First Job

  1. What requirements do I need ahead of time (as a minor)?
  2. Finding a job
  3. What to consider when applying to a job?
  4. Applying for a job
  5. Interviewing for a job
  6. What to expect from a job
  7. Paycheck
  8. What are different types of work?

What requirements do I need ahead of time (as a minor)?

In order to start looking for a job, you need to make sure you have an idea what your options are, and this might not seem directly connected to the job you want.

If you are under 18, did you know that you need a work permit to start a job?
https://www.michigan.gov/leo/bureaus-agencies/ber/wage-and-hour/work-permits
You will need to work with your school, or the state to validate your permit before you can work. There are two different forms on that page based on your age.

If you are still in school, there is a limited number of hours that you are allowed to work. School and work combined can be no more than 48 hours in a week. So if school is from 8:00 am – 3:00 pm, 5 days a week, that is roughly 7 hours a day, meaning that you can work up to 13 hours in a week.

Minors also cannot work before 7:00 am or after 9:00 pm.

Finding a job

Finding a job to apply for is actually pretty easy. Finding the correct job is less simple.

You can literally search for “Job Applications near me” in your favorite search engine and get 100+ links. And sometimes, all you want is a place that you can go to earn money. But I would advise picking a few places that you might be more excited than others to apply to first. The reason for this is that you will interview better for these positions, and you will most-likely enjoy your time there better.

What to consider when applying to a job?

There are many different things to consider when applying for a job. When looking at the below information, there is a balance that you will need to find that is unique to you. So take into account several of these factors.
Hourly rate/salary:
Quick note: Hourly Rate is a flat rate you earn based on how many hours you work in a given pay period. Salary is when you are assumed to work a specific amount of hours per week, and your pay check is determined by your Annual Salary divided by the number of pay periods a year. (If you earn $35,000 a year, and have 2 pay periods a month, that is $35,000 / 24 = $1,458.33 before taxes a pay period)
Often to get people to apply, there will be a post of something like, “Earn up to $21.10 an hour”. Often you have to have more experience to get that amount. When you interview, or possibly in the application, it will ask your desired hourly rate. This is where searching the internet for the average pay for this position might be at your experience level. You may have to ask them for a specific rate. But making more per hour… of course… increases how much you earn per week.
Hours available/expected:
When you are applying for a job, you generally need to earn a certain amount of money. So if you make $12 and hour, you may need a minimum of 15 hours per week to cover your minimum expenses, so you will want to make sure you can get at least 15 hours a week.
Consider when those shifts are. They may need someone on the 6am-3pm shift, and that just might not work for you. You may be flexible with your time, and this may be moot.
Finally, How many hours a week are expected of you to work? You may need a minimum of 15, but you cannot make time to work more than 32. In that case, you want to be very clear on the expectation. Some positions are for students and offer 12-15 hours a week, some positions are at 40 hours a week, and some want you to work 55 hours a week.
Distance from home:
If you get two offers, and one of them is 2 blocks away and offers you $14.50 an hour, and then the other offers you $15.25 and is 25 miles away. $15.25 is clearly a better price, but how much does it cost you in time and vehicle expenses to drive that 50 miles a day? It can quickly eliminate the difference in the hourly rate.
Also, consider how you can get where you need to go. Can you walk, bike, is there a bus, do you own a car? Will that choice change when it starts snowing, or when the rain is bad?
Sign-on bonus:
Some companies are really searching for employee’s right now, so they encourage applicants by offering a sign-on bonus. This can be a great benefit, but READ THE FINE PRINT. Often, if you have a $1,000 sign on bonus, they will give you $500 now, and $500 on your 1 year anniversary. And if you leave within the year, you must pay back the amount you received for that year. To be honest, and I know this is hard, if you are unsure how well this position will work for you, when you receive this bonus, put it directly into a savings account and don’t touch it. It will work as a safety net for you, if you have to leave for some reason, you are covered. When the minimum period is achieved, you can move it to your checking account and spend it.
Time off:
Some companies have certain holidays, sick time, and vacation time available. Sometimes these are lumped into a single time off back called PTO (Paid Time Off). This is good information to have. It is always delightful when you want to connect with your friends/family on a holiday and learn that the company is closed so you are not expected to work that day.
Retirement Fund:
Some companies offer you an option of a retirement fund through them. And if this is an offer, there can be a percentage match to that account. I suspect that most of the people reading this will not be thinking of retirement, but if it is a small amount of your paycheck, and you think you can swing it, there is an incredible value in having it. Also, If they match 100% of your contribution up to 5%, that means that if you contribute 5% of your earnings, the company will add 5% from their funds. (Read more about retirement funds in the Finance section.
College Tuition:
Some companies offer a certain number of college credits that they will cover for your education. This can be a real boon to you if you want to go to college. The thing to be aware of is that the company will have some requirements and control over the classes you take for them to fund it. And often, they will want you to pay for it, and they will reimburse you after they see that you have passed the class to their standards.
Insurance:
This is an important one, and not every company offers it. There are many kinds of insurance and those will be covered in the Insurance section. When looking at insurance through your employer, you need to think about how frequently you go to the doctor, and how much you can afford. There are plans for people who are healthy, and don’t go to the doctor much more than an annual physical. This type of a count has a higher “deductible” (amount you have to pay before the insurance starts contributing at all) and then it covers things very well for a decently low rate (for insurance). These are also often paired with a Health Savings Account (HSA) to cover those expenses in a tax benefited way. There are also types that cover people who tend to go in frequently, and need more support. This type of insurance tends to have a lower deductible, but often cost much more per paycheck.

