According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) “sets wage, hours worked, and safety requirements for minors (individuals under age eighteen) working in jobs covered by the statute.” The FLSA also states that the legal working age in the United States is fourteen years old, with limitations on the number of hours and type of jobs minors can perform. Many teenagers want to work at age sixteen because that’s the age they’ll receive their driver’s license. Also, at age sixteen there are fewer restrictions on the number of hours a minor can work.

A parent may want their minor to get a job so they can learn responsibility and have some pocket money. These aren’t the only benefits a teenager can gain from their first job. Below are 6 objectives every teenager should learn from their first job. Understand that these lessons are a lot to gain from just one job, but if a job can provide exposure to many of these lessons, that will be great.

1. RESPONSIBILITY

For many parents, their kids’ learning responsibility is a high priority for good reasons. One of the reasons is that a parent may struggle to teach their kids accountability, and a first job is a great opportunity for them to learn it. The relaxed environment that a parent provides at home is not available at a first job, so a minor is forced to take the job seriously.

It is important for a minor to learn responsibility because they are transitioning from a minor (being responsible for) to an adult (being responsible for themselves) legally. An adult that never learns responsibility will struggle at achieving success because accountability is part of the formula to success.

A first job will give a minor the opportunity to learn an important lesson about social contracts. They will learn that in order for them to be paid an agreeable amount of money along with continuing employment, they will need to perform certain duties and responsibilities to a specific standard.

2. HOW TO WORK TOWARDS GOALS

The second important lesson teenagers should learn at their first job is that employment is a way to work towards a goal. Too often, people are just going through the motions without a specific purpose. Unfortunately, many adults are working just to work with no true objective. For a sixteen-year-old, this objective could be to save up to buy their first car, a game console, or even clothes. 

It’s important for parents to communicate that short-term material goals aren’t the only goals to work towards. Long-term financial goals such as buying a house, retirement, and possible emergencies are important for minors to be aware of. Many minors may well be aware of their own personal goals but unaware of the company’s goals. Knowing a company’s goal will help an individual mesh better with a company. They will learn cooperation and a sense of belonging to something greater than themselves.

3. HOW TO CONTRIBUTE TO A HOUSEHOLD

Many parents, because it’s their child’s first job and the income is not a lot, do not require their child to contribute to the household. This is doing the teenager an injustice and missing the opportunity for the teenager to learn a valuable lesson. When a teenager earns money and gives back to their household, no matter how small it might be, it gives them a sense of pride. That act will help increase their self-esteem. 

Secondly, they will have skin in the game and be more conscious of their impact in their house. Too many times it’s not until a child becomes an adult and has their own house or apartment that they are aware of their usage of resources in a house.

4. A SOFT SKILL 

People Skills

The fourth lesson minors should learn at their first job is a soft skill. Soft skills are defined as hard to measure and difficult to define. Examples of soft skills are creativity, communication, and patience. Its counterpart, hard skills, are defined as easy to measure, specific, and easy to define. Hard skills will be further covered in lesson five. 

An important soft skill for teenagers to learn is people skills. Many kids are interacting with other kids and adults at home and school, but this is only one-dimensional. A first job should give them the ability to work with individuals in a wide age group. From kids their age to adults that are middle-aged and senior citizens. Also, it exposes them to a dynamic of interaction with people that they are not familiar with. Most teenagers interactions are limited to their house and school. If this is their only exposure to social interaction, their growth will be limited.

A work environment that provides diversity in age and background is very valuable for minors who are only exposed to one type of people. This will help foster their development when they become adults and later on in their lives.

Time Management Skills

Time management skill is another soft skill that is very important for teenagers to learn. Everyone has twenty-four hours in a day, but it seems like some individuals have more hours in the day. They get so much done with the same amount of time all of us have. It’s not that they have more hours; they just manage their time much better. Teenagers who manage school and work will learn how to manage their time better and get more done.

5. A HARD SKILL

The fifth lesson a teenager should learn from their first job is a hard skill. As defined earlier, hard skills are measurable, easy to define, and specific. Examples of hard skills are typing, bookkeeping, computer skills, and coding. This is a very important objective. Many first jobs for teenagers are low-skill jobs due to the lack of experience, so they lack the opportunity to learn a hard skill. This is not good because it provides less opportunity for a minor to grow. The job essentially becomes less challenging in a short amount of time. Many kids get bored and essentially continue to go only for the paycheck.

6. HARD WORK IS ONLY PART OF THE EQUATION

Many minors and young people working for the first time believe that hard work is all they need to succeed. While hard work is very important, more is needed to ensure success. Many young people become discouraged and lose their drive and motivation if they are not recognized for their hard work. Home and school provide a reward system that gives them the impression that the world is designed the same way. They get discouraged if they are not recognized or praised for working hard and doing a good job.

A first job is the place to learn that hard work is not always rewarded, but that shouldn’t discourage them from not working hard and pursuing a goal. This will help them develop grit and perseverance. They will also learn that life is not fair, but that is no reason to throw in the towel.

CONSIDERATION

A first job may not provide the opportunity for a teenager to learn all of the above objectives. A first job may be part-time or short-term, such as a summer job, and does not provide enough time for individuals to work on many of these objectives. If a teenager gets the opportunity to be exposed to some of these objectives, that is enough. Some of these objectives will take time for an individual to learn.

If a job provides no opportunity for a teenager to learn any of these objectives, we suggest they forgo a job and volunteer instead. A teenager will be forgoing income as an incentive, but now they are able to be selective of where they want to volunteer. You can target what industry you want to volunteer in. Approaching an organization that you are interested in can be difficult for a teenager. They will need all the help they can get from parents or teachers to make it happen. If this course is taken, the benefits can be exponential for a teenager.

FINAL THOUGHT

A part-time or a summer job is a great opportunity for a teenager to learn responsibility and put some cash in their pockets, but those aren’t the only benefits. A first job for a teenager should provide the opportunity to learn hard and soft skills, provide an opportunity for a teenager to contribute to their household, and provide other important lessons. Many minors do not have the life experience and the foresight to see past the short-term, and it is up to adults and parents to guide them. If money and the opportunity to learn responsibility are the only objectives for a teenager to get a job, then they are missing out on other important objectives that working provides. Volunteering is a great way to achieve these skills, but it does not provide the same financial incentives as working for a wage. If a teenager has the opportunity to volunteer over working for a wage, they can be more selective and gain more experience.