Most guides for teen job seekers list the same obvious options without explaining what each actually requires, why you might get rejected, and what to do about it. This one does all three — including the parts most guides skip.
Minimum age for most legal employment under federal law
Maximum hours on a school day for workers under 16
Age when most federal work restrictions lift
Employers hiring teens expect no prior work history — attitude and availability matter most
Getting a first job as a high school student is a genuinely different challenge from adult job searching. The obstacles are specific: legal age restrictions, limited availability windows, no work history to reference, and employers who may prefer slightly older candidates even when they claim to hire at your age.
Understanding these obstacles specifically — not generically — changes how you approach the search. This guide covers what is actually available at each age, what the law says about your hours and what work you can do, why some applications fail even when employers claim to hire teens, and what actually works when the standard applications are not converting.
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) sets the federal floor for child labor protections. States can be stricter but cannot be more permissive. Understanding these rules prevents you from applying to jobs you cannot legally take, and helps you counter employer confusion about what is actually required.
| Restriction | Rule | Practical meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Hours — school week | Maximum 18 hours; no more than 3 hours on a school day; not before 7am or after 7pm | You can work evenings on school days (up to 7pm) and full days on weekends |
| Hours — summer / vacation weeks | Up to 40 hours per week; can work until 9pm June 1 through Labor Day | Summer employment is substantially less restricted |
| Permitted industries | Most retail, food service, grocery, office/clerical, restaurants (non-cooking roles) | You can work at McDonald's taking orders — but federal law restricts use of certain cooking equipment (grills, fryers) |
| Prohibited work | Manufacturing, mining, construction, driving vehicles, operation of most power-driven equipment, work involving hazardous materials | No warehouse forklift operation, no construction sites, no driving deliveries |
At 16, the FLSA's hour restrictions for under-16 no longer apply. You can work any number of hours, including overnight. The main remaining prohibition: the 17 specific "hazardous occupations" (HOs) including roofing, demolition, logging, coal mining, and operation of certain power-driven equipment. Most mainstream employment is fully available.
At 18, you are treated as an adult worker under federal law. No hour restrictions, no hazardous occupation prohibitions. See: Jobs for 18-Year-Olds for what opens up specifically.
Your state may require a work permit, set lower hour maximums during school weeks, or restrict additional occupations beyond the federal list. Check your state's department of labor website — or ask your school's guidance counselor, who typically handles work permit applications and knows your state's specific rules.
| Job type | Who hires | What they actually look for | Tip |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grocery bagger / courtesy clerk | Publix, Kroger, some regional chains | Punctuality, friendly demeanor, physical ability to bag and carry | Apply in person at the customer service desk, not online — many don't post 14-year-old positions on job boards |
| Movie theater crew | AMC, Regal, Cinemark, local theaters | Weekend and evening availability, basic customer interaction | Apply in spring before summer rush; theaters hire seasonally |
| Amusement / recreation park | Seasonal parks, local fairgrounds, recreation centers | Summer availability, customer-facing, physical stamina | Apply in March–April; parks hire months before the season opens |
| Babysitting / childcare | Families directly — no employer age restriction | Reliability, patience, CPR certification is a strong differentiator | Start with families you know; build from there. Care.com has minimum age requirements but direct referrals don't. |
| Lawn care / yard work | Neighbors directly — no age restriction | Physical capability, reliability, basic equipment competency | Door-to-door leafletting in your neighborhood in early spring is more effective than any app |
| Car washing / detailing | Local car washes; some franchise locations | Physical work, attention to detail, hot weather tolerance | Small independent car washes are more likely to hire at 14 than franchise chains |
| Camp counselor / junior counselor | Day camps, municipal recreation programs | Activity competency (sports, arts, swimming), enthusiasm, responsibility with younger children | Many summer camps have a "counselor in training" (CIT) program specifically for 14–15 year olds |
| Pet care / dog walking | Neighbors; Rover has minimum age requirements | Reliability, comfort with animals, trustworthiness in clients' homes | Start with one or two regular clients rather than an app; apps have age restrictions that neighborhoods don't |
At 16, the hour restrictions lift and most employers who were using age as a filter stop doing so. The practical job market for 16–17 year olds is significantly wider:
| Job type | Notable employers | What changes at 16 |
|---|---|---|
| Fast food (full access) | McDonald's, Chick-fil-A, Burger King, Wendy's, Subway | Full shift access; grilling and frying restrictions typically ease at 16 per FLSA |
| Retail (most positions) | Target, Walmart, Old Navy, Marshalls, TJ Maxx | Full-shift access; register, floor, and stockroom roles available |
| Coffee shop / barista | Starbucks (16+), Dunkin', local cafes | Equipment operation requirements met at 16 |
| Lifeguard | Municipal pools, community centers, waterparks | Most require 15–16 minimum + Red Cross Lifeguard certification |
| Tutoring (academic) | Wyzant minimum age 16; direct tutoring has no minimum | Platform access; subject expertise matters more than age at this point |
| Host / hostess at restaurants | Most sit-down restaurants | Front-of-house access; no alcohol service requirement for this role |
| Library assistant | Public library systems, school libraries | Many library systems specifically recruit teens for after-school volunteer and paid programs |
If you have applied to several places and heard nothing, the problem is almost never that no one wants to hire teens. Teen employment is a large and active market. The issue is almost always one of these specific, fixable things:
The most common reason teen applications fail is availability mismatch. A restaurant that needs someone Saturday evenings rejects a student who can only do Monday and Wednesday afternoons — even if neither party says so explicitly. Your availability is the first filter, not the last.
