Summer Jobs – A fun and productive way to spend your summer
Done with their semester exams, best friends Nia and Megha were welcomed with the joy of getting a two-month-long summer break and made elaborate plans for the summer. Megha decided that she’ll binge-watch TV serials the entire summer while Nia decided to take up something which was productive and fun. Nia contemplated between volunteering and taking up a summer job. At the end, she decided to opt for a summer job and suggested the same to Megha. However, Megha thought it was too soon for a first-year student as she wasn’t skilled enough nor was it mandatory for the first year students to pursue a work experience. Nia, however, still pursued a summer job, as she believed doing something was better than doing nothing. She bagged herself a summer job as an in-store operations manager in the retail department of a reputed apparels company.
Nia’s work required her to directly interact with customers, educating them about the apparels, and making sales. While assisting the customers, she herself learned a great deal about the apparels industry, fashion, and styling. The location of the company was quite far from her home, so, she used to wake up early in order to reach on time. Few times she reached a bit late but soon she learned how to manage her time from her experienced colleagues. During the whole experience, she made a lot of new friends at work as well as outside the work. She enjoyed her interactions with her colleagues and the customers. While most of the customers were polite, she often had to face some difficult situations like when a customer was arguing over something or expressing her dissatisfaction. But, gradually, she learned how to handle such situations with a smile on her face.
The entire experience was packed with learnings. She made mistakes, received constructive feedback from her mentor, learned from her experiences, and along the way, inculcated traits like humility, patience, and punctuality. And the best part came at the end of the month when she received her first paycheck! Now, she could not only take care of her travel expenses but was also able to have some savings.
On the other hand, Megha was enjoying her holidays in a different way – she spent most of her time binge-watching her favorite TV series and relishing the delicious snacks made by her mom. In the evenings, she hung out with her friends but after a certain point of time, her days were filled with absolute boredom and she was desperately waiting for the summer break to be over soon. Then, to her utter relief, the summer break ended! Megha and Nia resumed their college and went back to their normal routine of classes, assignments, and projects. They performed equally well in academics; however, the confidence that Nia had gained and the change in her attitude towards her career became clearly evident. It reflected in almost everything she did ranging from performing in class, giving presentations, to organizing and managing fests – she had discovered a stronger sense of self! Inspired by her previous experience, she again did a summer job the next summer. And, this time, it wasn’t difficult to get Megha on board too since Megha had witnessed the way the job experience had transformed Nia’s life!
Observing the stress on “summer jobs” throughout, you must be curious about what exactly it is. Well, summer jobs are short-term (usually 2-3 months long) work opportunities that students can do during their summer breaks. These jobs usually require you to have some basic skills instead of having highly polished skills, and that’s why students who have completed their class 11th, 12th, first, or second year of college can go for these summer jobs. They help you in building your character and developing interpersonal and communication skills and can be your first step towards having a successful career. To know more about summer jobs, you may read this article.
