Our society has put up many barriers to young people working. So many young do not get a no-brainer job and learn to work. They must learn to work as the boss says and to not quit until they have another job lined up. There is nothing wrong with working and going to school to get that first job.
In the summer of 1968 I arrived at New Mexico State University, the next step from high school. As I walked across campus there was a sign outside the Computer Center: Get into keypunch and you will always have a job. Of course keypunch is deader than Elvis and while he may come back, keypunch never will. Still I considered it but I had other talents.
By that time in my life having a job was important to me and I had gotten several jobs over the years starting with delivering newspapers, yard work and my favorite, I was a photographer in high school which let me free-lance photographs at dances and also sell sports pictures to the local daily newspaper.
The photography I learned was what Air Force photographers learned since my father’s last job before he retired was to teach at the Air Force School of Photography in Denver. We had a basement in that Denver house and he constructed a darkroom where I went through all of the photography learning activities that my father taught. I enjoyed it but did not realize what a gift I was given: a way to make money wherever and whenever.
So at college I had a way of supporting myself because in effect I already had experienced my first job. From when I was twelve to now work has been a habit. My parents did not give an allowance; my dad gave me the gift of photography and a stocked darkroom that I could work out of free of charge.
After college I worked at KOB-TV in Albuquerque and was on my way as a professional journalist. A few years later I transitioned to education and educational media production. Every lesson about working was important to everything I did then and now.
After college I worked at KOB-TV in Albuquerque and was on my way as a professional journalist. A few years later I transitioned to education and educational media production. Every lesson about working was important to everything I did then and now.
The key to my success over forty years was to get that first job and learn from it so I could get the next job and so on. Today many young people are in their middle twenties and still have not had a first job. I say to them that job is not a four letter word.
There are three reasons many young people have not had their first job: first, they have not valued the things to learn from a first job. Secondly, many are not being forced by the economics of their life to get a job as long as they do not mind going in debt with student loans. Finally, many young people have not gotten that first job because the job market has collapsed.
Many jobs are not open to young people because these young people do not have any job skills so employers are reluctant to hire young people who must be paid the minimum wage while they cannot return that productivity for the employer.
In this tough economy many employers are slimming down their workforces and paying more to productive members of their staff while not hiring young people. There is a national push to make this worse by raising the minimum wage further. No one is speaking out for these young unemployed.
Know this: they cannot get a second job without getting their first job. Further, they cannot get productive skills if employers will not hire them because of the minimum wage.
There should be a waiver that if someone has never had a job previously then they can make any deal with an employer for a first job. Suddenly, they would be attractive.
Dr. Michael Swickard hosts the syndicated radio talk show News New Mexico six to nine a.m. Monday - Friday on a number of New Mexico radio stations and through streaming. Email: michael@swickard.com
