So, I've decided to get off my lazy nerd-behind and do some work. Now, being a high school student, I've never done a part-time job before, or any job for that matter, and I've only volunteered at my school before. I have a resume and everything made and I'm wondering what exactly is the best way to go around looking for a job.

I'm not all too particular on what job I get. I'm fine with minimum wage, and I'm confident in my ability to learn how to do things. Also, just in case, what features would an employee look for in a resume?

P.S. I hate that SC2 has inflation of points. I have to continually ladder to stay in the top 500 NA -_-.

decafchicken

United States20168 Posts

August 26 2010 02:30 GMT

Apply everywhere. This probably wont get you anywhere but it might. Make sure you call back the next day after you apply to show your interest and iniative.

But really i would say that 90% of high school jobs and the like come from knowing someone. I've gotten all of my jobs and all my friends have gotten all of theres through a friend, parent, etc that hooked them up. Yay networking.

revy

United States1524 Posts

August 26 2010 02:32 GMT

You don't need a resume for your first job, to be honest you don't have anything to even put on a resume at this point.

My first job in H.S. was working for Starbucks when I was 15+3/4ths.

The only real way to go about it is to go to places and submit applications, eventually you'll get hired. You could also try looking in a newspaper and local want ads.

JodoYodo

Canada1772 Posts

August 26 2010 02:43 GMT

Apply everywhere, and be prepared to work. Especially if you work in food; don't complain about being tired, bust your ass, earn your wage.

Divinek

Canada4045 Posts

August 26 2010 02:44 GMT

it really helps to know someone

other than that you have to brute force it, when you hand in your resume make sure you try real hard to give it to the MANAGER in person, talk to him bullshit him up a bit, seem real interested

specifically ask 'do you have any openings at the moment'

emperorchampion

Canada9496 Posts

August 26 2010 02:46 GMT

From my experience most part-time, service jobs have application forms. Fill out a few of these wherever you feel like working, then hand them back in. Follow it up with a phone call if you get no response after like two days. You should get an interview pretty soon if they are hiring, and as long as you don't totally screw up (like you will have to reeally screw up to get rejected) they will hire you. Now go out there and sell your soul for a little money!

edit: If you are looking for a minimum wage job you do not need to know anyone, maybe it's just where I lived, but part-time service jobs were about 90% chance of acceptance. All you have to do is prove yourself and not be lazy so you don't get fired.

brian

United States9642 Posts

August 26 2010 04:21 GMT

yeah, finding minimum wage jobs is NOT difficult. anything in the food service industry is usually pretty ez. dunkin donuts for example. gotta just make sure to not hate your job. have fun with it. my first job was so great. it was like a drive thru 7-11 and I was allowed to have personality when i helped people, it was a blast.

Kiante

Australia7069 Posts

August 26 2010 04:26 GMT

Can i just make a request from you? If you do get a job in like fast food or whatever, strive to be a good employee. Too many people take those kind of jobs for granted and are rude to customers + lazy etc. Take pride in what you do even if its only a high school part time job

decafchicken

United States20168 Posts

August 26 2010 05:20 GMT

Maybe its just the economy is totally in the shitter here but i was lucky to get like one call back out of every 30 applications for shitty ass min wage jobs T_T

lac29

United States1485 Posts

August 26 2010 05:54 GMT

#10

Kumon, private tutoring, tutoring companies, etc ... they generally pay better than other HS jobs ... assuming you have the credentials to show others.

micronesia

United States24784 Posts

August 26 2010 06:30 GMT

#11

What are some things you like to do and places to go? A job I had in college was doing carts/range/etc at the university golf course. I like golf so it was a good place to be in general and the perks were great (free range/golf sometimes). See if you can find something that accomplishes the same thing for you.

ATeddyBear

Canada2843 Posts

August 26 2010 06:49 GMT

#12

On August 26 2010 14:54 lac29 wrote:
Kumon, private tutoring, tutoring companies, etc ... they generally pay better than other HS jobs ... assuming you have the credentials to show others.

My friend STRUGGLED to get a job tutoring and she's finished teachers college, has experience etc.

You're going to have to apply everywhere. Retail is great experience to have, as you gain some you'll have a lot more opportunities which really helps to get you through university. Although right now, lowly jobs are hard to find, with tons of competition.

Kin~Slayer

Canada56 Posts

August 26 2010 07:00 GMT

#13

1. ask to speak with the manager
2. Smile!! It'll make you feel better I promise

I was at an employment workshop and the guy ran it told us something profound: Employers want to know that you can do 3 things and that's it
1. Solve their problems
2. Make them money
3. Grow their business

Believe you can do that and prove it and you're in.

