With the approach of Memorial Day weekend and the unofficial start to summer, I thought about the summer jobs I had in high school and college. A cross-section:
Machine operator for a printer company, and for a manufacturer of heavy-duty metal and PVC tubes
Assembly line worker and truck unloader for a Hawaiian Punch production plant
Post office mail and parcel sorter
Takeaways from my summer job work experiences:
Drinking all of the Hawaiian Punch you want may sound like a cool job benefit when you’re 18 years old. Today, probably not so much.
Getting dirty will always be part of any job, not only when unloading trucks filled with large broken cardboard drums of Hawaiian Punch concentrate, but in our professional careers. Examples: setting up or breaking down events or working outdoors. Don’t shy away from the dirty work, be it a physical or an online labor-intensive project.
Summer jobs that are not cool ones with your peers can be the start to your career path. I got my first full-time job because of an executive contact at the printing company, even though we rarely crossed paths there.
What was your first summer job, and how did a summer job influence your career?