This week on Homeschool Highschool Podcast Ep 113: 10 Job-Hunt Tips for Teens. This post is running concurrently on the Ultimate Homeschool Radio Network.
10 Job-Hunt Tips for Teens
Join Vicki for this quick, concise coaching session on job hunting skills for teens. It can be really stressful for teens to look for their first jobs. They are stressed because they’ve never done this before and often don’t know where to start! And face it, it’s been a LONG time since we moms have had to search for a first job!
So as a quick, encouraging review on what to do. Here are 10 tips.
Tip #1
Develop an experiential resume. Experiential resumes highlight skills that teens have been developed through their volunteer work, travel or other experiences. By the time a young person reaches highschool, they have lots of skills. We highlight those on an experiential resume rather than showing a job timeline (since teens don’t have a job timeline yet).
Tip #2
Develop a cover letter. A cover letter explains why your teen wants a job at a specific job at a specific place.
Tip #3
Ask reference-givers permission to list them as references. Reference-givers need to have a politely-worded request ahead of time and a follow-up thank you afterwards.
Tip #4
Make a list. Make a list of people your teen knows: youth pastor, friends’ parents, relatives, co-op teachers, coaches.
Tip #5
Make the ask. Have your homeschool highschooler tell each of those people they are looking for a job. Have them ask if they know anyone who needs help. Here is a Great episode on how this worked for our friend Angela’s son.
Tip #6
Look for help wanted signs. Tool around local businesses and the mall. See if you see any. If so: have your teen run in, drop off the resume. They may be given an application to fill out right then and there. Tell them to take a breath, be calm and write neatly.
Tip #7
Fill out online applications from bigger corporations for local grocery stores or businesses. Your teen can look on job sites like Indeed or Monster OR simply look at local stores’ websites.
Tip #8
Work on interview skills. Practice questions and non-verbal. Have questions ready to ask in return. Here are some links to interview skills handout and article.
Remind your homeschool highschoolers to: Show up early, dress professionally, bring a copy of their resume along with pen and paper for notes.
Tip #9
Got the job! Remind your teens to: Show up early for work with a smile. Give everything 100%.
This builds the resume for the next job!
Tip #10
Make sure you include Career Exploration on the homeschool transcript. These first jobs can count as a Career Exploration elective. Here’s a how-to for that. And if you homeschool highschooler has not completed a comprehensive Career Exploration course, you might want to consider it as an important part of the upcoming year’s curriculum!
You can help prepare your teen for the job hunt by teaching them good skills about:
- job-hunting skills
- interview skills
- requesting references
- writing cover letters
- Follow all this helpful information with some skills for their first day on the job!
Hope you get some encouragement with this quick, helpful chat with Vicki!
