Getting and keeping a first job
Describe your experience, ask useful questions, and be reliable at work.
Skill 5.4 · About 25 minutes to begin
You may already have experience worth describing: finishing a service route, caring for equipment, helping a neighbor, or organizing a group meal. Explain what you did and how it helped.
Before you begin
Bring along
- Fictional budget or sample documents
- Calculator
- Notebook
Support & boundaries
Use fictional examples. Keep private financial records out of group activities and review real accounts or employment decisions with a trusted adult.
01 / Learn
Understand the skill
- A short, truthful description of experience is stronger than an exaggerated title.
- An adult should help check age restrictions, transportation, hours, and job safety before you accept work.
- A job offer should clearly explain duties, pay, schedule, and who supervises you.
02 / Practice
Try it, step by step
- 1
Write three examples using task, action, and result. Leave out private customer information.
- 2
Create a short introduction: who you are, what you can contribute, and when you are available.
- 3
Practice answering a question about reliability with a specific example.
- 4
Ask about duties, training, supervision, hours, and pay. Review the offer with a trusted adult.
- 5
For a practice shift, arrive prepared, clarify the task, report obstacles early, and check your work before leaving.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Accept first and figure it out on the shift.
- Treating a successful practice attempt as permission to skip the supervision or checks for a real task.
Your call
A job description is unclear about equipment you would operate. What next?
03 / Demonstrate
Show what you can do
Use these prompts with a mentor. This practice checklist resets when you leave; record your overall stage below in the signed-in manual.
0 of 3 reviewed together
Mentor notes & sources
Help someone learn
- Run a supportive mock interview and give one strength and one improvement.
- Let the learner try again after feedback.
Start together, then let the learner take responsibility at an appropriate level. Offer a shorter task, a different role, or more practice time when useful. Review the demonstration criteria together; advanced practice never removes supervision requirements.
Reference shelf
Original program lessons informed by these references. Equipment manuals, current local rules, and qualified instruction govern technical practice.
- CFPB: youth financial capability ↗
Planning, money habits and decision-making
Edition updated 2026-09-28. Program learning material; not a professional qualification.
04 / Apply · In Action
A first interview
Prepare three truthful examples of work or service and practice a short interview with a mentor.
What success looks like
Explain one result you helped achieve and ask about duties, training, pay, and supervision.
Talk it through
Which example best showed your reliability?
05 / Teach · Take it further
Revise your introduction after feedback and practice again with another adult.