Pros and Cons of Summer Jobs: A Guide For High Schoolers

As the school year comes to an end and temperatures climb, you may be interested in taking on a summer job to earn extra income and find a fulfilling way to spend your time. A summer job could be a great opportunity to gain confidence and time management skills while earning some cash, but it isn’t without drawbacks. If you’re considering applying, here is some information that may help you to decide if summer work is right for you.

The Pros:

Networking 

When applying to colleges or careers in the future, you’ll need references. Working a summer job gives you an opportunity to connect with the people you meet along the way and hopefully get to know a boss or supervisor who will have the skills to convey your strengths in a future letter of recommendation.

Time Management

Time management is a muscle you often get to flex during the school year, but not so much during the long summer days. Working will give you the opportunity to continue learning how to prioritize your tasks and to-dos while having time left over to still enjoy your summer.

Career Exploration

A summer job can give you the chance to acquire experience in a field you’re interested in. A certain career may sound great to you on paper, but it’s hard to know if you’ll really enjoy the work and be motivated enough to stick with it without first having some on-the-job experience. 

The Cons:

Competitive

Looking for a job that will hire an inexperienced student just for the summer months can be a challenge. Depending on the size of your town, you may be competing against many students for just a handful of summer job opportunities, let alone one you find fulfilling or worthwhile. Vying for one of the few seasonal work positions could be stressful and cut into your already limited summer time.

Short Time Frame

Speaking of being short on time, summer break is typically just two and a half months long. Cut a few weeks from that for on-the-job training, and just two short months of summer work might not seem worth it. It could be more advantageous to get a job in the summer that you could then continue working at part time during the school year.

At the Rose Academies, we are dedicated to fostering an educational environment that aligns with our students’ needs and goals. That includes flexible scheduling options to allow our students to gain valuable working experience during the school year if they choose. We offer morning, afternoon, and evening class sessions to fit a quality education along with our students’ other pursuits. 

We invite you to learn more and enroll today by continuing to explore our website.