One of my first summer jobs was a dietary aide at a nursing home. Washing dishes and prepping food wasn’t exactly related to my career goal of becoming a clinical psychologist. Nevertheless, I treated the job seriously – always arriving on time for my 5:30am shifts and exhibiting a relentlessly positive attitude with coworkers and residents. Fast forward two years, I landed a job at UNL as a summer conference assistant. Later, my new supervisor told me that I had received one of the best references she’d ever heard from my former boss at the nursing home, which was a big part of why I got the job. (I still work at UNL 19 years later!)
Unbeknownst to me, I was jobcrafting before I ever knew what the term meant. Jobcrafting is when an employee shapes, molds, or redefines their job to make it more meaningful. Instead of viewing my dietary aid job as unrelated and meaningless to my future career path, I viewed it as an opportunity to demonstrate my professionalism and relationship-building skills, which greatly influenced my future career path.
Whether you are a lifeguard, lawn care worker, nanny, fast food worker, or manual laborer this summer, you can take steps to craft your summer job in a way that will springboard you into your next role. Here are three ways to jobcraft this summer:
1. Task crafting – Add or alter tasks to make them more relevant to your future career goals. If you are working as a lifeguard but interested in finance/accounting, ask if you can shadow or add responsibilities related to balancing the cash drawer and making deposits. If you’re mowing lawns but interested in management, create a plan with your supervisor to lead a small crew by the end of the summer. Your supervisor won’t know you’re interested in these tasks until you tell them!
- Challenge: Learn one new skill this summer that’s related to your future career goals and not listed on your job description.
2. Relational crafting – Alter who you work with to expand your network and build relationships with relevant individuals. Your summer position isn’t likely your dream job, but other people at the organization might have your dream job or be very influential to helping you achieve it! Identify the people at the organization who are related to your careers of interest. Ask to shadow them. Conduct an informational interview to learn more about what they do. Ask if they have a project you could work on.
- Challenge: Conduct one informational interview this summer with a person at the organization in a career of interest.
3. Cognitive crafting – Change the way you see the job. A future employer won’t be impressed with the job on your resume if you don’t view it as relevant. All jobs are opportunities to advance your career goals. Identify the transferable skills you’ll be gaining. Use the job as an opportunity to reflect on what you like and don’t like (which will help you make future career decisions). Continuously seek opportunities to meet new people, learn new things, and go above and beyond.
- Challenge: Perform in way that secures one great reference from someone at the organization to use on your next job application.
Your career doesn’t start at some point in the future. It has already started! These early experiences can greatly impact your career trajectory. And, you have more control than you think to shape the experiences you gain. Put yourself out there and be creative.
Happy jobcrafting!
Celeste Spier, PhD
Associate Director, Career & Professional Development