Applying for a job

This is something that has pretty consistently been changing, and that poses some interesting challenges. It used to be, and perhaps still is in some small towns, that you would walk into the place you wanted to apply and asked to get an application.

You might have noticed already that bringing up the idea of paper applications that you fill out with a pen and interact with an actual human to receive makes you wait for me to shout: “Get off my lawn!” (I feel that old) As of right now, most applications are done online or through an app on your phone.

Here is my recommendation for filling out online applications. In general, I recommend using a computer for this process, not just your phone. I realize that not everyone has access to a computer, so you can do this on your phone, but there are also free access computers available at the library that can save you a large amount of time.

You will need an appropriate email address. If your personal email address might look a bit shady when going to potential employers, create a new free one, online. I recommend using a service that allows you also to access some basic documents online so you can create and save data to save typing for yourself. I use Gmail, because I have easy cloud access to my Google Drive, which allows me to save information in a secure way.

When you are filling out your first application, any information on that application, you should copy to a new file in your cloud drive. This will make things much easier on you later when either the same application requires the same information added in again, or you go through your list of 10 companies for the day. It also allows you to leverage the free spelling and grammar checks within the tool to help minimize errors.

I recommend setting a goal for yourself and take an hour or two and send as many as you can. Keep track of which companies you applied to, on which date you applied, and the average hourly rate for that position in this area. (Often you can search for “Entry level average grocery store employee hourly rate” so you have an idea) It is very helpful for making sure you don’t send 2 applications to the same company, or if the question comes up during an interview process.

I strongly recommend reading the job postings and applying to a specific position if that is an option.

Finally, check this email, or your phone at least once a day to make sure that any responses do not got too long without response. Timeliness on this can be very important.

Interviewing for a job

Depending on the job, this can be either super simple, or incredibly complex. But the ideas are pretty consistent.
I had interviews where I applied, came in to talk to someone, and after a couple of quick questions at the door I was hired. More recently, my job interviews are a multi-day process and I estimate almost 40 hours worth of time to complete a single interview. (Some downfalls of software positions.)

But here are the pieces that are consistent. And I want to be clear up front, I have no judgements or opinions on some of these things, but I want to reiterate that the first impression really is important, and frequently is a little old-world. The way you show up, and act while you are there, has more to do with the success of your interview, than any questions they might ask.

