A Lighter Note: Summer Teen Jobs

Summary

In this episode of the Real View Money podcast, host A.J. Sioson shares his personal experience of getting his first job at KFC at the age of 16. He reflects on the lessons learned from that experience and discusses the importance of summer jobs for teens. Angelo provides guidance for parents on how to help their children navigate their first job search, emphasizing the value of customer service and sales roles. He encourages parents to suggest jobs that will help their teens develop essential skills and step towards adulthood.

Key Points

A.J. shares his first job experience at KFC.
What did AJ make on his first pay check?
Summer jobs are important for teens' development.
Encourages parents to guide their teens in job searches.
Suggests sales or customer service roles for first jobs.
Teens should learn humility and communication skills.
Parents should help teens step outside their comfort zones.
Avoid jobs with limited supervision for teens.
Emphasizes the importance of making their own decisions.
This episode aims to provide light-hearted advice. 

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Transcript

A.J. Sioson (00:00)

We can all remember our first job. Okay. I was 16, just turned 16 and two days later I went to the local KFC and applied for my first job. Sweating bullets during the interview. Okay. I was a smart kid in high school. No reason I shouldn't have gotten the job. And I remember getting to that interview and I was sweating bullets, the manager.

asked me if I wanted to go outside and take a breath before the interview. I said, no, I'm fine. She gave me a Pepsi. Thank you. And, ⁓ great first job. KFC loved it. And week and a half later, I think, because of the pay period, I got my first check $88. Okay. $4 and 25 cents was the minimum wage back then. So you can do the math and

I couldn't commit to a full 20 hours, but there you go. $88 check. Didn't know what to do with it. Okay. I didn't have a bank account. Didn't think to get one. But the KFC was in a big shopping mall, shopping center, plaza, and crossed the way was a check cashing place. Just a check cashing. I said, oh, maybe I can take it there. Went to the window, bulletproof, bulletproof glass, two inches thick.

I said, can you cash this? She's like, yeah, sure. She did a quick check. I think I got $70 net from that because of all the fees they took out and open up an account with them.

I was like, my God, why'd you take so much? And she's like, that's the charge. You know, that's what we charge to, to cash or check. But I got in cash. I got it that day and Hey, it's 70 bucks. never had. was an adult. Okay. Today I want to talk about summer jobs for teens. Summer just started. I had a really dark subject last time. And I do apologize for that. I want to lighten it up now. Okay.

If you've got kids, either your own kids, nieces and nephews, they are of age to get their first job. I'm not sure what the job is, uh, with the ages in your state, but I think here you can get a job at 15 and a half. We're in Southern California. So I think people try to do the local, uh, Disneyland first, right? Um, 15 and a half, you can go get a job. And I want to talk about ideas that you can give your teens and how to address the issue because they're adults.

Again, you want them to make the decision, but there are bigger lessons to learn here and you might as well use their search for a first job. Take advantage of that and guide them. And I'm to give you some tips on how to do that today on the Real View Money podcast. Hello, my name is AJ, host of the Real View Money podcast, Financial Planning, the Real View on Financial Planning. Let's get started.

So as always, eventually we want to get to the point where we're answering your questions. So send your questions over to hihi at realviewmoney.com. If you read your question on air, we'll go ahead and send you a prize. I don't know what this prize is going to be yet that I keep on talking about, but I'll eventually get there. Okay. So I do apologize. It's going to be something fairly decent. I promise. And once I get that together,

No matter when I get that together, we will send you the prize if you read your question on air. So go ahead and send it to hi at realviewmoney.com. Let's get to the topic of the day.

So again, today I want to be short and sweet. I don't want the long episode that we just had in dark. I want to be a little lighter here, talk about summer jobs for your teen. And I want you to understand I'm not trying to tell you how to parent of course, but there's some hints you can give your kids because they're going to need certain skills no matter what career choice they have in life. And first job, you know, might be a good place to start getting those.

skills. If you ask me, my personal opinion is think sales as their first job, some kind of sales or customer service. I don't think kids can talk well when they're 16 and 17. They haven't had many stranger adult conversations. Okay. No matter what age, I sure didn't. Okay. I had to get that job at KFC to really learn how to talk to people. Okay.

