This post was updated on February 11, 2020

What was your first job? That question can bring up some amusing anecdotes—or painful youthful experiences. But connecting those employment events of your past can help you understand how they’ve shaped your feelings about work in general, including working with others and by yourself.

When I grew up during the 1970s, most of my peers and I had part-time jobs after school, and we picked up more hours during the summer. Young people did everything from mowing lawns and babysitting to working in the hectic fast food industry. A part-time job was a rite of passage into adulthood.

I worked for a local restaurant as a waitress called Poppin Fresh Pies, which later became a national chain known as Baker’s Square. Of course, I had no experience, and felt the weight of my ability to learn the job as an indicator of how my future outlook to earn income and take care of myself might play out.

I did become a competent if not stellar waitress, however, and perhaps the even bigger payoff was that every night when we cleaned up after closing, we got to sample the pies that were two days old (since they couldn’t be sold any longer). Out would come a trail of banana cream, French Silk, raspberry, Rum Raisin, and whatever else of the 30 options was left over that day. Can you say “yum?”

DAVID’S PRECARIOUS FIRST JOB

My husband David recalls his first job back in 1977 as well. He snagged one helping out at Drake University and remembers it this way:

So many things could have gone wrong, starting right off the first hour of my first day. My first assignment was as a set-up/maintenance worker at Drake University’s student activities center, called the Olmsted Center.

I had to climb a 30-foot ladder—climb it all the way to the top of the ballroom ceiling. There was a dance that night and they needed the era’s mirrored ball dangling from above. It was a hefty unit, maybe 20 pounds, and over two feet across. My stomach sank when I stepped on the first rung of the ladder.

Sure, I had been on a ladder before—a normal 10-footer maybe. This was so, so high, and still didn’t reach quite to the ballroom ceiling.  Slowly I climbed the first step, the second, then three. I clutched the monster mirror ball as if that would help as I made my way up the ladder. I’m sweating and hanging on for dear life and my nerves began doing a job on my legs as I passed the halfway point.

As I continued up, the ladder started swaying a little as my supervisor stood at the foot of the ladder while I considered questions of life and death. Once I reached the top and hooked up the mirror ball, I really didn’t know if I was going to make it back down. When I did gather up the courage to start down, I’m sure that I looked like a cat clinging to a tree..

“I survived, as I can tell you the story today. But I still can’t think why I wasn’t standing on the floor hanging on to the ladder while my supervisor climbed up to hook up the mirror ball. With no training, no experience, and being only 15 years old, I’m sure there were at least a dozen OSHA workplace rule violations in force. I’m amazed that I didn’t fall and break my neck.”

EVERY JOB IS A LEARNING OPPORTUNITY

At my first job I learned to eat pie and move with speed, while David learned to become a man of all trades in maintenance and even a short order cook. And in both these experiences, we took away lessons to apply going forward.

Perhaps more important than the paycheck of a job are the lessons about life and about yourself. You learn how you work with others, how to deal with toxic bosses and co-workers, and how to value yourself beyond what you are paid. In my experiences as an employee, I learned that I wanted to build my own business and work with autonomy to be creative, for example.

In the article “6 Best Life Lessons We learned From Our First Jobs” over at Kununu, author Paige Breaux gathers the insights of others who share solid takeaway nuggets of wisdom from their first jobs. One perfect example is the recognition of skills learned in one job being transferrable to another, even if they are completely different.

Did you learn to work with deadlines and make decisions under stress as a waitress or barista? Maybe you have the makings of an ER physician or kindergarten teacher. Have you had to contend with difficult customers and challenging demands? Maybe you should have a future gig in PR. No experience is too small and disparate from another that you can’t carry the wisdom picked up forward.  

JOURNAL PROMPT

What kind of employee are you today? How best do you work? What do you like about work? What would you like to change? Consider writing your thoughts in free-flow or just make a bullet point list of general thoughts.

Sherry is the founder of Storied Gifts a personal publishing service of family and company histories. She and her team help clients curate and craft their stories into books. When not writing or interviewing, Sherry spends loads of time with her grandchildren and lives in Des Moines, Iowa.

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