A mistake
You have made a mistake at work. Nobody has noticed yet and it might not matter.
What do you do?
Step 1: What Would You Do?
There is often more than one good answer. Pick one and see what happens.
Something is not right
You have been asked to do something that seems unsafe, or you have not been given the breaks you should get.
What do you do?
Step 2: What That Was
The name for what you just worked out.
The main thing an employer wants from a young worker is reliability. Turning up on time, every time, puts you ahead of most people.
Do the boring bit properly
Most first jobs are mostly dull tasks. Doing them well is what gets you trusted with anything else.
Ask rather than guess
Nobody minds a question on day three. Everybody minds a mistake that came from not asking one.
You have rights
Breaks, a minimum wage for your age, limits on hours for under-18s, and a safe place to work. Being new does not remove them.
Step 3: Try It
These ones do have right answers.
What Gets You Kept On?
Sort by what an employer actually notices.
You are a few weeks into a first job.
Tap something to move it.
- Empty
- Empty
Step 4: Quick Check
Two questions, then you are done.
Question 1 of 1
You are not sure how to do something on your second shift. What do you do?
Step 5: Your Life Mission
Something to do away from the screen. Nobody is checking.
Know the rules
- Find out the minimum wage for your age where you live.
- Find out the rules on hours and breaks for under-18s.
- Write both down before you need them.
Why: Knowing the number in advance makes it a fact rather than an argument.
Step 6: What You Learned
- Reliability is the main thing. On time, every time.
- Do the dull jobs properly — that is what gets you trusted.
- Ask rather than guess. And you still have rights.
For the grown-up
A first job teaches things school cannot — being accountable to somebody who is not invested in you, and the difference between effort and reliability.
Worth going through the basics of pay and rights together: what they should be paid for their age, break entitlements, hour limits for under-18s, and what to do if something is unsafe.
Resist solving workplace problems for them. Helping them draft what to say is support; ringing the manager removes the thing they were about to learn.