  1. Make sure that you are completely sober of all substances when you arrive.
  2. Make sure that you have showered (if possible) and have clothing that is as clean as you are able.
  3. Luckily, tattoos and piercings are more common now so unless you have something really offensive visible, you shouldn’t need to cover anything.
  4. If you are the type to get nervous, take some time before you walk into the business and just breath, and focus on your breath. It can help you calm down and process. Often, people who do interviews are used to people being nervous. You are allowed to be human.
  5. Arrive a little early. (I am time-blind so being told to arrive on time can be very frustrating, so I use my phone to set multiple alarms to give myself the chance to succeed on this.)
  6. When you speak to people there: (To be clear, some of us have challenges with speech impediments or or other challenges that might make eye contact feel very unsafe. Do what you can, and try your best, but never feel shame for the challenges you are trying to overcome.)
    • Speak clearly
    • Look at people in the eyes
    • Be honest
    • Be patient
  7. Offer yourself grace for anything that doesn’t go to plan.
    • When they start asking you questions:
    • It is okay to give yourself a moment to think before you answer.
    • Do think through your answer before you give it.
    • It is okay to use some of your experience to give evidence to a point in your statement.
    • Think about the specific question(s) they asked you, and try to make sure to answer it/them.
    • Verify that you answered the question asked, or if you left any part off.
  8. Bring questions. Whether it is about logistics of starting the job, how to succeed in the job, or questions about the company itself. Bringing questions to ask let’s them know that you are invested in the company and can really help you along the way.
  1. There are some questions that are not acceptable for an employer to ask you. And while you can be polite in refusing to answer, it is okay to point out that a question is inappropriate to ask and you will not answer that.
  2. Questions they cannot ask you:
  3. Age
  4. Gender (identity, sex, presentation, attraction)
  5. Religion
  6. Family Status
  7. Any question that makes you feel unsafe

One question that is often asked and shouldn’t be.
How much did you make in your last position? This question is often a way of baselining the conversation about your hourly rate in an old rate. If you left an old company because they refused to give you a raise past $12 an hour, answering this question can anchor your negotiations with the new company starting at $12 an hour. You can respond to this question by stating something like, “My previous rate is not relevant here, but the average for our area with my level of experience is $17.25 per hour.”

Final note: Remember that YOU ARE ALSO INTERVIEWING THEM! Bring Questions. (As noted above.) When you are interviewing with a company, they are interviewing you… But you need to also be interviewing them. You may be spending 40-50 hours a week here, and if you do not like their processes, or values, it might be very uncomfortable for you.


What to expect from a job

Jobs are literally all over the map on what can be expected. So during your interview process, or before you accept a position, a great question to ask is: Assuming I get this job, what are your expectations of me? What can I do to succeed? This question allows you to get a checklist of what your employer is looking for. Some companies are very rigid on start and end time, others are more relaxed. Some companies are fluid on taking breaks when it fits the work flow, others are rigid that it must occur precisely X hours after you start. If you are younger than 18, ask how that limitation affects your position. Most of the time, no one will think to give you a list of expectations, so you need to ask.

I can assume some generalized expectations:

  • Show up when you are scheduled.
  • When you show up, be ready for the job you have.
  • Be honest and communicate if anything is not going to plan. (Whether that is, Hey Tina, I will be about 10 minutes late, stuck in traffic. Or Hey Derek, this job is not at all what I expected, are there ways to adapt for (THESE PAIN POINTS)?)
  • (Hopefully) you can expect a certain number (or range) of hours per week.
  • When at work, you will be respectful to clients, and employees. (This can be flexible some too with employees ~ often in some positions where you work with a small group consistently, you will form a bond and be able to joke around with one another. But please READ THE ROOM.)
  • Expect that there will be at least 1 person that you struggle to get along with. Try to maintain a level of professionalism with that person. You can interact with someone and speak about a task without liking them. (Even when some people are REALLY unlikable. 🙂 )
  • You can expect to be paid on a consistent schedule at a fixed rate. (Unless you have a service job where the pay is flexible based on clear communication during the job. Example: Some servers make $3 an hour, but get tips. Or some sales people are on commission and only make money if they sell something.)
  • Unless you are doing something “under the table” (which is illegal), You can expect that your employer will report your earnings and take the required fees and taxes from your check to take care of your taxes and social security.)

What are different types of work?

The standard “get a job” you hear about is work where you get hired by an employer and officially become one of their employees. This means that you are an individual working for a business, you fill out a W2 IRS form, they manage your taxes and social security from your paycheck, and you get a paycheck on a rhythm.

Another type of work is “contact” work. This type is where you have your own business (Could be a “Doing Business As” or DBA, or a Limited Liability Company or LLC) and you take jobs with other companies. This is common in construction. With this, you get paid the agreed upon amount per job. You are responsible for saving money for your own taxes and social security.