• Employment

    Some students are interested in immediately entering the workforce for a year or two after high school before deciding on their college path. Even if you start at minimum wage, things like showing up early and staying late, having integrity in the workplace, and treating customers and coworkers with respect will move you up the chain. Believe it or not, those seemingly simple characteristics are in high demand.

    By working full-time at a fast food joint, or as a barista, or doing landscaping, you’ll learn invaluable life lessons. You’ll learn about customer service, about working even when you don’t want to, about budgeting your income, about balancing life and work. Those are things that many people don’t learn until they’re out of college.
     
    If after a couple of years of working you decide to go to college, you’ll be two years more mature, and you’ll have money in the bank to help you pay tuition. While wages are lower and unemployment is higher for those with only a high school degree, a little bit of elbow grease can go a long way.