Fix: State your availability explicitly and early. If you are flexible, say so in writing: "Available any 3 evenings per week plus full weekend availability." If you have constraints (sports season, specific school commitment), state them honestly — an employer who understands the constraint is more likely to work around it than one who discovers it after hiring you.
Many small and mid-size employers — local restaurants, coffee shops, boutiques, independent grocery stores — do their teen hiring primarily from in-person applications and walk-in interactions. An online application to these employers goes into a system managed by someone who may not be actively recruiting, while the manager who actually makes hiring decisions never sees it.
Fix: For local and independent businesses, go in person during a slow period (2–4pm on weekdays, not during lunch or dinner rush) with a printed resume. Ask for the manager specifically. Hand the resume to them directly. This takes five minutes and puts you ahead of 90% of applicants who only submitted online.
Many corporate employers — including large fast food chains, retail chains, and grocery stores — use Applicant Tracking Systems even for entry-level teen roles. A resume with a two-column layout, text boxes, or image-based PDF produces a blank or garbled candidate profile that never reaches human review.
Fix: Single-column resume, plain text body, contact info in the document body (not in a Word header), saved as a text-based PDF or .docx. Run the Notepad test: paste your resume into Notepad and see if it reads coherently top to bottom.
Most teen applications are generic. Same objective ("seeking a challenging opportunity to grow"), same listed skills ("communication, teamwork, hardworking"), same format. Employers who hire lots of teens have seen these applications thousands of times. The one that stands out is specific — names the role, mentions a real strength with actual evidence, states availability precisely.
Fix: Tailor the objective to this specific job and employer. One sentence about why this specific place, not just any job. "I come to this coffee shop every weekend — I know the product and I like the atmosphere" is more memorable than "seeking a customer service role where I can grow."
The standard teen job search advice is: apply online, wait, follow up, interview well. This works eventually but it is slow and low-yield. Here is what the faster approaches look like:
The single most effective way to get a first job is to have someone inside the employer put your name forward. A word from a current employee — even a casual "I know someone looking for part-time work" — dramatically increases your chances of an interview compared to a cold application.
Who to ask: parents, parents' friends, older siblings, neighbors, coaches, teachers, and current employees at places where you regularly go as a customer. "Do you know anyone who works at [place]?" is a legitimate question to ask anyone in your network. The ask is not for a job — it is for a name of someone inside who could mention you to the manager.
In a specific neighborhood or community, reputation travels. If you have been babysitting reliably for three families in your neighborhood for two years, the chance that one of those parents knows the owner of the coffee shop you are applying to is not negligible. Every adult in your community is a potential connection to your first employer. Be the kid who shows up on time, does a good job, and communicates clearly — before you ever apply for a formal job.
If formal employment is not converting — you are below the local minimum employer age, or your schedule is genuinely too restrictive — building a self-employment track record is a legitimate path. Three families for whom you babysit regularly, six lawn care clients, a dog-walking route with four dogs — these are not second-rate experience. They are real work, with real clients, real scheduling, and real reliability required. Describe them as such on your resume.
Summer is the easiest entry point to teen employment for a specific reason: the hour restrictions for under-16 workers are substantially relaxed in summer, and many employers explicitly plan for seasonal hires. Amusement parks, municipal pools, summer camps, and recreation programs all have systematic teen hiring in spring. A good summer performance at any of these employers converts naturally into a year-round offer — and you have moved from applicant to proven employee.
