My First Job: The Ladders

In the past couple of weeks, The Ladders reached out to be in hopes of inspiring me to write about my first job. This request brought back a lot of memories to children I've babysat, and beer spilt on me.

By working, I saved money to study abroad in Spain! I saved even more by tutoring English while abroad!

I've held a number of jobs and internships over the past 10 years. Starting off at the young age of 11, I helped "watch" my siblings while my parents were away for short periods of time. Starting at 12, I babysat regularly once a week and on weekends until I started nannying for my parents' best friends. Their three girls taught me patience, time management and how to make the most of situations. During my time as a nanny, we had some really fun times and a couple bad days. Nannying showed me that I actually didn't want to be a teacher, as well as introduced me to public relations (via the mother). Not only did I work as a nanny the summer after my senior year of high school, I was also a busser and hostess at a local resturant.

Working at a resturuant was the first time that I applied for a job, had an interview and was hired. Being a busser wasn't very glamourous, and there was a significant amount of beer and tartar sauce spilled on be. However I enjoyed working with the staff, and it taught me how to be accountable as well as the importance of tipping and being a respectful customer.

Both of these jobs taught me multiple lessons as well as helped me get my first internship and job on campus. First, I learned how being a little early for every shift or workday is crucial. Second, I learned the importance of staying until the job is finisehd while being efficient. Third, relationships are everything because they help you become a better employee/person. Fourth, every job teaches you something. After I ended these two jobs, I realized I didn't want to be a teacher or work in a resturant my whole life. Even if you find out what you don't want to do, every job can teach you something.

Working from a young age has taught me the value of hard work, experiences and doing your best no matter the job. Due to my experiences, I value my money and time as well as others money and time.

These days I'm reading to be done with hourly jobs and continue on to my career as a salaried employee. However I value every one of my experiences because I learned something from each, and the jobs as well as the people have helped me find my way as well as my next job.

What was your first job? What did you learn from it? Did help you figure out your career?

xoxo