[ripken204]

well my dads been kinda p***ed this summer about how ive been doing nothing... its not my fault, what am i supposed to do? i only have a permit so its not like i can drive somewhere by myself. so next summer he want me to get a job. any recommendations on a place to work, im thinking about a place like best buy / circuit city. any of you have experience at any of these? for best buy it would be nice to get into the geek squad, i know i'll be qualified for that but i don't know if there is an age requirement for that, i think it pays like 12/13$ an hour tho.

[prx984]

ripken204, on Aug 18 2006, 12:21 PM, said:

well my dads been kinda p***ed this summer about how ive been doing nothing... its not my fault, what am i supposed to do? i only have a permit so its not like i can drive somewhere by myself. so next summer he want me to get a job. any recommendations on a place to work, im thinking about a place like best buy / circuit city. any of you have experience at any of these? for best buy it would be nice to get into the geek squad, i know i'll be qualified for that but i don't know if there is an age requirement for that, i think it pays like 12/13$ an hour tho.

here in canada, you cant work at bestbuy unless youve had 2 years experience elsewhere and your 18 years old. i tried going there for a job this summer, they said no. so i applied at a garage, and didnt get that job either, never got called for it >.<

[sven]

If you want a good job that involves using your brain, you have to wait till 18. I tried every computer store here in Montréal 2 years in a row, and both times I got nothing. The only job I could get was pushing stupid shopping carts at loblaws (stupid job, any id*** can push shopping carts. I am quitting soon, and will tell my disorganized manager that it’s a waste of my intelligence). Depending on your age, try out for cheap retail stores, super markets or amusement parks. If you have the credentials, they'll take you. You can try for stores that sell expensive merchandise or require thinking, but they won’t really take you unless you’re older, or know someone in the business that'll recommend you.

[ripken204]

well thats canada. i found a pretty good forum about many different stores and i very may be able to get into the geek squad. 16yrs olds are in the geek squad and i'll be 17 by summer next year.

[Robillion]

To get a good sales type job you pretty much have to be 18. I found it really hard from 15-17 trying to get a good job that I enjoyed. Sorry to say but pretty much your best luck for a job is to start out with the crap jobs.. restuarants, grocery store, ect. A better job for teens during the summer is being a lifeguard at a pool or something. If you have any connections with people that own a business that could be your way into a better job at a younger age. If you are interested in a sales/tech job and are under 18 I dont know how much luck you will have at major corporate companies like Best Buy and so forth but def check out some privately owned businesses in your local area. I worked at a cell phone retailer for 7 months when I was 16-17 years old. If you cannot find a job you enjoy and want to take advantage of your skills/knowledge then try starting your own company of some sort. I know you cannot really do that legally until you are 18 but you can be a "freelancer" without having to go through all the business formalities and such. Thats what I did with web design.

Im 20 now and the only jobs I had before I turned 18 was that one sales job that was with a private local biz and multiple restuarants and a few telemarketing places. I also had a few businesses I started myself over the years. Now I work as a sales representative for Rosetta Stone Language Learning Software and as a MS Student Marketing Partner. yay.

This post has been edited by Robillion: 18 August 2006 - 07:11 PM

[ripken204]

well ive already decided im not going to work at restaurants or a grocery store... lame a** jobs that pay minimum wage and are degrading is not my style

[prx984]

all i can really say, is try to get into a trade. stuff with computers has very little job security. my father has been working at the same HVAC company for over 20 years now, he had worked in the trade for 4 previously. thats what im going into, you get very good job security and pretty decent pay, plus.. you get to workwith your brain and hands.

i hate working on computers, i find em too fical, so i just play with em rather than going into something that requires me to be able to fix it. im better at fixing cars and other machinery.

but, in order to get a good standing place in society early in life, you gotta work in the lower places , sweeping floors, pushing carts. etc... my great uncle started working as a janitor in a robinhood flour mill, he later became the manager of the mill. good things come to those who wait.

[Robillion]

Yeah you really kinda have to be patient. And it would be wise kinda to plan things out if you want to work towards a certain career when you get older then work on projects and even volunteer or intern somewhere. You may not get paid (much) but you get experience that will help you out big time when you are older. Trust me on that. Thankfully I worked on a lot of things when I was younger on my own will.. at no charge.. and they look great on my resume right now and hold good stories for curious potential employers.

