Reasons to Get a Part-Time Job

You're sitting on your plush sofa, chomping down on your second bag of Doritos chips, and flipping through the unending channels on your TV!  The world and all of its myriad of responsibilities are an ocean away!  Now, that's a situation we've all been in and it's a pretty welcoming feeling to not have to worry too much about what needs to get done.  The bad news.  That's not reality.  I'll argue that nothing important gets accomplished by sitting around the house and watching old reruns of the Simpsons.

We all want to be independent and not have to depend on other people.  Your parent has a lot of financial obligations already, and sometimes, true, it's difficult for you to ask for a couple of dollars.
 
Reason number one:  A part-time job gives you financial independence from others.  Not only will you have your own money, but you'll be able to say, "Mom, here's fifty dollars to help out with food shopping.  I got paid this week."  You have just moved from being dependent to independent.  Nothing is better than being independent.  So, you're wondering about other reasons to get a part-time job.

The best reason to get a part-time job is to experience the world.  What I mean by this is the fact that you are now in a situation in which you have to do something for the world that you live in.  There are now people who are depending on your actions and your assistance.  One of my students shared a story about her experience working at her local McDonald's.  This is a true story.  A lady with a head scarf came up through the drive through window and ordered food.  She tried to pay with her credit card and the credit card purchase was not approved.  Apparently her card was declined.  The woman stormed into the store and demanded and explanation and blamed my student for the error and made a big fuss and dashed her cup of soda that she was holding on my student.  She was dismayed and surprised by the attack.  Her supervisor gave her the rest of the day off.  Since then, no more crazy customers; on another occasion, however, one lady did give my student a gift of some sort.  You win some, you lose some.  This vignette illustrates my point that having a job teaches you about the real world and that real situations will arise.  When such things happen, we're forced to react, adopt a stance, and formalize a response.  Somewhere in that process, a person is learning about her/himself more than from sitting in a classroom.  There's a saying that experience is the best teacher.  As young people, we need to accumulate as much positive experience as we possibly can.  You'll be better person for it.

Here are the rest of the reasons for getting a part-time job:
1) Make new friends and acquaintances
2) Become more responsible
3) Improve your communication skills
4) Demonstrate to others your skills and abilities
5) Gain valuable work related experience that you can take to another job
6) Become more confident and self-assured
7) Improve on your various relationships at home and at school
8) Feel empowered and successful
9) Become a leader and someone to admire
10) Research shows significant improvement in grades
  
​Go ahead and make that first move.  Stop sitting around and wasting your time on stuff that really doesn't matter that much.  Go to my Resume/Job Search page and begin your journey to becoming independent!