Jobs For 15 Year Olds

Now that school has started, anyone looking for jobs for 15 year olds would have to be looking for a part time job. Something they can do after school or on the weekends would be perfect for many teens that need or want the extra money.

There are lots of good job ideas for 15 year olds that you can do or start on your own and of course you can do those whenever you have free time. If you can’t find a “real” job with an employer, you should see if you can get started earning money on your own by doing one of those things. 

At 15 years old, you are not allowed to work much during the time when school is going. This means you have to find a part time job that will accommodate the hours you want to work and also the hours that you are allowed to work by law. Of course you can’t work during school so you will need to find a job that is hiring that will allow you to work after school is out for the day. You can work longer hours on weekends so you might be able to find a business that just needs weekend help.

Whenever you go in for job interviews, whether they are for part time jobs for 15 year olds or full time jobs, you should behave in certain ways. Make sure you see my interview tips for 15 year olds to see what you should and should not do.

Finding any jobs for teenagers might be hard in this economy but one place that specializes in both hourly and part time jobs is SnagAJob.com. They have lots of employers that are in retail and restaurants that have job openings like the ones you are looking for. It is free to sign up but you should only do so if you really want a job. Please don’t sign up if you are just fooling around!

Teens who are looking for jobs for 15 year olds are going to have to go to an interview sooner or later. At this age, it might be your very first interview and that is scary for sure. But if you want to get hired at any fast food restaurant, movie theater, or place that hires teens you are going to have to speak to a manager before you get the job.

At 15, it is probably not necessary to get dressed up like you are going to church. It depends on where you are interviewing of course, and if it is at a private club or some other higher end establishment, you might do better if you do look very respectable.

For most teen jobs though, the managers who are hiring 15 year olds and other ages probably only expect you to look clean and presentable. In other words, don’t go to an interview with ripped jeans and a tee shirt. Find the best pair of jeans you have and one of your better shirts to wear and you will probably be fine. Again though, this would depend somewhat on the job you are interviewing.

If you are in doubt about what to wear, use your common sense and also ask your parents for their advice. The one thing you don’t want to do is lose the job because of the way you are dressed. If you have clothes that are a step up from jeans and tennis shoes you probably should wear them just to be safe.

Once you get to the interview you should know the answers to some of the questions that will be asked of you. At your age they will mostly be standard questions revolving around who you are, what grade you are in, why you are looking for a job, whether you have any experience, what your grades are, and maybe even what subjects you like at school. These questions should be easily answered by you and you should have some basic responses at the tip of your tongue.

Don’t worry about the interview questions being too difficult as they will most likely be very simple and designed to help the manager get a feel of who you are. Jobs for 15 year olds usually involve simple tasks and thus they are looking more for someone who is trustworthy, will show up on time, and work hard rather than someone who has a specific set of skills.

In your job interview, it is important to do your best at remaining calm and giving good concise answers to the questions. Let the interviewer learn who you are and be as likeable as possible. Some jobs you may be trying to get may involve dealing with the general public and so a good or even great personality may be needed.

Even though the economy is really down now and it is really hard to get jobs for teenagers, you mustn’t appear desperate to get the job. You should never brag about the things you have done, but go over them factually instead if it is relevant. It is important that you try to exibit a calm and collected demeanor at all times and make the best case for you being hired. 

Remember, you will probably be one of several or many that are being interviewed for the job(s) and the hiring manager will probably ultimately go with a gut feeling. For this reason it is important that you do your best to look nice and present yourself as someone who can do the job well and can be relied upon. Once you have done that, all you can do is hope that luck is with you.

Jobs for 15 year olds are far and few between and it is difficult to get a real job with an employer because fifteen is seen as too young most of the time. This leaves kids to figure out other ways to make money.

Some of the best job ideas for 15 year olds involve doing work for neighbors and pretty much trying to earn money on their own. This may involve knocking on doors, putting up notes on bulletin boards, and even looking online for ways to make money.

The question is, should these young teens get their parent’s permission before they set out on a job hunt? The answer to this is always “YES” as parents are the legal guardians of their children and they need to know what they are up to almost all of the time. Looking for a job may seem safe but if you are fifteen and going around knocking on neighbor’s doors, your parents need to know you are doing that.

Wherever you go to look for jobs for 15 year olds, your parents need to know what you are doing and where you are going. If you are trying to get a job at a restaurant as a bus boy, your parents need to be informed about your plan. Likewise, if you are going around town asking people with they want you to babysit, pet walk, or wash cars, your parents should know about that as well.

At fifteen years old you think that you are a big kid and in many respects you are. However, the world is a dangerous place and your parents need to know what you are doing to try to find a job. They also need to know what you are doing online to find work. The online world is also full of perils and if you are applying for jobs online, you should get your parent’s permission first. Anything you sign up for online, including job search sites, you should have your parent’s permission.

Getting your Mom and Dad’s permission to try to get a job and keeping them informed of your progress is the only smart thing to do. If you are offered a job, you need to make sure they are OK with the opportunity and don’t have any reservations about you doing it. Sometimes something might seem fine to you and they will not approve of it. With a job or any other kind of work or way to make money, you should make sure you have their OK before you do it.

One of the problems of searching for jobs for fifteen year olds is that many employers require you to be 16 year or older. When you are 15, you are so close but sometimes so far from qualifying for that job you want and it doesn’t seem fair. There are also hourly restrictions on you during the school year ( hours are limited to 3 hours a day and 18 hours a week) which is one of the reasons why some employers only hire kids sixteen and older.

