Co.
dashing minimum-wage dreams since 1988
Is what one parent blogger asks at families.com. She says, "I was surprised to find that 45% of respondents in a recent poll by the Family Education Network felt that teens should continue to receive an allowance once they start working. 47% voted "no" and just 8% had "no opinion." The blogger, Myra Turner, seems surprised to hear this, but it makes sense to me. I can't imagine most kids/teenagers are supporting themselves with income from their first job, or allowance, and allowing them to still receive some sort of allowance merely supports the money parents provides. Teaching kids/teens about budgets is still important, but I would worry that by stopping an allowance you would discourage kids/teens from working.
Blogger Molly's Brother wrote the other day about how to get a job. I think he has the right idea with his five step plan listed below.
1. Act now.
2. You don’t need to love it…
3. …but try to incorporate your future.
4. It’s never too early to start saving.
5. Learn the definition of “networking.”
Especially #1, It's almost July, you should be out there applying for things! If you do struggle to find somebody who will hire you at this point, think about agreeing to work during the fall too. A lot of places look for new hires once kids go back to school, and you should go back to school and work hard. But maybe you can arrange your schedule so that you'll be able to work one day a week or something. Ask, maybe an employer will agree to it.
Aurelia Williams has some good advice from an adult's perspective. Go to the adults in your life first. Your parents are there to help, and they often have friends who are looking for summer or after school help. Friends are more willing to take a risk and hire somebody for their first job, and if you are nervous about working, working for a family friend is a good first step.
She says "In order to help your teen find a summer job, perhaps the place you work in may need someone to help with filing or other office duties; or if your teen is pursuing a specific area of interest you can contact many companies in that particular field who are seeking interns; you can ask your teen’s counselor if there are any corporations who are hiring teens as part of a school-wide program; contact local department stores, small boutiques, or stores within malls who need assistance during the summer. You can also contact your local state and city government to determine what summer jobs they have available. In fact, some of these jobs may be out door related, which your teen may find more suitable. As a parent, you can also contact your friends and family members who may need additional help in their respective companies. In addition, there are plenty of jobs offered at summer camps where your teen can apply for a position as a counselor."
