Getting the Most Out of a Summer Job

By Timothy Hayes on May 18, 2015

Leaving is one of the hardest things for me. Whenever I leave, I worry I’m gone too soon or that I’ve stayed past my welcome.

Just this past Thursday, I had to leave my job I’d had all school year. Located just across from campus, that store was one of my happy places. I could go there and forget trouble for a little while to do a job I genuinely loved.

Now, moving back home, I am faced with the prospects of getting another job. Perhaps you are facing such a situation.

Whatever you choose to do with your summer, a job is a crucial component. Most of us are paying for some part of school out of pocket so income is necessary. Your job might be bagging groceries. It might be folding clothes in a retail store. It might be painting houses. It could be anything you can find. The fun thing is you are only limited by what you can’t or won’t do.

(image courtesy of www.learnthat.com)

Some of you might have been working this semester. The rest of you, welcome to our world. Many of us will be experiencing the wonderful world of customer service in one form or another. That might be cashier, waiter, attendant, or even golf caddy.

When job hunting, look to find something you’ll enjoy. If you like being outdoors, try painting. Lots of houses get repainted in the summer since the weather is so good for so long. It can be fun, rewarding, and lucrative. Other outdoor jobs include landscape work and being a golf caddy. Camp counseling can also be a fun opportunity to travel as well.

If you want to work in air conditioning, being a receptionist can be fun. Restaurant working is good if you want a faster paced environment. If you need a slower one, try retail.

When applying for jobs, apply to lots. The more you do, the more chances you have of getting in. This means a little more work for a lot more reward since if you get accepted to multiple jobs you can take the one with better pay, hours, or benefits. This can also be streamlined by applying all at once. My advice is to take your laptop to a coffee shop, order a drink, sit down, fill out applications, and ask at the coffee shop about applying while you’re there. This tactic’s going to at least get one result.

Once you’ve got a job, keep it. Easier said than done. Keeping a job in a competitive market is tough, no doubt. When you interview for the job, make sure you are eager and honest. These traits have served me well in my jobs and you should take them and apply them to your job after you get accepted.

When you know what to do and how, do it and do it well. When you don’t, ask. Asking questions and discussing how to do things at work are crucial components to completing a job well. Besides just helping you do your job better, it allows you to impress managers and bosses. Your attitude will go further than you will.

Observe many things. For me, working in a restaurant sometimes allowed for lots of down time. As such I would poke about and observe. I watched my coworkers and how they did things. I listened to my managers complain to each other about problems with employees and what was wrong with them. I listened when higher-ups in the company showed up and heard what they talked about. I saw how top employees cleaned, cut, and sold food. I observed. By observing I understood. When I understood, I could execute.

(image from www.timemanagementninja.com)

Work hard. You could be the one in the corner who does their job, but otherwise just sits on their phone or otherwise does not engage. This will get you exactly nowhere. Unless you use your phone for your job, your phone has exactly one place: in your pocket.

Instead, if it’s dead, clean. This is not fun, trust me. I worked over winter break in the campus district of town so business was through the floor compared to just a few weeks earlier. We had to clean all kinds of things. The idea was, if you’re not doing something immediately pertaining to your job, do a cleaning project. You could be up to your elbows and kneeling in grime, but after you cleaned that crap, stood back, and looked at it, you felt really good seeing the kind of work you could do.

That kind of hard work has a twofold reward: the reward that you did something really tough and made it through it and the reward of higher status amongst your coworkers and managers. If your job doesn’t involve cleaning directly, organize. Straighten. Streamline. Engage. If you feel bored, you’re doing it wrong. Like my dad always loves to say, “Whatever you choose, do it and do it well.”

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