So, what does a fifteen year old do who wants to start making extra money to help the family or for personal things like dating, nice clothes, or video games? The one option that is always available is to start some sort of small business for yourself. Listed below are some of the top good job ideas for 15 year olds of things they can do on their own to start making money:

An online business

This is the #1 idea with the most potential. If you are fifteen, that means you probably can’t remember a time where there wasn’t computers and the Internet. You have grown up using computers and you might be very good with them. There are many ways to make money online and this is something you can do from your home with little to no start up costs.

You might have taken classes showing you how to create web pages, set up blogs, and any number of other things online. Making money on the Internet is only limited by your imagination and you have probably read stories of kids starting up some business online and becoming very successful.

As an example, you might read this blog about lead generation and online surveys for money that will explain to you how to get leads (and money for those leads) for a site called CashCrate. It is all done by setting up blogs (which are free) and learning how to get visitors to those blogs and having them sign up under your referral link. This is just one of the many ways you can learn how to make money online and if you are an inventive teen, you can probably think of many other ways.

A computer tutor or website development service

Along the same lines as the online business, you can make money by teaching others how to use a computer and even creating web sites for them. Adults are notorious for needing computer help ranging  from setting things up to learning how to use their personal computers. Many adults who don’t use computers at their job want to learn how to do things online and need all kinds of help that you might be able to provide.

Setting up and designing blogs and websites for this type of person is a service you might be able to make good money at and you can even get clients from around the world if you know how. You might start out at some computer forums and get ideas that way of what types of needs are out there.

A pet walking and pet sitting service

This is something that any 15 year old can do and you might be suprised at the demand. People go on vacation all the time and need their pets taken care of and walked. You might be able to save them money from sending their pets to a kennel by providing this type of service. Additionally, you don’t need people to go on vacation to make money as you can offer to walk their pets everyday for a small fee. Adults are busy with work and kids which means they don’t have enough time to devote to walking their dogs. This is where you come in and this type of service can be both fun and successful.  

A school tutoring service

If you are good at math, science, or some other school subject, you can try to find other students that need help. By tutoring other students you will not only make money but you will also get the satisfaction of helping others. This is something the “smart” kids have been doing for generations and you can make money doing it too.

A yard maintenance service

Kids have been making money forever by doing such things as weeding, mowing lawns, watering, raking leaves, and shoveling snow. Scout out all your neighbors and find out if they have any yard chores they would be willing to pay you to do. Once you show then that you do a good job, they will be willing to hire you on an on-going basis.

A painting service

This is a something that is best for the summer but it can be done year round too if you are good at it. Painting and outside home maintenance is an area that any “do it yourselfer” teen can make money at if they can find the clients. If you know how to paint, fix things, and do other maintenance type work, you can go out looking for people who need this sort of thing done. Once you establish yourself as a hard worker who does a good job, it will be easier to get your neighbors to hire you as word of mouth will help you get jobs. 

A babysitting service

Responsible teens have always made money babysitting and the better and more likeable you are, the more the word will spread making it easier it is to get work. This is one of the best jobs for fifteen year olds.

A cleaning service

People need maids and often hire professional ones to clean their houses. If cleaning is something you don’t mind doing, you might be able to get work around your neighborhood bycharging less than the professional services do. As with all jobs like this, you will need to be reliable, show up on time, and do a very good job. You will be competing with services that do this for a living but if you show that you can do the same job as they do for less money, it will be easy for you to get and keep clients.

A cooking / catering service

If you enjoy cooking and baking, you might be able to start a service where you prepare home cooked meals or some other variation of this. Many families now have both the mother and father out of the house all day working at a full time job. This leaves very little time for them to cook and eat good nutritious food which is a service you can provide.

Job hunting teenagers are behind the eight ball with this economy and the less experience you have the worse off you are. If you are fifteen years old and looking for a job, you should give yourself the best chance by not having too high expectations and jumping at anything that shows a possibility.

First of all, if you are only fifteen, it probably means that this will be your first job. If this is the case, you can’t be picky in what you are looking for because you have to realize that you don’t have any experience. Even if you have had a job before, you still don’t have the kind of experience employers are looking for.

Your first job is merely a stepping stone to your second job that might be better. In other words, before you can run you must walk and you have to take a job at the bottom first before you can get a better job the next time. If you are fifteen, you first job will not be that glamorous or exciting but it will be something you can put on your resume that will hopefully help you get a job you want more later on.

To make things worse, fifteen year olds are considered too young to work by many employers. Although mature teenagers might do a really good job, most employers will not want to take that chance. Any job that might be open for you is going to be a really basic job and you have to be open to that.

If you have a friend or friends who already have jobs, you should talk to them and see if they have any ideas. Often times, they will have the ear of their employer and if they are good workers, anyone they recommend will have a better chance of getting hired. They might also know if or when there might be a job opening because they hear what is going on.

Jobs for fifteen year olds can’t be many things and that includes any jobs that require driving, are dangerous, deal with hazardous materials, and there are certain hour restrictions as well. You should not waste time looking for and applying to jobs that you can’t get or to companies that don’t hire teens that young. Do some research before you start looking and be sure to use your friends and parents to help you.

If you can’t find a job right away, you should realize that getting a job now is tough for everyone and many adults are out of work too. This makes it extra hard to find employers that will actually need work and so your job search could be long and hard.

If you can, you should always think of job ideas for 15 year olds on your own that you can do such as chores, errands, and other things around your neighborhood or city that people might want to pay for. This is the way many  teens earn extra money and if you are creative you might be able to think of something you can do that someone will be willing to pay for. Dog walking is an example of a service you could provide to the people in your area that could make you some spending money.

Whatever you do, try not to get too down on yourself if you have trouble finding your first job. There are many other teens in your exact same situation that are looking for winter jobs and part time jobs. Keep looking and thinking of ways you can get hired or make money and you will eventually find something.