Adults make career defining decisions often think about benefits, and salary, but rarely happiness. Everyone does things that they don’t want to do in their career. Would you do something that was considered horrible?
My son, “Boy Wonder” is 17 years old, is pretty level-headed for his age. We have lots of conversations about college, his future, and women (although mostly theory at this point). He works at the world’s most famous food chain, and has sustained employment for a year.
To digress momentarily, working teens stimulate the economy, and the household. He has to work because it builds character and responsibility. Most of all, working for “Boy Wonder” provides training opportunities for him that my wife and I offer.
The one lesson that we did not teach him is to make assessments in understanding the breadth of his current job.
He is 17 years old. He still plays jokes on friends and coworkers, wants to spend his money frivolously, and would rather eat candy and oatmeal raisin cookies. The eyes are on the prize, and he understands that the 2016 Escalade will not be paid by his parents.
However, he thinks the way beyond his dream car. He wants to be a nurse.
He understands the sacrifice, and the intensity of the work that is ahead to get into nursing school. However, he is trying to understand how this experience will compare to his experience as a nurse.
Last week, a homeless man vomited in the bathroom, and left a rainbow (use your imagination here). He had to clean it all up. It was awful for him. It was good for him, as it is hard for him to put trash in the garbage can at home.
Character. Responsibility. The irony.
- He has to remain temperate no matter how unstable the social culture changes. Customers his age want to challenge authority and be served appropriately.
- His bosses rarely gave him the schedule he desired. He had to learn to approach one time to see if it could be change with respect and tact. After that, successful or not, let it go.
- Although he has impressed the owner repeatedly, he is still just an employee. No benefits, vacation time, or sick days to reward him for missing one day of work out of a year.
- A nurse will make much more money, will always have a job, and retain benefits. However, the transferable issues remain the same. Undesired responsibility is painful no matter how old, or professional you have become.
- Jobseekers wait too long to as the question, “What is the worse that could happen to me?” In some way, “Boy Wonder” understands that he will do nasty and dirty tasks, be hot and sweaty, maintain self-control, be patient, and be content with undesirable circumstances. All in the name of saving people’s lives.
As adults, we can ask those questions in interviews, networking situations, or find online information. The average job seeker can research jobs before pressing the apply button.
You can find out, without prior notice, that you are cleaning a rainbow in the bathroom.
About Mark Anthony Dyson
My name is Mark Anthony Dyson, and I am the Founder of The Voice of Job Seekers. I am a career advice writer, but more importantly, I hack and re-imagine the job search process.. I've worked with hundreds of job seekers one-on-one helping them to construct a narrative and strategy that appeals to hiring managers and recruiters. I present at colleges and organizations, and facilitated many workshops including my volunteer effort through a Job Lab. I write and create useful job search content on this blog and write career and workplace advice for blogs such as Glassdoor, Payscale, Job-Hunt.org, Prezi and more. Media Feature highlights: Forbes, Business Insider, NBC News, Glassdoor, LinkedIn's #GetHired, and NPR Freelance writer and content contributor: Glassdoor, Payscale, job-hunt.org, The Financial Diet, RippleMatch.com and more. Contact me to contribute career, job search, or workplace advice for your site at markanthonydyson@gmail.com.