High school is a place where students start to experiment and get a taste of life. Many play sports in hopes to become a professional athlete, while others stay after school for clubs and activities.
Others decide to find a job.
There are endless reasons to why students want to work. Some want money in their pockets and others do it for work experience.
Senior Josephine Kantaras has been working at Journey’s at Westroads Mall since the 2018 school year.
“I love working at Journeys,” Kantaras said, “Ive been shopping there myself for years.”
Kantaras overheard the manager while shopping explaining to a customer that the minimum age to work was sixteen.
“I went online and applied immediately,” Kantaras said.
People have opinions on how they feel for who they’re working for.
Having work buddies can also improve the experience of working.
“When you get a job be sure to make friends with the rest of the staff,” said senior Hannah Jones.
In some cases, coworkers can feel like family.
“When it comes to who I’m working with, I got so lucky,” Kantaras said. “We call each other family and I couldn’t be happier working there!”
Another Benson student who works in retail is senior Trey Foose.
“I work for Men’s Warehouse at the Oakview location,” Foose said. “I never really had an interview, I just went in and asked if I could promote their business for DECA and to my surprise they gave me an application.”
When having a job, a lot of memories can be created. Such as getting the first paycheck or the first day of work.
“My favorite memory is when I ordered a custom suit at my work and I was able to keep it,” Foose said. “It was super cool because the suit have my name on it.”
For most students in Benson applying for a job while still attending school will be their first time ever, so what could they expect?
“Don’t go where you think the money is going to go,” Foose said, “I would definitely pick a job where you see yourself working for a while and something that you really enjoy.”
Senior Ashleigh Henderson has a lot of experience from these past years.
“I’ve been working at Runza for the past 3 years,” Henderson said, “I chose to work at Runza because it was the only place that I could find that hired at 14.”
The hiring process of each job can be very different. Some require people to be dressed up and very prepared and have a high education while others simply require the person to show up for an interview.
“My interview was super chill,” Henderson said. “My manager asked simple questions of myself and we had a nice conversation, overall I got hired on the spot.”
Overall everybody has a different experience on their first job. Many people learn from their experience either it’s continuing to work in the same industry as they started or going out to explore the many options that this world has.
“Apply to jobs that interest you,” said Henderson.