03 Oct 2022 | 3 mins

While your teachers are telling you to focus on school and spend all day and night locked in your room to study forever, getting a job in high school is probably one of the best things you can do. There are a tonne of positives and because you don’t need to pay a mortgage and other adult things, you can take control of exactly how much you want to work.

1. Money

Getting a job in high school means earning your own money. Chances are your parents won’t be making you pay board while you’re in high school, so anything you earn can go straight towards whatever you want it to. NUGGETS AND GARLIC BREAD OBVS.

2. Experience

Getting a job early gives you plenty of time to build up experience, even if you’re only working a couple of shifts a week. It’ll look good on your resume and give you a reference for when you want to move on to something else.

3. Distraction

While it’s easy to feel the pressure when your teachers make three assignments due in the same week, being able to forget about everything for a couple of hours while you’re at work will help you put things in perspective. It’ll also stop any major freak outs by giving you a break from the stress.

4. New friends

When you’re working at a place that hires a lot of young people (think mainly hospo or retail jobs), you’re going to be meeting heaps of new people your age. You’ll always have something to talk about and you might meet some of your best friends there too.

5. Life skills

Getting a job during high school will put you ahead of anyone else who is waiting for graduation to land a job. Working teaches you essential things like time management, patience, people skills and the value of a good work ethic.

6. Discounts/free food

This is a major perk, especially if you’re working in hospo and free food is on the cards. Not only will you be earning money, you’ll also have to spend less if you want to buy something from work. Plus, your friends will love you if you use your discount when they come in.

7. It’ll help you work out what you want to do

Getting experience and seeing the big wide world while you’re in high school can help give you a clearer idea of what you want to do when you graduate. Even if working at Maccas makes you vow to never work in fast food again, at least you’ll know that that industry isn’t for you.

8. Flexible hours

Working in high school means you’ll probably start out as a casual and your shifts will mostly be on weekends or during the afternoon/night. While you might start complaining about never having any free time, this working arrangement allows you to swap shifts pretty easily.

9. Early promotions

If you love your job and love the industry, working in high school means you’ll be able to make significant steps in the company when you’re still pretty young.

10. Time management

Having a job while you’re in high school means you’re going to have to organise yourself to get everything done. You’ll probably find you procrastinate less, purely because you don’t have the time to put things off anymore. That’s probs not a bad thing either.