As job openings increase, so does the need for employees. With total payroll employment rising from January 2023 to January 2024 by 42,100 jobs, according to the Missouri Economic Research and Information Center, who better than high schoolers to fill in the gaps of minimum wage jobs? Although many students reject the concept of working while in school, it can be extremely beneficial.

Working even a couple of hours a week can help students become more responsible, have better time management skills and learn how to communicate with others in a business setting.

Laura Strickland, Career and Cooperative Education (CCE) coordinator, can attest to this. CCE is a class where students can work at paid internship positions while still earning high school credit for it. Strickland’s job is to keep track of the students who work outside of school and to ensure they are getting credit for it.

About 25% to 50% of MHS students have some sort of part-time job either during the school year or just in the summer, Strickland said, and the skills students receive from working are overwhelming.

“Having a part-time job can build confidence in students, which can help point them in the right direction of being more goal-oriented,” Strickland said.

Figuring out how to communicate with peers and managers as a high schooler can help tremendously when finding a future career. Almost every job requires interpersonal skills like problem-solving, teamwork and general social skills.

Talking with my managers has taught me how professionals communicate and why bosses make decisions to benefit their employees.

People skills were one of the main focuses of education during elementary school. However as grade levels increase teachers focus less on important life skills and more on knowledge of core subjects.

“All those kinds of soft skills that are kind of hard to teach, but you need to practice to get better at, can improve with a part-time job,” Strickland said.

Time management is one of the biggest struggles for students causing many to procrastinate difficult assignments until the last minute. Working a part-time job can help students improve this skill because they’ll have to find a good balance between work, school and extracurriculars that they’re a part of.

As most adults’ lives are busy because they have to worry about work, paying bills and taking care of their families if they have one, learning how to have a healthy balance between work and personal life at a young age will help students when they have to do so in the future.

Even though I only work on weekends, I see tremendous benefits in myself as I’ve learned how to manage my time between studying, spending time with friends, and going to work. Because of this, I can maintain good grades while still working hard

Although having a job can be beneficial, it’s important to remember to not overwork yourself. Too many hours can cause an unwanted amount of stress and pressure on students, so it’s best to limit how much students work.

“If students are starting to work 20 or more hours a week, then we see the positives start to decline,” Strickland said. “Keeping it truly part-time is really important.”