Again, think sales, think customer service, barista, store clerk, amusement park, where they have to serve someone else or suggest something to someone else. Have a conversation with a complete stranger. If everything else being equal, if you could suggest a job where they have to do that, that's a skill that they're going to have to use in the future and for all time, you might as well get it started now. So don't shy away.

from those hard jobs, except if they're...

Also, in my opinion, and I'm trying to really preface this with in my opinion, you should probably stay away from suggesting jobs where they would not do that. Okay. Something where they're not fluffing their wings and, and stretching their charisma. Something like a camp counselor or something within their ⁓ personal community, their church.

You know those that would be easy for them to do. I'm gonna work as You know a volunteer for summer camp Yeah, that's a job. Sure, but they're not stretching their comfort zone. Okay, I'm trying to if it was my kids wanting to stretch their Exposure to the world to the real world. Okay anything dangerous you don't want to do you don't want them to do something that where they have to travel a ridiculous distance where the ROI is not, you know, the math isn't math thing. 

The ROI is not there when they've got to spend 30 bucks on gas a week and they're only taking home 80. Okay. You don't want them to, to do that. Cause who's car they're to take. They're going to take your car and who's gas money they're going to use. They're probably going to ask for yours. ⁓ one, another job you don't want to suggest maybe is something with limited supervision.

Jobs where they just got to stand somewhere, you know, the pseudo mall security guard, quote unquote, okay? Things like that. Something where it's outside their physical ability. You don't want to suggest anything like that. Something you don't want someone who's five feet, a hundred pounds necessarily doing heavy demolition work. If the parents in construction, you know, maybe that's a different story, but again, that's not the limited supervision that I was discussing, but all blue collar jobs that they can get their hands off, especially if they're going to go into that trade afterwards, you know have at it. 

I mean, that's, think, don't quote me on this, but, you know, talk to the local union and see how early they can get in. I'm assuming it's 18, but you know, how, how maybe they can go for an internship. Okay.

So again, think of something where they got to talk to people. All else being equal. All else being equal.

And any job that you suggest to them, and when I say suggest to them, you know, they're going to make this decision, you're just helping. And that's all I really want you to.

come out of this podcast with them. I this is not a heavy podcast with a bunch of information. This is just hints. And if you're going to hint to your kid about a job, this is how I want you to take it here.

So again, they're 16, they're about to be an adult. You want them to make this decision for yourself. I'm just trying to help you help them hint, nudge on what kind of job they should take. Cause some kids don't know. Some kids don't even want to. Some kids have no idea when they're 16 that they're eligible to take a job. Okay. But I want you to take away this. They should learn humility. They should learn how to talk to people and get outside their bubble, make contacts. 

They know they won't be there long and it's most likely not going to be their career, but get them in a position where they take some step towards adulthood, some positive step towards adulthood. And that's it for today. I wanted to make something really light for the summer, especially after last episode. 

This is episode three of the Real View Money podcast. My name is AJ Sioson. We'll see you back next Wednesday as I try to keep this Wednesday schedule. Please subscribe, leave a comment, Apple Podcasts, YouTube's podcasts. Spotify podcasts soon to be on Amazon podcast. Go to realviewmoney.com for show notes. Email your questions and we'll use them on the air. Hi, hi at realviewmoney.com and we'll see you next Wednesday.

The Real View Money Podcast is a production of Real View Productions. A subsidiary of Canyon View Advisory LLC. AJ Sioson is a licensed health, life, property insurance agent with Canyon View Insurance. All content from this podcast is for informational and entertainment purposes only. Consult a lawyer, accountant, or financial advisor before making a financial decision.