Teenagers aren’t well-known for thinking about how their actions might affect them in the future, but we’re giving you more credit than that. You’re here at N3XT, after all, so we can already deduce that you’re smarter than the average bear.
Now, what we’re about to cover is not intended to be preachy or annoying, but we’re going to give you some advice that you might thank us for later.
This may or may not be news to you, but when you’re in high school, you kind of have to look at everything you do in your extracurricular hours as a dress rehearsal for the “real world.” You know, life after high school. The world that involves looking for work, paying bills and losing touch with popular music and so on and so forth.
Volunteering only counts if you take it seriously
If you’re volunteering for a group or organization, hats off to you. But if you’re blowing off that commitment, even sometimes, we’re going to put our hats back on.
See, you might not realize it at this point, but one day you’re going to apply for a job you really want. Or you might apply to a college that has an admission process that requires references. When you’re fresh out of high school, the only references you have are the ones you get from your high school career, employers at part-time jobs, and people you volunteer for.
If you made a commitment to someone or some thing for any reason (coaching soccer, babysitting, volunteering at the nursing home), if you’re doing it partly to advance your career at any point in the future, you have to take it seriously. Because if you don’t, it could very well come back to bite you in the ass in the future.
No, you can’t get fired from a volunteer gig, but you can be sure that if you did a crappy job and people could not depend on you then you won’t be getting a glowing reference.
What do you need to worry about references for? Well, let’s see now…
- When you want to rent a place to live. If you haven’t had a landlord before, your employers, teachers, and other such contacts will be your only source of referrals. No glowing referrals? You’re gonna be living with mom and dad for a long time.
- Any job you want in the future. If your goal is to have three references for your resume, it could take you awhile to collect that many if you’re not taking things seriously.
- Some college courses are very selective in the students they take. If you’re applying to a program with fierce competition, all you have to set you apart may be some glowing references.
Talk to us…
Have you considered this before?
Photo credit: heybrittney
About Jaime Lee
Loading ...