Like for awhile I was really into technology and web design so I did freelance tech jobs and web design for people.. many for free. Then at around 17 I got into promotions and started hosting concerts and promoting other events on my own. So whatever you are interested in Im sure there is someway to get a head start now and build some experience that will help you get a job you want sooner.

You dad shouldnt be too mad if you are at least working on something and not sitting at home playing video games or something all day(unless you are a pro gamer and actually get money )

[ripken204]

well i barely play video games. im mostly learning or reading something computer related, which is definetly what im going to get into for my real job, im just not sure what yet. btw i love web designing and ive already made some free sites for ppl...

[Robillion]

I use to want to work in the IT industry in some way.. and then things totally changed when I got a lil older and I moved towards business, promotions, even film. I find it funny how Im back into the tech part of things again after all these years because I just got this job as a Marketing representative for Microsoft on my college campus and they offer highly paid internships for marketing people that are also IT oriented. heh. But yeah.. you say you want to work in IT or something similar and things may change. But I def reccomend keep learning because I was like that too big time then I stopped for like 2-3 years and focused on business 100% .. now I dont remember 80% of what I use to know. I feel so dumb compared to how smart I was in IT when I was like 15-16 compared to now at 20

[gamehead200]

sven, on Aug 18 2006, 08:22 PM, said:

If you want a good job that involves using your brain, you have to wait till 18. I tried every computer store here in Montréal 2 years in a row, and both times I got nothing. The only job I could get was pushing stupid shopping carts at loblaws (stupid job, any id*** can push shopping carts. I am quitting soon, and will tell my disorganized manager that it’s a waste of my intelligence). Depending on your age, try out for cheap retail stores, super markets or amusement parks. If you have the credentials, they'll take you. You can try for stores that sell expensive merchandise or require thinking, but they won’t really take you unless you’re older, or know someone in the business that'll recommend you.

Telling me this at lunch just wasn't enough, was it? You had to release your anger to the rest of the world? How about if your disorganized manager, for some reason, is a member here?

@ripken204: There are always places looking for employees. At a young age like 17 (I am also 17, by the way), you should be out there handing out your resumé to different stores and such. Does it really matter what kind of work it is? Not really, as long as your not pushing carts around like sven (lol), but the point is, work is work, and whatever you find now is probably your only shot at getting a job for the summer. Don't wait until the last minute like I did. I've been working for my school for the past two weeks now for a little more than minimum wage, and my job actually requires a bit of thinking. Do I enjoy it? Of course! Why? I'm learning something new while I earn some extra cash!

Ask around! You never know, your parents or even some of your friends, or anyone for that fact, might know someone that needs some extra help. Post your resumé online at places like Craig's List. I actually did this and got a few e-mails a few days after posting mine there. I turned down the jobs because they weren't exactly things I would enjoy doing, or weren't jobs that required any thinking (like pushing carts [sry sven , just trying to prove a point, and you told me this anyway]).

START EARLY!!!!! Look for a job a few months (yes, months) before school ends. This way, you won't have to waste your time looking for one during your time off.

Anyways, good luck with your job hunting for next summer!

[Robillion]

O yeah, .. I definately reccomend Craigslist.. but I gotta throw in there that Microsoft is coming out with a similar site named MS Live Expo . Ill talk about it more when it is fully out.

[ripken204]

gamehead-ya i do plan on looking at least a month before school ends. i read in other places saying to hand out a resume... a resume for a 17 yr old? lol. wtf am i supposed to write in it?

[gamehead200]

ripken204, on Aug 19 2006, 01:48 PM, said:

gamehead-ya i do plan on looking at least a month before school ends. i read in other places saying to hand out a resume... a resume for a 17 yr old? lol. wtf am i supposed to write in it?

Awards you've received, accomplishments, your skills, previous experience, skills, hobbies, objective, etc...

You will find mine attached. You can use that as a template if you want.
It sort of has to be polished up a bit, but you can get a good idea.

Attached File(s)

•  MSCV.doc (47.5K)
  Number of downloads: 21

[ripken204]

thx

[Pete_]

There was once a enterprise review in newspaper, and ofcourse our friend Microsoft won it, they said it's the best place of employment to have, don't remember the other canditates, was it IBM and HP the following ones.

I guess it's not easy to have even a trainee place from MS, there's so many good canditates going there on queue