Apple Meet Abacus: Old Techniques for New Jobs
Apple Meet Abacus: Old Techniques for New Jobs
July 13, 2011
We live in a high tech world: cars can parallel park themselves, coffee machines brew automatically, and you can even see your dog playing in the yard on Google Maps. With all of this fascinating technology at our fingertips, we often get the idea that all of life’s problems can be solved with a click or a download. However, some basic challenges remain best solved by tried-and-true methods; landing a summer job is one of them.
I have had a mix of summer jobs during my youth. I’ve washed dishes at a pizza restaurant, moved crates at a chip factory, computed data at a school district, and filled prescriptions at a pharmacy. While this is a pretty diverse set of summer jobs, they were not acquired without effort on my part. There is no magic solution, no quick fix, and there’s certainly no “App for that” that will systematically get you a summer job.
My first summer job was at a pizza restaurant. I asked for an application, completed it, and submitted it with my résumé. My parents helped me prepare for the interview, I read over my résumé, and got the job! This is a relatively straight-forward way of applying for plenty of positions.
Another summer, I worked as an assistant at the school district office on a youth summer camp program for teenagers. While you may not think camp is cool, what’s interesting is that teenagers who attend them often get work placements afterwards. Tell that to your hip friends who are unemployed!
My jobs working in the shipping department of a chip factory and at a pharmacy were both acquired the same way: good old-fashioned networking. I distinctly remember sitting in my Grade 10 English class chatting with a friend during a break about part-time jobs. He wanted to leave his job, and I wanted one. I asked him to put in a good word for me and I got the job!
Looking for jobs on the internet is easy, but filling out applications, networking, and even asking for a job directly from an employer takes guts. This type of courage stands out. Add on a good résumé, a well written cover letter and give a good first impression, and you should land yourself a summer job the old-fashioned way in no time at all.
Lead Youth Services Officer, New Brunswick
Comments
Jon Juane says,
July 18, 2011
"Great post Aaron! What a great example of networking in your grade 10 English class... As I read your post I thought about my first job at a space-themed indoor children's playground... it was quite the adventure to say the least. I never would have considered it "networking" when I was in high school, but looking back now it totally was networking that got me that job! Now that I'm a little bit older and realize the importance of networking in my current phase of life, I can see how building positive relationships with classmates in high school has in many ways prepared me for networking in the grown-up world! Your post is a great reminder that all of the seemingly unimportant summer jobs in the days of our youth can teach us an abundance of skills we can use in our future careers!"