Summer is approaching, and as it does, many high school students are pondering their summer plans. With all the time freed up during summer by the absence of school, students are left with more time that they can invest in different activities. A common time-sink over summer for students, most commonly Juniors, is getting a summer job.
“Parents don’t want their kids to do nothing during the summer, so getting a job is an option,” SRA Junior Benny Camou said when asked what he thought was the main reason people got summer jobs.
By getting a summer job, one can keep busy over the summer while also earning a bit of extra money. These jobs are typically simple and entry-level, serving as great opportunities to get some experience and begin developing important skills required by other jobs. With all the benefits of getting a job over the summer, it is not hard to see why it is a common practice for teenagers to seek employment during the summer. So, how many students at SRA are getting summer jobs?
As noted on the graph, 54% of the juniors who want to get jobs over the summer are planning to work in a retail job. The rest of the juniors getting jobs over the summer responded with hospitality jobs or weren’t sure yet. This lines up with the usual fields of work that teenagers go into. Due to the lack of experience, teenagers go for simple jobs that don’t require much prior knowledge or training but still provide valuable work experience.
For example, jobs in retail often involve teamwork and financial transactions, which are useful skills to develop for future jobs. Likewise, hospitality jobs can build on areas like customer service and multitasking. Apart from developing useful skills for future employment, summer jobs also help improve essential life skills, such as time management and responsibility.
“One of the benefits of getting a job in the summer is being able to work to gain experience if you haven’t had a job yet and beginning to save money for a car or anything else,” SRA Junior, Christopher Gonzalez said when asked about the benefits of getting a summer job.
So, while summer jobs take up some of the summer free time that students eagerly anticipate, the benefits they offer in experience and development of skills make them a worthwhile pursuit. For SRA Juniors and many high school students alike, the choice to work during summer seems to be a popular and beneficial one.
