Earning money

You or some of your friends may already have a job. Maybe you work at the grocery store on weekends, mow lawns and shovel snow or deliver pizza. Some people work to have a little extra spending money in their pocket. Others may be working to help their families get by. In any case, trying out different jobs when you’re still in high school can be a good way to get a glimpse into a career you might like or not like, later in your life. Most of us have to work for a living, so it’s good to try and figure out what kind of career would be best for us.

Although you may miss hanging out with your friends, when you have a part-time job you’re picking up some valuable life lessons. You’re figuring out how important it is to show up on time and be able to take guidance from your employer. You’re also absorbing the idea that most people don’t just give money away. When you have to work for it, you tend to get a healthy appreciation for cash and how hard it is to come by.

Right now if you have a job, you’re likely paid by the hour for your work, which means your paycheque is based on the number of hours you worked multiplied by your hourly wage (how much you make an hour). But as you get older, you may have a salary. That means you’ll be paid a fixed sum of money, usually every two weeks, to work at a full-time job. Although full-time generally means 40 hours a week, many salaried workers put in longer hours than that.

Some people—usually in sales—work on commission, meaning they get paid a percentage of every sale they make. Others get paid a fee-for-service, meaning they negotiate a fee for a specific project (say, a photography shoot or consulting). When they complete the job, they get paid that one-time fee.