Broaden Your Horizons
Every job you take, from your first job to your last, is important. Building experience can be important when you get into a career later on. A lot of application forms have several spaces for past job experience, and it won’t look good if you leave it blank.
This is really a hard topic to take a side on. Some may say it doesn’t look good to have several jobs that you quit just after a couple weeks or months and that it shows loyalty and commitment when you stick with a job long term. This is true.
It will really depend on your personality and what works for you. If you are able to keep the same job in high school and through college and build a good reputation with that employer, then that’s great! One great reference for future jobs and much better than a couple mediocre jobs.
It may seem convenient just to keep the same job all the time until you start your future career.
When you keep the same job, you don’t have to worry about applying for a job so often and going to interviews. You won’t need to go through training. Things go much more smoothly when you already know what’s expected of you.
Finally, it can be hard to get used to new surroundings at a new job, especially when those working there for a while are close knit and it’s hard to make friends.
Whether you want to keep the same job or not, this is often unlikely for many reasons:
1. A lot of people go away to college and need a new job in a new area.
2. Sometimes you may lose hours and need to get a new job.
3. Your schedule might change so that your current job doesn’t work well anymore.
4. There may be better opportunities elsewhere.
5. Hopefully this never happens to you, but you may get fired.
All these and more are good reasons for you to find another job. This is where you should take the opportunity to try different things. Even if the jobs have nothing to do with what you want to do later in life, they could give you critical skills for almost any career.
Try waiting tables to develop people skills. Work at a bank to practice working with money. Work as a sales associate on commission to develop your sales skills. Work in a doctor’s office as a secretary. Get experience in the food, clothes, and cosmetic industries to see if that is what you’re interested in.
You’ll probably find it fun to try different things. Getting knew a new job in a new area can be very rewarding. You’ll meet knew people and make new friends. But remember, it you find a job that you absolutely love and is working for you, keep it.
If you love a job, there’s no point in looking for one that “could” be better because it probably won’t be. And besides, the longer you stay, the more opportunity you have for a raise.
Be creative and you may just find your dream job!
