<p>This is perhaps the most difficult part of my life. I have some volunteer experiences (filing income tax for elders, non-profit organizations, hospital etc) . Let's say I am looking for a cashier position but I don't have any previous exp, how do I present myself so I can have an advantage over those who do have cashier exp? </p>
<p>can anyone give any advice on finding the FIRST job ?</p>
<p>Target will hire cashiers with NO experience. They have a great training program and are very student friendly with very flexible schedules. They are looking for personable (and presentable) people. So be those things (personable and presentable).</p>
<p>also emphasize your school grades and leadership positions in your app, and also offer some great teacher recs! good luck!!</p>
<p>If you have a good gpa, list that on your resume (attach to application unless it says on there not to). It will show dedication, etc. For a first job, you have to be flexible for almost anything. Employers like someone who walks in there and says they can work anytime, anyday. Also, someone who is going to stay longer than summer. But if you're only looking for a summer job, then don't hide that fact either.</p>
<p>When I was applying for a summer job I applied over 20 places, and no bites. I figured out that no one wanted someone who could only work afternoons/evenings (I was taking classes), and was leaving at the end of the summer. (because I was a full time student in another city) Maybe if you apply early, and at enough places, you can have some luck.</p>
<p>The one place that did want to take me was a temp agency. They had all kinds of jobs, from office to lab or factory work. Signing up with them is free, but time consuming as you have to do lots of paperwork and even a drug test before they look for jobs for you. The job I was offered was full-time, and I needed part-time, so I couldn't take it.</p>
<p>Leadership and volunteer experience should help you too. Best of luck!</p>
<p>I applied to CVS, without any experience. Got a job in minutes. Hate the job though, cause the manager is a MONSTER.</p>
<p>I'm struggling to find a first job too. In high school, I did not have a car and lived in an area where you couldn't walk anywhere. When I applied places, no one would hire me because I didn't have a car- but I'd need to work to be able to afford the car! I probably applied to every grocery store, restaurant, hotel, and small store within 5 miles of my house. </p>
<p>Now I'm working a full time, non paying internship over the summer as well as a class that's twice a week in the afternoon/early evening. I'm not there yet so I'm trying to find jobs online but everyone wants experience. I don't have the luxury of being able to work past the summer (my college is about 8 or 10 miles away from the city I'll be living in, and I have no car) and my availability is small. It's really frustrating.</p>
<p>Many stores will hire young people with no experience for positions. Just be professional and open to doing any task. It should be easy to get a job at a grocery store, pharmacy, Target, Walmart, etc.</p>
<p>LOL @ "This is perhaps the most difficult part of my life"</p>
<p>Usually the min. wage jobs (or +$1~3) require no previous experience. Starbucks is always nice with students, as well as the cashiers. You can always work at a local bookstore also. All they look at is whether you have any felony record and see if you are a trustworthy person enough (which you can prove during the interview, which are usually too simple to be true).</p>
<p>Or, you can always get an internship and naturally shift that into your job once you have built up enough experience in the office (which is how i got officially hired at an accounting firm).</p>
<p>I recommend trying to get an office assitant position. Talk to your Mom, Dad, Aunt, Uncle, etc and get a 6-7 dollar/hr job filing or answering phones. Its better for a resume than flipping burgers and dealing with customers, unless you become a manager.</p>
<p>Some research for you to do would be to find a style of resume which is for people with little to no previous job experience. Remember, you can write about research projects, volunteer service, any unpaid/paid work you've done could help take up empty space. Of course, emphasize your grades. Most of the time stores will hold group interviews for everyone that submits an app so long as they are looking to hire people. You should also start practicing networking among your peers who can get you a job where they work. After my senior year I looked EVERYWHERE for a job but couldn't find one even after being told I had a stellar interview, then I just went to a friend and they got me a job. Easy. Good luck buddy, you can always sleep the entire summer.</p>
<p>I agree with Pearl Jammer! I don't doubt this the most difficult time of your life,
but it is good experience for when it gets harder......</p>
<p>Good luck, with a bit of persistence, I'm sure you will find something. (I spent the summer after my senior year filing repair orders in a car dealership- owned by my uncle.)</p>
