For those of you students out there who started their summer job search in October or November or who are enrolled in university co-op programs, congratulations! You may be one of the lucky few students to lock down a position that is higher paying, linked to what you studied and relevant to your career path. For everyone else, who didn’t land their dream job this summer things might be looking a little gloomy career-wise. While you’ve nailed down a summer job to earn you some cash and help alleviate another year of tuition, it’s a job your parent’s friends and smug pundits might refer to as “a menial” job. While your job may not be ideal, there’s probably a lot more you can take from your current job than just a paycheque.
The first thing to keep in mind is that no-matter what the job (from bus boy to junior analyst) there’s always something to learn from your experiences. Wade Davis, the closest thing this world has to a real-life Indiana Jones, has put it this way:
“A career is not something that you put on like a coat. It is something that grows organically around you, step-by-step, choice-by-choice, and experience-by-experience. Everything adds up. No work is beneath you. Nothing is a waste of time unless you make it so. The months I spent in that logging camp and later working as a hunting guide were as formative in my life as the time I spent in the Amazon studying with shaman, or the many years I was at graduate school. An elderly cab driver in New York may well have as much to teach you as a wandering saint in India, a madman in the Sahara.”
My life experiences haven’t been quite so varied as Davis’, but I did learn a thing or two in each of my part-time jobs during (and after) university. I worked as a bus boy, pie cook, dishwasher, fry cook, expediter, chicken-wing frying guy, labourer, and coffee house dude. After working my share of menial jobs, I’ve pulled out three suggestions anyone can consider if working in a job where they are underemployed.
Keep a good attitude even when you’re doing unpleasant work.
As a dishwasher at Cactus Club, I spent 8 hours a night washing filthy dishes in a windowless area buried deep in the bowels of the kitchen. Often I’d sear my hands in hot water or cut myself with sharp utensils. It would have been easy to be pissed off or jealous of the pretty, better-paid people out front. But instead of being sour, I stayed positive and kept busy. We’ve said it before on this blog, and we’ll keep saying it – attitude is everything. Steel yourself to stay positive in boring or physically demanding summer job and keep the same positivity long into your professional life.
Foster and embrace a strong work-ethic.
It‘s easy to mail-it-in when you’re underemployed. Don’t. Treat your summer job like you would any other job in your future budding career, do your best and always keep in mind ways to take what you’re doing to the next level. As a dishwasher I came up with a game where I challenged myself to wash a certain number of loads as quickly as possible and then aimed to beat that time. Sound like a game they’d come up with in prison? Probably, but it also helped keep me focussed and driven. Bosses tend to like that. When I was working construction in Deep Cove I was required to carry many cumbersome and heavy things back and forth across the lot. When I started, I was a two 2X4 kinda guy, but by the time I was finished, I was hauling four-five boards stacked high on my shoulder through the site. I didn’t have to carry that many, but I wanted to challenge myself and match the other supermen working next to me. Ultimately, a solid work ethic requires discipline and after a while, there’s a sort of muscle memory to it. It also gives you an opportunity to lead from the bottom up and by example. That means if your colleagues see you pushing the limit, they may be inspired to work harder themselves, even if they outrank you. Follow this advice and it’ll likely earn you a good reference from your current boss. Plus if you’re working as a labourer you’ll get ripped like the Terminator (but without the steroids or murderous attitude) all the quicker – a great benefit to your social capital when you’re hitting on the cute young redhead who’ll one day be your wife.
Appreciate those around you who will continue in the job long after you’ve gone back to campus.
If you are working as a bus boy or in a lower level or menial job during the summer, try to embrace the experience and remember how weary you were at the end of a long day. Now think about doing that work for the rest of your life. Not a happy thought, right? Make sure you retain a respect for those around you who for a multitude of reasons will be labouring in a similar position long after you’ve left. When I was making pies at White Spot I had an opportunity to meet all sorts of interesting people. There were university students working their way through college who I had a crush on, single moms working with their daughters in the same kitchen, people from other cultures and a cook named Gerry who worked three jobs and threw dessert plates at me occasionally. Learning to communicate and connect with all these new people was an important skill that I had an opportunity to cultivate at this job. With this in mind, make sure that when you become a big shot with a fancy car/bike/condo and an interesting and fulfilling job, you never forget about the people you worked with in the service industry and always retain your humility. Be humble and remember that at one time you too were pouring coffees for a living.
There are plenty of other things you can focus on while slogging away this summer. But ultimately the most important thing is to never forget that while experiences are important, it’s the longer-term reflection that really helps us reach our potential.