Last month I shared 10 tips for smart purchasing. This month, let’s talk about making money! Jobs vs. Careers: with today’s state of unemployment, it’s more important than ever for our teens to hone their job search and interview skills.

Beyond skills, even with a tough job market, I’ve always instilled in my teenagers the importance of being on the right career path for their interests and talents. Today, this equates to part-time work during their high school years. Tomorrow their jobs will serve as the foundation for their future career.

By high school, your teens may not know their exact career path but they know if they are business-minded, socially-conscious, a master debater or the creative type.

Tips to Share With Your Teens:

5 Useful Exercises To Carve Your Career Path:

1. Make a list to identify your strengths, interests and passions. They will serve as the gateway to establishing your career path. Do you like to lead or follow? Is public speaking a strength or weakness? How much does money or notoriety motivate you? Are you an inventor? Do you aspire to change the world?

2. Make a second list that outlines your weaknesses and dislikes. This is equally important, to avoid steering off your unique path and ending up with a job you can’t stand.

3. Identify the many careers (and industries) in which your strengths and interests will apply.

4. Explore: Search job listings and create job alerts with the major career sites.

5. Be proactive: seek companies that fit your career profile and contact them to inquire about job opportunities. Not all job openings are announced publicly so be proactive and find companies where you want to work.

5 Secrets To Effective Interviews:

1. Create a resumé – in a world of texting, resumé’s may seem outdated to teens. This couldn’t be further from the truth. It’s important at any stage of your part-time career to create a powerful resumé and the best way to show off your skills is through strong writing. There are a multitude of online resources to assist you.

2. Put your best face(book) & twitter forward. Prospective employers are researching job candidates online. Be sure your photos and content are protected. Better yet, just clean it up.

3. Dress and live the part. Interviewing goes beyond dressing well. It’s being the total package. Now that your social media is sparkly clean, be sure to have a professional email address, (ragedude@hotmail.com won’t speak well of you to employers). Always exercise your great communication skills via telephone, email and in person.

4. Interview and follow through. For example, if you’re seeking a job in sales, how you communicate before, during and after is important. Just as a sales position requires confidence, charisma and follow through – so should your efforts in getting the job. Don’t wait for their call — make the call to inquire if you’ve gotten the position. This shows you are interested, organized and a real professional.

5. Keep your eye on the prize. Never waiver or settle. Your properly planned part-time and full time jobs will provide important experiences to lead you further along your career path.

That’s 5 and 5 (which equals a 10 in anyone’s book!) Be sure to remind your teens to always think of the bigger picture, (the marathon over the sprint.) Their efforts today will result in a more pleasant job experience and most importantly, pay big rewards in their future career.

For now and as they head towards college, keep GTE FCU’s U22 account in mind. I’ve found it to be much more than a savings & checking account. The U22 account provides important information, education, alerts, access and support specifically for 12-22 year olds giving all the tools & technology they need for successful money management.

Hey everybody,

Don’t you miss the days when you never had to worry about money? School was the only thing we had to deal with and that was enough. Summers were filled with fun and laughter, and not once did we ever think to ourselves, “Ugh, I gotta go to work at 7am everyday.”

Well that’s what stinks about getting older, summer jobs. In order to do things or pay for things you have to have one. With that being said, if you look hard enough and just get lucky enough, you can find a fun job out there.

Everyone talks about how it is to first, find a job and apply, but the next biggest thing you can’t overlook is having a successful interview. Some people are naturals at having good interviews, but for many people, it can be a nerve-wracking and awkward experience.

If you’re one of those people, or it’s your first time, here are a few tips that can help you nail the interview:

#1
Get there early! If you come to an interview late, you’re already giving the company a reason not to hire you.

#2
Turn off your electronic devices! That includes cell phones, mp3 players, pagers (if your reading this in 1995). Nothing says, “I’m obnoxious” better than picking up a cell phone or listening to music during an interview.

#3
Keep eye contact! Don’t overdue this and creep the interviewer out with a death stare though.

#4
Be honest! Lying will get you no where, but don’t be too honest and throw out information that doesn’t need to be shared. For instance, there’s no need to tell them that you named your dog Luke Skywalker (that is an awesome name though).

#5
Avoid using slang or foul language! Words or phrases like, “Yeaaa Boi!!”, “$%&*”, and especially, “$%^&$$*” will get you back on the street looking for another job.

#6
Do a little research on the company you are interviewing with. It’s good to know something about them in case they ask, and with web sites nowadays, research is a cinch!

Most importantly just try to remain calm and confident and you should be well on your way to a new job.

For more tips check out these web sites:

http://www.quintcareers.com/interviewing-dos-donts.html

http://www.ehow.com/how_4847256_have-a-successful-job-interview.html