How To Get A Tutoring Job As A Teenager

feature_briefcaseguy

Getting your first task is really exciting—y'all have existent-world responsibilities, and real-word money that yous earned yourself, probably for the starting time time. In your teen years specially, the independence that comes with a office-time job is especially appealing. Y'all get out of the house, run across new people, forge professional connections, and make your ain savings and spending decisions.

But you probably accept a lot of other things on your plate too: school, extracurricular activities, family, friends, fifty-fifty college applications. How do you know whether getting a job is a good idea? In this post, I'll talk almost the things you lot should consider before submitting those job applications. Hopefully you lot come abroad from this post with a better idea of whether getting a job is right for yous.

Why Do You Want to Get a Job as a Teenager?

Starting time, information technology's important to consider your motivations for getting a job. Some motivations volition lead to more than productive and more valuable work experiences than others.

Exercise y'all want to learn to develop good financial habits?
Do you want to proceeds valuable real-world professional skills?
Do you lot desire to keep busy and attempt something new, especially during summer vacation?

If you answered yes to one or more of these questions, you're on the right track. You're probable intrinsically motivated to participate in real-world work experience, which leads to valuable experiences in domains both professional and personal.

Do you experience you should get a job just to put on your resume?

It'due south true that having a job looks good on your resume for college applications. But if you lot're not intrinsically motivated to seek out work experiences, chances are you won't learn or gain much from a role-fourth dimension job. You're ameliorate off focusing on your main responsibilities: your academic operation and your extracurriculars. If you lot are still interested in seeking out non-academic activities, think about looking into volunteer opportunities where you tin develop your own unique interests and passions.

What Are You Looking For in a Teen Chore?

I've put together a list of dissimilar professional skillsets that you tin hone and develop in different employment settings. This isn't an exhaustive list, merely these skillsets are generalizable across different fields and levels of experience. Even for entry-level positions, you'll desire to consider which of these skills you could pick up equally an employee:

Responsibility—Nearly jobs crave some degree of responsibility from employees. More avant-garde expectations of responsibility would require you to learn quickly, take initiative on projects, and fifty-fifty teach or railroad train others.

People Skills Development—If you deal with a customer or customer in whatever chapters, you'll be learning to work on your people skills. If you work in a service position, like as a sales associate or waiter, you lot'll exist presented with challenging people skills bug on a daily basis. Some individuals really thrive on these ane-on-i interactions, while others don't. What exercise you recollect you prefer?

Teamwork & Collaboration—You'll develop collaborative skills if y'all're expected to work with coworkers to tackle projects or bug. Do you work better solitary, or you savour working in groups? If you're a more than solitary person, attempt challenging yourself by looking at jobs that require you to work collaboratively.

Leadership Skills—Y'all can notice jobs high in leadership skills development where in that location's "room for growth" one time you've proven yourself. In a restaurant, for instance, well-nigh everyone started off as a busser—you have to prove yourself to work your way up to host or waiter.

Professional Development—If you promise to proceeds a lot of professional connections, or experience in a very particular field, you'll desire a job that can provide the about in this domain. Information technology might be difficult to find a paying position equally an entry-level teen, simply the payoff tin can be worth it in the long run.

Dandy jobs—even entry-level ones—volition hit several of the above points. Before you recollect most submitting job applications, brainstorm which job qualities are about important to you. They'll really speak to the types of jobs that you'll gain the virtually from.

Higher educational activity costs in the United states of america have been skyrocketing for the last 20 years, but it'southward however possible to become a peachy educational activity without breaking the banking concern. Learn how you can maximize the quality of your college education while minimizing costs with our six-hour online course.

Start eCourse Now

body_venndiagram

A lot of adults are still on the hunt for their dream jobs; yous tin get a caput start!

How Much Time Should Yous Commit to a Part-Time Job?

There's no one right answer here—information technology actually depends on your other commitments.

First, you lot demand to consider teen working restrictions in your land. Many states fix maximum working hours/time restrictions for teens, peculiarly during the bookish twelvemonth or on school nights. Yous can Google search "[your state] teenage labor laws." If you're already xviii, none of these restrictions should apply to you.

