Every job I've ever had: part 1.
Recently, I read an interaction on Twitter about training kids on the recruiting process, which got me thinking about my own employment history. How I found each job, what my qualifications were at the time and why I’m not working it now. If you’ve read along for more than a minute, you've likely heard me profess my love for The Billfold, a site that used to run a series called “Every job I’ve ever had.” Combining these two thoughts, I’ve decided to embark on a little stroll down memory lane, tracing my career all the way back to its origin point. Here goes:
Job #1 - Babysitter/Mother’s helper
Age at time of employment: pre through early teen years
Qualifications: willing and able, with a younger sister and First Aid/CPR certification to boot
Employer: two local families
Application process: None
Onboarding: None
Training: See qualifications
Pay rate: varied, somewhere around the $5/hour mark, cash only
I’m going to be totally honest: I was a terrible babysitter. For as long as I can remember, I have always related more to adults than children and have a difficult time feigning interest. People close to me know this. But, when you want to make money at a young age, options are limited, and so, I sucked it up and put myself out there. If memory serves some 20-something years later, I had two clients. A little girl named Gabriella, who had an older brother that went to school with my sister. And a little boy named Jack, who needed someone to look after him while his mom attended to her newborn daughter.
Clearly, that first gig came in through the family connection, but the job watching Jack I found on the bulletin board at the local swim club. With him, I spent four hours a day playing in the kiddie pool, while his mom breastfed his sister nearby. This was a sweet job, five whole dollars an hour in cash, plus lunch, and I got to hang out in the sun all summer long, being carted around by his cool and sophisticated-seeming mom (who was probably the age I am now). Both jobs were short-lived. Ending because, well, as I mentioned, I was not a great babysitter. Not in a “don’t trust me around your kid” sort of way, but more like “is this over yet?” I also hated calling people on the phone and probably just never returned the parents’ calls. I was the definition of disengaged and it showed. Though that wasn’t the case for very long…
Stay tuned for part two, combining a job that never paid me with my (first) foray into fast food.
