My First Jobs: Market Differentiation, Responsibility and Training

With school almost out and summer coming fast, I’ve been thinking about my first jobs and what they taught me.

My first jobs were babysitting, working in a bagel store and being a summer replacement teller at a bank.

I didn’t realize it at the time, but from babysitting, I learned to differentiate myself in the marketplace.  I took a Red Cross course on babysitting, and one of the suggestions in the course was to make a “babysitting kit” with some small toys or books to help distract your charges while the parents left.  Kids always love other people’s toys, and I was very popular.

From working in the bagel store, I learned responsibility.  Although I was in high school, I was trusted to close the store on my own.  It was hard work, and it was readily apparent if I slacked off. I also learned how difficult it can be to work with customers.  The owners of the store were nice, and that made it easy for me to be nice to the customers. 

At the bank, I learned how physically taxing it is to stand on your feet all day.  And I learned there is no substitute for strong training.  Summer tellers are college kids who go from branch to branch to fill in when other people are on vacation. My training was a few days with a senior teller telling me what to do with each transaction as customers came up to the window.  I really felt like I had a firm grasp on what to do, because I learned the transactions haphazardly as they came in instead of doing one thing multiple times until I had it down. 

What was your first job, and how has it shaped your work style today?