Part Time Jobs for Teens

Traditional Part Time Jobs for Teens

Most teens look close to home for their part time jobs, especially when they don’t have cars or easy access to public transportation. Babysitting, lawn care, washing other people's cars and doing other odd jobs around the neighborhood might not make a lot of money, but they're usually relatively fun jobs that don't take up a lot of time.

Teens who already have cars or who live somewhere with a good public transportation system can look outside of their neighborhoods for part time work. The most common places to look for part time jobs for teens are restaurants, fast-food establishments and stores, particularly those in the mall or ones that cater to teens and other young people.

The upside to these kinds of jobs is that many shops are always hiring part time help. If you aren't too picky about where you want to work, you can spend a day at the mall gathering job applications, take them home, fill them all out, and odds are pretty good you'll get a job from your day of work.

Other options include grocery stores, the local pool, or maybe even the local library. Keep an eye on your local classifieds section and online job listings for part time jobs for teens. Look around the doors of the shops or restaurants you frequent—most places post their help wanted sign in the front window.

Picking the Right Job for You

When you're looking for part time jobs for teens, it might not seem like you have a lot of options on the kind of work you do, so it might seem that getting a job just anywhere would be fine. But your after-school work should be at least a little bit fun, and it can be if you are selective about the places you apply.

You might think you would hate waiting tables or working in fast food, so you might hesitate to apply for any such jobs. But what if you could work at your favorite restaurant as a host instead of working as wait staff? It might take longer to find the perfect job but you'll have a lot more fun working if you can find a job tailored to your interests.

Another example is retail. There are tons of stores in just about every town selling all manner of merchandise, from clothing to greeting cards to CDs to comic books. But not every store is created equal. Just as there are stores you'd never set foot in to shop, there are stores you wouldn't enjoy working in (they're usually the same places).

If you have a hobby, and there is a store in your town catering to those particular hobbyists, that would be a great place for you to work. If you buy all your clothing from the same store, you should try to work there—you'll probably get a discount on the clothes!

Keeping Work in Balance

It can be a lot of fun to have a job and be making your own money that you can spend on whatever you want. But you shouldn't let work get in the way of high school. If you're working nearly every weeknight and find yourself too tired to do your homework or having to stay up really late to study, that's a problem.

Talk to your manager at work about reducing your hours. It can be hard to say no to someone in authority over you, but if your schoolwork is suffering, you need to cut back on work. It is important to have time for school, work, spending time with your family and goofing off. The good news is if you can figure out how to balance it all successfully, you'll have learned a very useful skill you'll use for the rest of your life.