Your first job, and what to do with the money

A first job at sixteen is worth more than the wage. It's the first time anyone outside your family is going to judge you purely on whether you do what you said you'd.

Getting one

Go in person, ask for the manager, be brief. "Hi, I'm looking for weekend work — are you taking anyone on?" Hand over one page: your name, your school, when you can work, anything you've done, and one adult who will vouch for you.

Apply to ten places, not one. You'll get turned down repeatedly and it isn't personal — most places are simply not hiring that week.

The first six weeks decide everything

• Turn up ten minutes early, every shift. This is the whole trick. Managers talk about it for years.
• Put your phone away. Completely away, not in your hand.
• Ask when you don't understand. Everyone can tell when you're guessing.
• When it's quiet, find something to do. Wipe down, restock, tidy. The person who does this gets the extra shifts and the reference.
• Don't moan in front of customers. Save it for the walk home.

Do those five and you'll be offered more hours than people twice your age.

The money

First real money feels enormous and disappears astonishingly fast. Split it before you spend anything:

• 50% spend. Genuinely yours, no guilt.
• 30% save, in a separate account, for something specific — a car, a trip, a laptop. Saving for nothing never works; saving for a named thing does.
• 20% long. Don't touch it. This is the one that feels pointless at sixteen and is worth an absurd amount by the time you're thirty.

Move the 30 and the 20 the day you're paid. Whatever is left at the end of the month is always nothing, at every age.

Two things nobody tells sixteen-year-olds

Check your payslip. Hours, rate, tax code. Payroll makes mistakes and nobody is going to find yours for you.

Your reputation starts now. The manager of a shop in your town knows other managers. Being known as reliable at sixteen is a thing that pays you back at twenty-two in ways you'll never be able to trace.

Don't let it eat school

Ten to twelve hours a week is plenty. Past about fifteen, grades start to go, and no Saturday wage is worth the doors that closes.

If your boss pushes for more than you can carry, saying "I can do twelve hours a week during term" is completely normal and completely fine. Learning to say that now is a skill you'll use for the rest of your working life.