Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I got my first real full time job at the age of 20
Before that I worked with friends and family at 14 and 15
Worked on Father's farm when I was really young, got at job at a grocery store when I was 18, started full time working after graduating with a BS at 21.
I have been working since I was 12 years old. Then again that was cutting yards, babysitting, washing cars, collecting recycling from the neighbors, washing airplanes, building and selling things. By the time I was 14 I was babysitting this autistic boy. The parents owned a small drain cleaning plumbing company. I ended up going on jobs after babysitting as the owner was sort of "on" 24/7. He paid me and many times I made more helping him out then I did with the babysitting.
At 15 I had a regular job washing two Convair 440 airplanes. By age 16 I was working at a muffler shop cleaning the place and then eventually cutting out the old systems with a cutting torch. I guess that was my first pay check job.
Did typical kid stuff. Newspaper delivery, dishwasher, kitchen help, etc. First real occupation was US Navy for 6 years then a full time job when I got out of the Navy. Not counting the US Navy, the answer is age 24, Count the US Navy then age 18.
If mowing grass and other odd jobs like that count, I was about 11 or 12.
As far as a "real job", I was 18 and I started a little over two months after graduating high school. It was a job for a printing/mailing company as a courier. My job was to drive to all these different businesses and pick up their outgoing mail, which was brought back to the building, ran through an OCR and then delivered to the post office. Other than just driving from place to place, at the end of my driving route I had to go back to the building and "pull bins" (take envelopes out of the various slots of the OCR and put them in a mail tray). It was about 5-6 hours per day (from 12:30 pm until 5:30-6:30, depending on how much mail there was that day.) It was a pretty easy job but it also paid minimum wage ($7.25 in my state at the time) so I only worked there for about 7 months before I found a "better" job.
I was the kid who would go door to door selling seeds, Christmas cards, magazine subscriptions. I got my start at age 8 and was hooked with the sales bug ever since.
At 13, I got the "opportunity" to work with my step father framing houses. I did that for 3 summers and learned how to work long hours without much pay.
By the time I got to 17, I got my first restaurant job and it was a lot easier (bussing tables) than framing houses in the hot sun.
I started working for an upholsterer on my block in the Bronx when I was 13. Used to go from neighborhood to neighborhood putting flyers under people's doors. Then the old guys in the back that did the actual work would have me get the bolts of fabric and the foam and batting for the cushions etc. They were short a delivery guy one day and asked me if I wanted to help deliver the furniture. Started doing that with some regularity and it was great because the owner let me keep any tips we got without splitting it.
Picked worms and sold them to fishermen when I was 7 or 8. Newspaper route at 10. Worked summers on a farm and sometimes a furniture store as a teen. First full-time post-university job was in 1974 at 23.
My answer is going to be different from most because -- The only jobs anyone can get in college is retail since you need your degree to work in your field (internships and volunteer work don't count because barely anyone offers it, and if they do, its unpaid. Welp, my parents were too controlling with me working throughout college - they forced me not to work during college, not even for summers when I had off. Even when I graduated and had to find a job, I wasnt allowed to work anywhere until I found a job I went to school for, not even retail. Literally couldnt find a job without retail, but thats a different question because of all the details (this is the gist of it).
When I graduated I was 24 y/o. When I found my job it was when I was 25 but I was practically 26 (when I started, I had another 3/4 months until my 26th birthday). I only found my job because they were so desperate for help that they literally hired anyone who came through the door unless it was obvious why they shouldnt hire you.
Was a shoe shine boy when I was 9 and then paper routes and then dishwasher. 4 weeks out of high school joined the Air Force and after that my current job that I have been at for almost 40 years. Time flies.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
