Great First Jobs for Working Teens

When looking for a first job, many teens check out their local fast food joints. While these jobs may be readily available, they are often miserable places to work. These jobs tend to be noisy as well as demanding for teens and leave you going home covered in grease, smelling like stale fried food, and with a backache and sore feet from standing all day long.

Just because you are a teen looking for your first job does not mean that you have to work in a fast food joint or as a checkout clerk at a grocery store. There are plenty of jobs for teens that pay well, are a lot of fun, and are very rewarding.

Many veterinary offices and animal shelters are looking for workers who can take care of the animals as well as clean. Duties usually include grooming pets, cleaning cages, scooping litter, feeding and watering the animals as well as playing with them and making sure that they get enough exercise. These types of jobs are especially helpful if you want to be a caregiver or work with animals someday.

One of the best ways to work is to be your own boss. You could start your own business mowing lawns. In autumn you could rake leaves and in winter, shovel sidewalks. When I was in high school, I sold coloring books that I made myself. You could also start your own babysitting business.

Working in a clothing store or department store is a nice job. It's a great idea if you like to buy a lot of clothes because the employees usually get great discounts. This is true for any store, so if you are fond of toy stores or gift shops, see if you can get a job working in one.

Summer camps are often in need of camp counselors and other young adults to organize events and help around the camp in various other ways. If you enjoy spending time with younger kids, it just might be the summer job you've been looking for.

A lot of adults are unable or unwilling to keep up with technology. Lots of adults have no idea how to set up or fix their home computer. You could work in people's homes setting up computers, internet, or software. If you are great with graphics or HTML, you can set up websites and make hundreds of dollars. Even basic troubleshooting is a problem for most people (like me). Computer specialists and repair people are very expensive, so if you charge a fair price, you'll have lots of customers and plenty of income.

Don't forget to check the bulletin boards in your local grocery stores. Lots of people post notes saying that they need a particular service such as a babysitter or someone to take care of their pets while they are away on vacation. Check periodically to see if there is anything you can do. There are tons of great jobs out there for teens if you just know where to look.