A first job big or small is special. There are a few reasons why: you will always remember the opportunity, it gives you the experience you will need for your career, and you learn the value of money. Everyone does jobs when we are young, dishes, sweeping, and folding clothes, however, earning money from a company gives a person a greater feeling of responsibility.
When I was in junior high, I wanted to go shopping with friends, to the movies, or out to eat, but I did not have any money. I was never the kid that was just given money out of nowhere from her parents, I had to work for it.
This is when I started babysitting for all our neighbors. My family lived on a very small road with only 5 other families, but everyone had younger kids. I started with the family I knew the longest, The Gobers. The Gobers had two small boys and both parents were working while attending college still. This family usually had a sitter and I would hear in small talk that she sometimes was not available weekends. After thinking I decided to go over and offer to help the family on the weekends to earn some money. Melissa, the boy’s mom was very excited I had stopped by as she was needing someone for that next day. We quickly discussed the basic duties and an hourly wage and I agreed to help, starting the next day.
The first day babysitting my duties included the laundry in addition to caring for the children. As soon as I arrived I started the boys’ laundry so the washer could be going while we played outside. After an hour I brought the boys inside switched the laundry and started dinner. After dinner, the boy’s had a bath and I put the laundry away. My first day was a fairly easy four hours and I earned $20.
Soon after Melissa had paid me I walked home thinking this is not a lot of money but at least I have a job. I knew I had a friend’s birthday coming and everyone was going to the mall and to eat so I needed to save the money. The money I had earned was a good start.
After many weeks of working for the Gober’s, and saving money, I felt good about having earned my own money. This is when I decided to start saving up for the new cell phone coming out. I researched the price for the phone and knew to save enough for the phone I would need to help more families. I went walking down our street to ask other families about helping with babysitting or household chores, I gained two more families this day.
The day had come that the phone was being released and I had just enough money, I had my mom take me to AT&T to upgrade my phone. However, when buying the phone I did not have the money to get the case I wanted so instead of waiting and saving more I just settled for a less expensive one. The very next week I realized that I had made a mistake: it was not a good case and would fall off all the time, I felt like I wasted my money. I spent many hours babysitting and cleaning to buy something I did not want. So, after saving more money I went back to buy the case I wanted in the beginning and learned to save up for what I really wanted and not settle.
I believe that almost everyone learns the value of money, responsibility, and time management during their first job. Finding a job is not always easy and sometimes the job will not be fun but earning money and being able to buy items you want with the money you earned is rewarding. It seems these experiences are what carve us into adults, preparing us for out adult career.
