Coming back to school for the fall means you are going to be asked the dreaded question, “So what did you do all summer?” Well, guess what everyone? Maybe I don’t want to answer that question because I am now a senior in college and have yet to get a “real” job or internship related to my degree.
While it may seem like a bad thing to not have landed that awesome internship you can brag about to fellow classmates, there are still brag-worthy aspects to any and all summer jobs. This summer the internship I had lined up fell through, so I worked part time in retail. The last thing I’m going to do is be embarrassed about that. I learned so much about responsibility and teamwork rather than trying to spend my summer impressing upper-level management. There are plenty of perks to working in retail that might end up building your resume better than an internship, and these are my humble experiences to attempt to prove that.
First of all, without taking away the seriousness of retail, working part time at a store that operates from 10 am-9 pm has some awesome scheduling and time management perks. Scheduling is significantly less strict than that of a 9 am-5 pm job, so you can enjoy one of the last opportunities of your life -- the freedom to choose your own hours rather than selling your soul to a company that may or may not give you an actual job after you graduate. This job was a perfect transition for getting used to working long hours but without the constriction of Monday through Friday, eight hours straight, with minimal to zero changes. Obviously, this may not be the case for every field of work, but for the sake of summer festivals, concerts and carnivals you might be wanting to attend, you might not get the chance to control your schedule like this ever again.
Another great perk about working in an unrelated field is the fact that you are working in an unrelated field. I’ve found through my job searches and interviews that companies tend to like hearing about how you handled odd jobs more than extended knowledge of specific skills you wrote on your application. Folding clothes and taking inventory is not my lifelong goal, but I learned a lot of discipline and patience while doing so. It was also a great bonding moment with other employees to share our mutual hatred of staying in the store until 2:30 am processing the new stuff every week. It may not be the most glamorous job, but it’s the perfect opportunity to share funny stories and use your experience as a starting point to show that you can handle the responsibility of working your best, even if it isn’t what you want to do forever.
One of my favorite things about working in retail was getting to know the other employees. When you find a specialized job in your field, fellow employees probably went to school for a similar degree, have similar passions, and generally want to be there. When I got to know the girls from work, we were all in completely different stages of life, and it was amazing. There were students in high school trying to save up for college, mothers with toddlers trying to get out of the house, and college dropouts trying to find the next thing to do. I began working at the beginning of the summer with a few other new hires who similarly were working seasonally with plans to go back to college in the fall.
A few months into the job, a lady began working with us who had her master’s degree, 2 middle school aged kids and a husband in the military, so at first, I wondered why she wanted to work there at this point in her life. As we all got trained and worked together, she quickly became such a light to every single employee there. She was just always happy to be at work, loved talking to customers and was extremely patient with everyone. One night I was taking a break to have dinner in the break room, and she came in to take a quick 15-minute break and started sharing her experience she just had with a customer. She says laughing, “I just got done helping this lady find her size and try things on while she was wrangling her 3-year-old beside her, and I mentioned something about her son, and she says, ‘I never get to go out like this anymore.’ Her son had a bag from The Children’s Place and the toy store, so I told her, ‘You’ve taken care of your son, now it’s time to take care of you.’” She was almost in tears at how she explained that the lady was so grateful and hugged her, feeling truly cared for, and I realized that she was working there for more than just some extra cash.
Working part time in retail might not be the number one thing I choose to talk about in my resume building, but it certainly will not go unmentioned. This summer I was able to take advantage of freedoms with work hours that I might not ever get again, a wider range of experience that isn’t just directly related to my passions, and I got to be blessed by the most unexpected people. I’m not saying you shouldn’t look for jobs in your field, but if it doesn’t work out, do not be discouraged. Any job is better than no job, and I guarantee that the last thing you’ll be worrying about 5 years from now is where you worked the summers in between college.
