Turn Your Part-Time Job into a Business Experience

Each and every one of us has done it. We’ve all worked that crappy part time job that we had no interest in. Whether you’re flipping burgers, bagging groceries or washing dishes, its money in the bank and somebody has to do it. Here’s the deal though; one day when you’ve graduated from school and you’ve moved on to bigger and better things, you’re going to be hiring suckers like yourself to work these crappy jobs. Take the time to find education from what you’re doing and turn your part-time job into a business experience.

Look for connections.

                Whether you’re studying to become an architect, a scientist or you’re just a marketing fiend like me, look for connections between your current job and your education. For an example, I’m taking marketing and I currently work at a grocery store as a cashier supervisor. Before I had any interest in business or marketing, I looked at my place of work like a black-hole that I was destined to die in. I was told what to do, I got mad at being told what to do and I hated doing what I was told to do. Then, something magical happened, I started to give a crap.

                During my marketing studies, I learned about customer service and the importance of it. Marketing doesn’t just happen in office buildings while people where fancy suits and strategize on how to make more money. Marketing happens in the front lines of the workplace every day. It’s people like you and I, who flip burgers, bag groceries and wash dishes, who smile at the customers or optimize a process behind the scenes that make a business tick.  Look for connections, between what you’re learning and what you’re doing.

              Now when I’m told to smile at a customer, I don’t do it because my jerk of a manager told me to do it. I smile because it means something to the people I’m serving. I smile because a plan has been put in place to meet the needs of the customer and I realize its all part of a marketing process. I may also smile because I know that at any moment I could just walk out and they would be totally screwed (I HAVE THE POWEEEEEER) but, mostly the marketing thing.