<p>Go to your local youth office, they will help you prepare your resume. They often host job fair for local employers.</p>
<p>I was so happy to find this thread, because I have been having the hardest time trying to find a summer job! I started looking about 2 months ago, and have applied to about 20 places. So far, nothing. It's been really, REALLY frustrating.</p>
<p>I have applied to Starbucks (actually, 3 Starbuckses - wow that's a strange-looking plural), DSW, Payless, Coldstone, Trader Joe's, CVS, Walgreens, Staples, and the list goes on and on.</p>
<p>I always say I can work anytime, any day (which is true). Time after time, managers have told me that they won't hire me because I have no experience. The irony of it all is that how am I supposed to get any experience if they won't give me a chance?!</p>
<p>Honestly, finding an unskilled summer job has been significantly harder for me than getting into college (I'm a rising college freshman)!! That shouldn't be true!</p>
<p>Any more advice beyond what is already in this thread?</p>
<p>btlesgirl, I know exactly what you mean... It seems that no one will hire me! Grocery stores, Target, every coffee shop in my city, bookstores even KMart! I don't really understand what employers are looking for in min. wage paying employees. And I agree, getting to college was easier than getting a job at a grocery store...</p>
<p>For past "work experience" use some volunteering or other non-traditional work experience instead of listing nothing.</p>
<p>Well, when it comes to using non-paid experience as work experience, how appropriate is it to use experience that isn't related to the job that you're applying to? Sure, I could explain how I have worked with kids struggling in school, but how much would most employers care?? </p>
<p>Hmm, I should try applying to Gymboree or Baby Gap or something... Well, about applying to kids places, would babysitting convince them of ability to work in that sort of environment... I suppose clothing stores look more for sales experience, though...</p>
<p>I'm in a similar situation. I've held jobs before, but mostly under the table in my old country (which has rampant unemployment, esp. for immigrants - which I was there as well). So I can't put that on my resume. </p>
<p>The small non-profits orgs I used to work for before getting to college are all disbanded, and getting a job on-campus (it is now illegal for international students in the US to work off-campus) has turned out to be too complicated schedule-wise and with the large pool of international applicants clamoring for the same job with less heavy courseload.</p>
<p>I've found it easy to get jobs before - most of my under-the-table gigs came about naturally with me just dropping in and getting hired on the spot - but now, I find myself completely stripped of a resume and without any realistic way of conveying the circumstances of the lack without sounding like I'm making justifications or trying to avoid my potential new employers to contact my old ones.</p>
<p>Hopefully I'll figure something out. This is my last quarter at a school with a quarter-system, which has made it impossible to work over the summer (as I only have a month and a half free, and this is when going back to my old country where I'm limited to the small town where my parents live or random living at friends houses). It's an impossible situation.</p>
<p>You have a far better shot - remember that you have SOME experience, even if it is not official wage labor! Emphasize this experience. Emphasize your grades. Just call up or visit random stores, businesses and organizations, and present yourself professionally and confidently. Most of the time it is exactly this social competence skill that keeps otherwise accomplished, but non-experienced kids, to land on-the-spot-hire jobs.</p>
<p>It maybe your local economy. Does it have high unemployement rate? My D was hired on the spot. If it's not for the fact that she is only 16 she could have her pick of jobs. For example, she loves books and music, would love to work at Borders and was hoping to interview there but there is a minimum requirement age like 18 to work there.</p>
<p>Thanks frrph, for the advice, and I feel your pain about the quarter system... Who will hire anyone for such a short period of time. </p>
<p>No, it doesn't seem that unemployment rate is particularly high...</p>
<p>I am actually not sure what the problem is... I have noticed that no one in the top 10% of highschool was able to find a job in our area... Its quite shocking, actually... </p>
<p>And its particularly difficult being on the quarter system. In addition to the shorter time available to work,a s frrph mentioned, we get out later than semester, so it becomes difficult to find a job when most college kids are already back in town... </p>
<p>Has anyone on the quarter system been able to find a summer job in their home town AFTER school ended?</p>