By Max Stewart
At a certain point in your career, not every job is relevant to the story that your resume tells.
At work, you are the sum total of your experiences and what you’ve learned from them, so what did your first jobs teach you? I’m mid-career right now but when I was a newly minted adult who needed every buck I could earn, here’s what I did, what I’ll never do again, and what I still carry.
Political Street Fundraising
Asking people on the street for cash/check donations to a major political party:
- Get out there and hit the street: bring energy to each day and watch that energy get contagious.
- Always debate respectfully. This is why politics usually don’t belong in the workplace, but at this gig it was inevitable.
- If someone reacts to your pitch with aggression, walk away peacefully and be the bigger person. Learn to de-escalate.
- You’re not going to change a lot of minds: find and mobilize your people. Sort of like the way marketers put together an Ideal Customer Profile.
- Step up small: if they offer $75 as a donation, see if they could do $100. Tiny increases compound over time.
Upscale Catering
Serving, clearing, bartending, barbacking
- You’re there to make someone feel special on one of the biggest days of their lives: their wedding. Don’t let that intimidate you. rise to the challenge and be the person you’d need in that situation.
- The host’s/bride’s/groom’s/mother of the bride’s glass should never be empty. Get to know who the VIPs are. Learn their names. Ever fly first class and be greeted as “Mr./Ms. [Your Name]?” Feels good, doesn’t it?
- If someone treats you like a lowly servant or snaps at you, don’t react; you could cost your whole team their tip.
- You’re always on time, you’re always willing to help, you’re a team player who can cover the bar, take out a huge trash bag, or stack folding chairs. Someday these “little” jobs may feel beneath you but no task is ever too small to do well.
- With practice you can carry seven wine glasses with one hand.
Video Rental Chain
Enjoy the latest Hollywood hits in the comfort of your own home using VHS technology.
- A person’s list of favorite movies will tell you a lot about them.
- Long line of impatient customers? Breathe, and give everyone the service and attention they deserve. Don’t rush or you’ll make mistakes.
- Is someone being a jerk about their late fee? Sorry, nothing we can do, company policy. Is someone being kind about it? No problem, I can take those four dollars off your account. Works for both sides of the counter.
- You’re employee #40,765 at corporate retail location #20,801 but to the person who needs a recommendation for a funny action flick they haven’t seen, you’re #1.
- Be Kind, Rewind. VHS tapes needed to be re-wound to the beginning before you could watch the movie again, so either the customer did that or the store had to do it. Today’s version: think about the next person who’s going to use this CRM record, this PPT deck or shared document. Did you leave them something good, ready to go?
Shady Direct-Mail Advertising for Car Dealers
Like certain diseases and despots, this company thankfully no longer exists.
- If something seems too good to be true, it is. Seedy organizations take advantage of young people’s naivete to lure them into a shell game, or a pump-and-dump scheme. Smell a rat? Get the hell out of there.
- If your boss doesn’t take you and your career seriously, don’t give that organization any more of your time.
- The world’s tough, and you should be too, but a 100%-commission role is not the right place for 99% of people.
How about you? Which early experiences are the ones that made a difference? Also, are you hiring? I can carry a LOT of wine glasses.
Max Stewart is an Enterprise SaaS Senior Customer Success Manager based in Chicago. Max is the son of frequent Culpwrit contributor Jill Stewart.