The Young & The Employed:
Teens take on the Workforce
Juniors Marie Rodriguez and Isabela Fernandez work at the Chick-fil-A in Kilgore. Photo by Evelyn Martinez
Getting a job at an early age has many benefits and can help teens grow as people . It’ll help them get used to the real world problems and how to solve them with no issues. Another benefit
to having a job is all the close friendships you get to make with everyone you see on a daily basis.
“I enjoy being around my coworkers,” senior Reyna Vasquez said. “We’ve worked alongside each other for more than a year so our relationship has developed in many ways.”
Teens also get to save up money and not be so dependent on their parents while still getting what they need. Having their own money will make them feel more “grown” and independent.
“I don’t want to be bothering my parents with money every time I need some,” Vazquez said.
After a while of saving up some of the money, teens can
use it towards a necessity that you will eventually need in the future. Having a savings account is very crucial and can help them learn to not just waste all of their money at once. Teens also start to feel rewarded for all the hard work you put in all that time they worked.
“Saving up money is very important to me, and it ensures that I will always have that money in an emergency for the future,” junior Fredy Aguilar said.
From earning to spending to saving, you will learn how to manage money and see what’s the best decision to do with the income you make.
“I always put a little bit of my paycheck into my savings account, and spend the rest of it on things I need,” junior Catherine Dennis said.
Having a job can also help teens stay more organized with everything and have a strict schedule where they’re able to learn time-management skills. They will also get to learn communication skills and how to work as a team. Teenagers will learn how to balance their work lives as well as their student lives.
Another benefit to having a job at a young age is that teens can learn to keep commitments and how to stay consistent with something that is very important. They can’t just decide they don’t want to go to work one day
and expect for everything to be perfectly fine.
That’s part of the reason teenagers should get a job, so they can see how different it is from not having to worry about anything. It will show them what reality is actually like.
Eventually, teenagers will have the experience from having a job and they’ll be able to take those skills with them into the adult work force. They will learn how to transition from youth to adulthood and how to become responsible.
It may seem scary and like there wouldn’t be time for other things, but at the end of the day it’s something that will eventually come and that is very necessary.
Go put in that application and start making your own money. Especially since the holidays are starting and there are Christmas presents to buy.