Second, you demand to consider where this chore will exist on your list of priorities. Your ain well-existence should always exist your #ane priority; if your schedule is over-burdened with countless activities and sports and a task, you'll be doing yourself a disservice. Spreading yourself too thin means that quality of operation will suffer somewhere, whether it's your schoolwork or your able-bodied squad or your family life. Focus on quality, not quantity—at at the hazard of sounding a bit preachy, brand sure you lot're getting enough sleep!

If y'all're interested in getting a job because you lot want to develop professional person connections, or because you lot've found a position that aligns with time to come career interests, y'all might want to invest more time in it. Jobs like this serve you lot well in the long term for many reasons:

You develop basic employment skills, important for any resume
You can check out a career path early on to see if it's something you're interested in pursuing further
Yous may find yourself a trusted mentor or advisor in a field that you observe interesting
You may pick upward more specialized or unique skills that make yous a stronger chore applicant in the futurity, or fifty-fifty a more than interesting college bidder

body_snowflake-1

Picking upward a unique skillset will brand y'all a stand-out applicant in the future.

But yous know what your schedule can handle, but think carefully about what you're willing to commit to before you even starting time looking at jobs. It'south much easier to under-commit and take on more than hours than information technology is to over-commit and so have to cut back.

When I was in high school, I had a lot of academic and extracurricular responsibilities: I took several AP classes, participated in after-schoolhouse sports, played an musical instrument in orchestra, and joined several clubs. On top of all this, I idea it would be a great idea for me to commit nigh 10 hours a week at a part-time job.

I was able to juggle all these responsibilities, but barely—and I was exhausted all the time. I realize at present that I didn't take to prove anything by taking on another commitment, and I should take either limited my hours to the weekends or not worked at all while schoolhouse was in session. During the summers, though, I worked function-time and loved it—I would take gone crazy if I didn't have something to do, and I got to experience a more independent lifestyle the summer before I left for college. Only yous know what'south correct for yous, just I promise you can learn from my experiences!

The majority of college applicants are high school seniors, and near of the college awarding advice out there is aimed at them. But what practice you do if you don't fall into this narrow category? Our eBook on how to prepare for and apply to college equally a nontraditional student will walk you through everything you lot need to know, from the coursework you should have nether your chugalug to how to get letters of recommendation when you're non a high school senior.

Get eBook Now!

Some Examples of Rewarding Jobs

If y'all think that taking on a part-fourth dimension job is the right thing to practice, you lot'll want to start thinking about what you actually want to do! Here are some examples of fulfilling function-fourth dimension jobs for teens to get you started.

Tutoring—Gain feel as a mentor in a subject surface area you lot're skilled in, and learn to work with clients 1-on-one. Offers opportunities to develop stiff professional person relationships.

Fauna Shelter Piece of work—Working with animals is a lot of fun, and a lot of responsibleness—these creatures are completely dependent on you for their intendance. This is an especially great option if you're considering veterinary work.

Administrative Assistant—Pocket-size businesses and law firms often need help with administrative tasks. Information technology might not be especially glamorous, but you get to learn the ins and outs of a particular business, all while developing your professional network.
Babysitting—It's a big deal when parents entrust you lot to care for their kids; it can also be a lot of anarchy and fun. If you are interested in working with infants or kids in whatever capacity in the future, it tin be a huge plus to have babysitting experience. Babysitting is also a nifty side job through higher, and so the more work experience y'all accept, the easier information technology'll be for you to find work in the future.

Research—Labs at local universities often need assistance (sometimes paid, sometimes volunteer) implementing inquiry, or with authoritative tasks. If you detect an opportunity like this in a field that you lot're interested in, I would strongly encourage you to check it out! It'southward a great opportunity to meet incredible grad students and professors, piece of work on very cool projects, and put something especially impressive on your resume.

What's Next?

Interested in getting a task, merely not sure whether your bookish performance is potent enough? Learn more than about what your GPA means, the average high schoolhouse GPA, and how your grades affect college admissions.

Want to improve your Saturday score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points? We've written a guide for each exam about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download information technology for gratuitous at present:

Get eBook: 5 Tips for 160+ Points

Raise Your ACT Score by 4 Points (Free Download)

Have friends who also demand aid with test prep? Share this article!

Well-nigh the Author

Francesca graduated magna cum laude from Harvard and scored in the 99th percentile on the SATs. She's worked with many students on SAT prep and higher counseling, and loves helping students capitalize on their strengths.