From a high school student…
I’m a 18yr old hard working student top of my class. But for some odd reason I can’t seem to land a job but all my friends can. This is really starting to become a problem because i am constantly getting ridiculed by my mother for not bringing my A game to the table.
I have about 40hrs a week of free time just going to waste. Also this is my last year in high school and its not free (class dues and everything else).
I do have prior work experience. When i was 16 I landed a job doing security work at a hospital which was out of pure luck. I’ve tried looking just about everywhere, made countless phone calls but still nothing.
My father says just stay in school you don’t need a job. However, I really do because I am going to college soon and i will have to pay for it myself. If anybody can provide some advise or help about locating a job in the Philadelphia area it would be greatly appreciated.
Hello and thank you for writing. Let me start by saying how impressed I am with your overall substance. I wrote an article about high school jobs for students and also a checklist that can help you prepare to enter the workforce beginning with actually finding a job. While you should certainly take a glimpse at the article “High School Jobs for Students”, it would be wise to thoroughly go through the checklist.
My daughter went through a similar situation. She consistently reminded me, starting with the roll of her eyes, that “Everyone has a job but me.” Dramatic as she is sometimes, she really felt something was “wrong” with her and it outwardly showed.
She wasn’t hopeful, much less enthusiastic when she was called in for an interview. In her mind she believed that the job belonged to someone else and not her.
Think of it as a life lesson. As we get older, we don’t always get what we want in the real world. Now, move on. My daughter thought I was being hurtful when I said that to her, however now she understands that I wasn’t being hurtful or uncaring at all. It was just the truth.
You will find a job. She found one too. One thing you want to ask yourself is if you are being too picky about a job. Right now, there’s not a ton of jobs to be found, but there are jobs available. Try to be a little less picky about your options. Once you do get hired, if you find you’re really not happy, look for another. Stay with your job until you are hired elsewhere and make sure you do your absolute best even if you’re not happy with the job itself.
Check out our job board. We have thousands and thousands of jobs available.
