The Value of Summer Jobs
The end of the school year might feel far away, but it’s never too early to think about your plans once you take a break from your high school curriculum. Have you considered finding a summer job? It’s more valuable for your resume than you might imagine! You might wonder, what does working as a landscaper have to do with my future plans to major in English Literature or Environmental Engineering? Well, it doesn’t need to connect directly to your future studies. The skills that you’ll develop through an ordinary job will help you develop into a successful college applicant and student. Furthermore, since it’s not as common as it was prior to the pandemic for high schoolers to work during their summer breaks, your landscaping experience or camp counselor gig can actually help you to stand out.
Again, your summer job doesn’t need to be anything fancy. You can keep it as simple as working at your local ice cream shop. If you have your own dog walking or tutoring business, great! But finding any job in your hometown will show admissions committees quite a few good things:
You’re willing to get your hands dirty: If you have a seasonal position, chances are you’re doing something with your hands like scooping ice cream or working outdoors. You’ll be working in the real world, which is an entirely different skill set than classroom work. Even if you’re not using your hands, per se, you’ll gain experience problem-solving, communicating, and accomplishing specific tasks in any customer-facing position.
You can work with people outside of your age group: Working in the “real world” broadens your intrapersonal experience and skills. You’ll learn from people who have different life experiences from your own. You can’t replicate this kind of learning in a classroom. When you take summer classes, for example, you learn in an academic and knowledge-centered way. You’re likely also surrounded by other young people as opposed to a larger demographic. You have all school year to demonstrate how well you can thrive with people your own age; use a summer job to show you can succeed outside your peer group.
You are responsible and reliable: Whether you’re serving tables or helping people purchase tickets for a baseball game, the simplest roles demonstrate your willingness to follow through on instructions and tasks. Depending on your position, you could be responsible for a great dining experience or ensuring that the register adds up to the appropriate amount at the end of the day. Admissions committees value this demonstration of initiative.
You can work with others: Admissions committees want to know that you’ll make a positive impact on the campus community and that you can cooperate with others. When you already have experience working with a team, you’re so much more prepared for group work and seminar-style discussion in your future college classes! Managing the unpredictability of a mid-summer rush in the ice cream shop, for example, can also help you develop stress-management skills in large group settings.
At the end of the day, as long as you’re learning to work with others, you’re building valuable skills to use for your entire academic career and beyond. And who doesn’t want extra pocket change? You’re also investing your time in activities that will add value to your future college applications. If you end up needing to stay at home for the majority of your summer, you can get creative with online jobs such as tutoring younger students or hosting Zoom lessons of your own.
Research opportunities, unpaid internships, and other interest-related pursuits are of course valuable for the activities section of the Common App as well as for providing material for your various application essays. But don’t underestimate the potential in a summer job for an excellent learning experience and a chance to develop maturity that you can bring to your applications and your future college campus.