4 Best Summer Jobs for College Students
Employment is important. Experience matters. Not necessarily experience in your college major, but just in general. Other than some highly specific career field (i.e. computer programming) a lot of that type of skill and expertise can be taught over time. What soft skills does your young adult need that runs across all job fields? Communication, reliability, self-initiation, adaptability, and resourcefulness. So how does one get these? Let’s jump into that, while also talking about the best types of summer jobs a college student can have!
Food Service. This is almost a right of passage. It really teaches you a lot of things, including the mantra “treat others the way you want to be treated” because we certainly live in a world where we don’t always pay attention to others. It requires efficiency, attention to detail, and basically high-octane executive functioning. If it’s fast-paced, you have to learn to be able to work with the stress. Lastly, you lean into relational skills.
Summer Camp. Being responsible for little ones? That’s important! Being a leader? Check! Learning to be creative, to have fun (especially to learn into “play” since this is a lost art), to work very long hours/days, and to be reliable to your other co-counselors. Not to mention, you get to learn to the a conflict mediator between the other campers which means you have to role model what you teach! Not an easy job!
Lifeguard or Swimming Instructor. This also feels like a bit of a rite of passage too. Swimming is a basic skill that not everyone knows how to do. You’re learning how to better communicate, and sometimes creative communicate the same thing but differently depending on who you’re working with. Swimming can sometimes be life or death, so this is also a job to be taken seriously. Your role matters. You also learn how to implement rules for safety, and navigate disgruntled parent situations. Lean into discomfort so you can grow.
On-Campus Employment. This could be Orientation Leader, University Research Assistant, Resident Leader, or something of the like. This really taps into the “how to talk to my peers” skill, which is like combatting the loneliness epidemic. It’s emotionally taxing, so you have to learn to pay attention to your emotional capacity and recharge as-needed. Even on the days you are tired though, you’re still “on” so you have to dig deep in your resource bank to keep showing up when you need to.
Beyond these soft skills learned, the other important piece is the concept of understanding “a hard day’s work” or the concept of just understanding where money comes from. When a young adult sees their paystubs and realizes how much they actually earn because of taxes, can be really eye-opening. It teaches us to be mindful of money, and to budget. Financial literacy is seemingly becoming a lost-art, especially for young adults who’ve also had access to their parent’s credit cards.
Not having a job, is not okay. There are a lot of young adults who go through college and expect to get a “big kid job” when they get their degree. If you have zero employment experience though, employers will bypass you for someone else who has prior employer references. Without job experience, an employer is taking a serious leap in hiring you. It’s basically buying a house sight-unseen. It’s very risky! If you’re a parent reading this, have your kid get a job. Any job. No excuses.
For questions or comments contact Joanna.
