Summer Job Skills Pay Off

Your summer job has more to offer than just a paycheque

First published in jobpostings magazine
careers. education. ideas. all of it.

By James Michael McDonald

Image courtesy of JobPostings.ca

As the summer approaches and the school year comes to an end, students start their yearly search for a summer job. While some may have positions lined up with past employers or as internships or co-ops, most students have to take what they can get, working in a field that isn’t theirs. While waiting tables, working on an assembly line, and helping customers in a mall may not have immediate appeal, there are plenty of skills young people can take away from their summer jobs and apply to their studies and future careers.

Cherie Anderson, international tour director and trainer with Professional Tour Management Training, hired hundreds of students each summer to fill a variety of positions: tour directors, hotel staff, luggage handlers, and hospitality staff, among others.

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“It’s a great way to get experiences in our industry,” she says, “and can also be helpful for those not interested in leading tours.” For three months, students do anything and everything in the hospitality industry. While an English major may not love the idea of spending her summer working the front desk at a hotel, she’ll be taking away valuable interpersonal and teamwork skills; these skills will come in handy in her next group project or when working with a team once she graduates.

“The company hires all ages but most are college students since they have the summers off,” says Anderson, so students are given the same responsibilities as a full-time employee, thus these temporary tour guides have to perform. Outside of their specific tasks, young people quickly learn task management and develop a work ethic. Although the seasonal paycheque may have driven them to apply, summer employees are taking much more away from their experiences.

Andrew Thorne, first-year engineering student at Memorial University in St. John’s, Newfoundland, worked as a general production worker with Scotsburn Ice Cream last summer. He says he wanted to do anything that he could get because it was his first job. “I worked 40 hours a week from 4 p.m. to 12 a.m. It was very hard work and I learned that I definitely don’t want to do that kind of work for the rest of my life.”

And he’s not alone. Thousands of students take on jobs that have nothing to do with their current goals or future aspirations, but that doesn’t mean nothing is taken away from their employment. Thorne says that sorting and packing ice cream at his assembly line job was a good learning experience.

“I learned what it was like working in a factory environment and had to think on my feet and learn a lot very quickly.” He also mentions that the soft skills like teamwork and communication will be useful in his engineering work terms in coming years.

Although students apply for summer jobs to fill the financial void from May to September, if they choose to recognize them, the skills they develop can help them for years to come.

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ARB Team
Arbitrage Magazine
Business News with BITE.

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