The Infamous Job Hunt

As soon as you hit age twelve, it seems like your awareness of money just triples. Money begins to be viewed as a gateway to more independence. Sometimes, it can be a way of getting what you want. So you start off with lemonade stands, babysitting, or dog walking. Getting a crispy twenty every week can make any kid feel rich. BUT THEN…you hit sixteen years old and twenty bucks a week isn’t exactly going to meet demand. Your parents tell you to find a job, the outcome can be…grievous.

At the moment, only 25% of teens are employed in the United States. I suppose this is not so bad as parts of Europe, where I learned that a teenager holding a job is nearly unheard of. But because I’ve spent the past year applying to jobs off and on, and have yet to get an interview, it does not matter that elsewhere is worse (right at this moment in time; however, once one has the resources, they will become more capable of making elsewhere better). I live in a country where there is a one in four chance for a teenager to receive a job, and that still has yet to happen in my case.

What I have learned is that you must not be discouraged every time you hit a dead end. That is to say, you fill out your application, and drop it off with your resume at a place you are interested in working at. One week later, you follow up with a call, only to find that they aren’t hiring at the moment, or worse, “We’ll call you when we need you”. After this happens countless times, do not take it as a sign to give up. Just print out some more resumes and continue the hunt.

Statistically speaking, it is actually more difficult for a teen from a low income family to get a job because they have fewer connections. When searching for a job, younger people tend to rely on connections through their parents and friends. When one of your parents is out of work, for example, you have less stepping stones toward garnering a paying job. The shrinking availability of work for teens is rather nerve-wracking, especially when someone really needs the money. I need money to pay for gas and car insurance, while someone else needs a job to have food on the table. A lot of the time, applying for jobs is almost like buying lottery tickets, hoping to get the magic numbers.

But despite the state of the economy, we have to keep our heads up. We need to keep applying, reapplying, finding new places to apply. While waiting for a job offer, build up your resume with volunteer work and internships. Or these are all the things I keep telling myself as I hunt down my first job. But one thing is for sure, job hunting is in no way simple or some easy step by step process. Anything worthwhile requires some amount of work, and that amount is certainly not appealing in some cases. The key to a successful job hunt is perseverance; that I can say for sure.