Learning Over Earning: Choosing Experience Instead of Money When Starting Out

Starting Out: Taking a Long-Term View

For young people, it can be very enticing to choose one of their first jobs based on the amount of their paycheck. They may be thinking of all of the things they can do, or purchase with, the money. They may be fresh out of school, and in debt, and looking to meet or exceed their budget for the first time. While this is understandable, they can benefit from taking a more long-term view of their future career, and lifestyle.

When first starting out, it may help to work at a position where you gain more experience, instead of one with higher pay. You can leverage the lessons and education gained into having better choices for positions later, with more responsibility, and higher salaries.  

A Personal Example

An example from my personal life took place when I was in graduate school for a degree in recreation. I wanted to see what it was like to work at a resort, and looked for summer internship positions in San Diego. One of the available positions was at a prestigious hotel that I was already familiar with. I also was considering a job at another high quality hotel.  

The former resort offered a pay rate that was two dollars an hour more than the latter, and I was very interested in it. However, when talking to the manager at the latter hotel, I learned that I would be given more responsibility, and gain more experience in the internship, than I would at the other one. Since I was just starting out in the field, I thought this was more appealing, so I chose the position at the latter resort.

My Internship Report

My Summer Internship Report details how I was able to gain a lot of experience from that position:

“The beginning of my internship consisted mainly of shadowing (the manager) and learning how to do paperwork for purchase orders; understanding the relationships she has with other departments such as Accounting, Purchasing, Shipping/Receiving, and Laundry; and preparing for daily activities, among many other duties and responsibilities.
(The manager) has been a good teacher, and I have already learned a lot by just following her around.

. . .

The last two weeks of the internship have been the most challenging and also the most rewarding. I have begun to settle into the responsibilities and duties required of me, and have gotten more used to certain types of work, like creating schedules and supervising staff, that were foreign to me before the internship began.
            I had the opportunity to attend an operations meeting of the different hotel managers with (the manager), and got to hear from them what the different departments are planning, as well as what is happening with the entire company. It was an interesting meeting, and one that I would not have been able to be a part of as a regular employee, instead of an intern.

(The manager) had been gone on a trip for the last week and a half, and (her manager) had been gone for a week of training, giving me a valuable opportunity to gain real experience as the full-time head of the recreation department (there are two part-time supervisors). Fortunately, I could turn to an experienced employee, for help and suggestions.
            Over this period of time, I gained more and more confidence on a daily basis, as I was able to handle situations as they arose.

. . .

I also had the chance to represent the recreation department in a couple of the daily brief morning meetings with representatives from each of the hotel departments. In these meetings, we find out some basic numbers regarding the hotel for the day, such as the occupancy rate. We then each give a short report on plans for the day for our respective departments. The meeting allows each department to know what is going on in the rest of the hotel for the day.

There are so many more different situations and occurrences that took place during the last two weeks that it would take too long to list and describe them all, but I believe that I did a pretty good job of handling everything while (the manager) was gone, and I feel much better about the job I am doing.

. . .

The final weeks of the internship went fairly well. There were some ups and downs, but I feel like I got the major aspects of my job down pretty well. I became much more comfortable and confident in being able to handle issues that arose, since I was now much more experienced, even though only by a couple of months. 

I got used to being somewhat autonomous in my job, since we had been scheduling only one supervisor (including the manager) per shift, which meant that I saw less and less of (the manager) at work. Fortunately though, she made herself available, as always, by phone, if I were to need her help. I also developed a good working relationship with the director, and he was very helpful as well.

All in all, the internship proved to be a very valuable and worthwhile experience. It also was enjoyable and rewarding.”

Conclusion

As you can see, I was able to learn a lot from the internship position that I chose. The experience that I gained was much more valuable than the higher pay rate that I would have had from the other resort. The letter of recommendation that I received would also help me to be hired for future positions with higher levels of responsibility. So, if you are just starting out, in whatever field you are in, you may want to choose “learning over earning.”