Sorry about all the numbers, I wanted to be as clear as possible.

IMO try to avoid the McJobs. While most the ppl there are great I just found the attitudes of the people esp. the managers and the atmosphere very depressing and exhausting. Go for something different, maybe work for your parent's friends or something that'll actually interest you, like a hobby shop. Heck maybe even deliver the community newsletter... which will be nice cuz we all know that nerds never excercise.

Opportunities are boundless, you just need to look for them

That being said McJobs = something familiar and hopefully steady

My friend STRUGGLED to get a job tutoring and she's finished teachers college, has experience etc.

My friends a history major and started his own tutoring company and is doing quite well with it

Ipp

United States456 Posts

August 26 2010 13:15 GMT

#14

I was an Umpire when I was in high school and I will still umpire the occasional game. Around here Umpires make $50/game and each game is 2-3 hours. It will most likely require training and some equipment so if you do this it will take 2-3 weeks to recoup your starting costs.

Personally I've never worked in retail or anything but if I were to; it would be at a mall in some department store. Its big enough where you can hide from coworkers and has enough employees so you are bound to hit it off with someone.

lac29

United States1485 Posts

August 26 2010 15:16 GMT

#15

On August 26 2010 15:49 ATeddyBear wrote:

Show nested quote +

I guess it really depends on a lot of things. If you're doing something like tutoring for SATs or HS level math ... then you better have some good scores to show ppl. You also need to be advertising for yourself. In the Asian community it's easy since you can often get your parents to spread the word among other parents (church, Chinese school, etc). You need to be posting on CL and high schools, etc if you're doing it by yourself. Right now I'm making $20/hr teaching SAT/essay writing/college app prep/pre-calc to 4 high schoolers. A lot of it was through word of mouth. I hear it isn't too difficult to work for Kaplan or other tutoring/study companies assuming you've done well in whatever you want to teach.

I do however, think it's a good idea to also do regular sales/waiting work. I actually tried to get a restaurant job as a waiter many years ago in Chicago and found that I couldn't get any because they all looked for waiters who had experience. I've been told that because Chicago is a big city, competition for waiting jobs are fierce, so I'm guessing it'd be easier to find a waiting job in the suburbs.

Snet

United States3573 Posts

August 26 2010 15:40 GMT

#16

Don't be too proud to do the less glamorous jobs like fast food and retail. Everyone starts somewhere and the more time you have at a stable job, the better it looks when you get out of college and apply for real jobs.

Also, take your jobs seriously no matter where you work at. Try and collect as many managers and supervisors who will be willing to write letters of recommendation in the future.

micronesia

United States24784 Posts

August 26 2010 15:47 GMT

#17

I've always felt it's important to do a cashier job at some point in your life. The experience you get dealing with money is useful and important. I went from having no idea how to hold money to counting out thousands of dollars in a matter of seconds :p

tofucake

Hyrule19229 Posts

August 26 2010 19:03 GMT

#18

Getting a cashiering ("Sales Associate") job at a grocery story usually isn't that difficult. You'll be trained how to handle money (like micronesia said), and "Processed up to $4000 daily" is a nice resume bullet.

When you get to college/turn 20ish, a good job to get is a barback position somewhere. Barbacks make wage+10% of all servers' tips. On slow nights, barbacks will often make more than a bartender. Also, it opens you up to becoming a bartender yourself, which is VERY good money if you work at a popular bar. Sports bars are great as they often have things like Quizzo, which can draw huge crowds even mid-week.

lac29

United States1485 Posts

August 26 2010 19:09 GMT

#19

I wonder though if you need previous experience being a barback. I assume it takes a certain networking acumen to get a position as a barback without having any experience (besides calling yourself a bar-hopping regular).

hoborg

United States430 Posts

August 26 2010 19:43 GMT

#20

When you apply for jobs at retail places nowadays, most have electronic applications and they make you take some long annoying 'personality test'. They're looking to make sure you answer consistently, and that you would stop your bestest friend if you saw him stealing from their business.

Just grind through those things at as many retail places are around you, you'll have to apply to like 20 places before you have a good chance of getting called back on one of them.

An alternate route could be to find a temp/staffing agency near you that fills positions for warehouses and manual labor and such. Let them know the times when you're available - like weekends or 2nd shift weekdays - and they'll call you when they have jobs they need filled quick. This would probably be better paying work than retail, but it would be less regular.