Teen employers are not reading resumes the way a tech recruiter reads one. They are scanning for a handful of signals. Here is what they are actually looking for — and how to show it:
| What they want | How they screen for it | How to show it on your resume |
|---|---|---|
| Reliability | References, schedule consistency questions, how you describe past commitments | "Maintained 100% attendance at 3 seasons of varsity soccer" / "Never cancelled a babysitting commitment in 2 years" |
| Availability fit | Direct question in application or interview | State exact availability in your resume objective — specific days, hours, and whether you can cover weekend mornings/evenings |
| Basic communication | How you interact in person or on the phone during the hiring process | "Communicated daily updates to parents of 3 families as regular babysitter" — shows professional communication in practice |
| Ability to follow procedures | Questions about past experience with rules or standards | Any role where you followed a specific system: team rules, school policies, parental instructions with children |
| Physical capability for the role | Direct observation or question | For physical roles: "3 years competitive soccer / wrestling / cross country" signals physical fitness and endurance |
| Genuine interest in this specific job | Interview: "Why do you want to work here?" | Research the employer before applying; reference one specific thing about this place that attracted you |
Teen employment has strong seasonal patterns that most guides do not explain. Applying at the right time dramatically improves your conversion rate.
| Job type | Best time to apply | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Summer camp counselor | January–March | Camps hire months before the season; best positions fill early |
| Amusement park / waterpark | February–April | Bulk seasonal hiring happens in spring; apply before the competition is heavy |
| Lifeguard | March–May | Red Cross certification timing + pool opening schedules drive hiring |
| Retail (summer seasonal) | April–May | Retail builds summer staff before school ends |
| Holiday retail | September–October | Large retail chains post seasonal openings months before the season |
| Year-round food service | Any time — but spring has highest volume | High turnover means openings exist year-round; spring graduation creates gaps |
| Lawn care / landscaping | March (before the season) | Owner-operators hire before demand spikes; late applicants are turned away |
| Grocery store | Any time — openings are constant | Grocery is among the most consistent hirers of teens year-round |
The distinction between "real work" and "not real work" that many teens apply to their early experience is largely wrong — and it affects both how they present themselves and what opportunities they pursue.
Work is real when: you are responsible for a specific outcome, someone depends on you to deliver it, and there are consequences when you do not. Babysitting, lawn care, tutoring, and pet sitting all meet this definition. The parents who depend on you to be there on time. The lawn that does not get mowed if you cancel. The student who misses their math concept if you show up unprepared. These are real responsibilities with real consequences.
The formal vs informal distinction matters for taxes (formal employment means W-2 and withholding; informal means 1099 or cash with your own tax responsibility), for specific employer references (a formal employer can verify employment; your babysitting clients are personal references, not employer references), and for some applications that specifically require verifiable employment history. For most teen job applications, it does not matter — employers hiring at 15 are not requiring verified employment records.
The key is specificity. "Did some babysitting" is informal. "Provided regular childcare for three local families, averaging ten hours per week over two years, caring for children aged 3–9" is a professional description of the same experience. The formalization happens in how you describe it — not in whether you received a W-2.
Most first job interviews for high school students are 10–20 minutes. They are usually conducted by a shift manager or store manager, not an HR professional. The atmosphere is typically casual. The questions are predictable.
Clean, neat, and appropriate for the environment. Not formal business attire — but not gym clothes or anything torn. The rule: dress one level above what the employees on the floor are wearing. If they wear uniforms with company polo shirts, come in clean casual. If they wear business casual, come in business casual. The interview impression starts before you say a word.
Most first-job advice focuses on the income. The income matters — financial independence, learning to manage money, contributing to your own expenses. But there are compounding benefits that are worth understanding before you take any job, because they should affect which job you choose.
Every manager, shift supervisor, or employer you have at 15, 16, or 17 is a potential reference at 22, 25, or 28. People who knew your work when you were young and watched you grow are among the most credible references you will ever have — because they can speak to your character and trajectory over time, not just your recent performance. Ask for a reference from every job before you leave. Collect personal contact information.
A first job in a field you end up disliking is not wasted time. It is data. Many people do not know what type of work suits them until they have done work that does not suit them. A student who works in fast food and learns they cannot stand high-volume transactional customer interactions now knows to look for roles with longer, more relational customer contacts. A student who works in retail and discovers they love the organizational side of inventory management has found a genuine interest. The self-knowledge compounds.
Showing up on time. Taking direction without being defensive. Asking for clarification rather than guessing. Communicating schedule conflicts in advance rather than just not showing up. These behaviors sound obvious but they are genuinely not second nature for many people starting their first job. Developing them at 16 rather than 22 creates a meaningful professional advantage that persists for decades.
A student who starts working at 15 and works consistently through high school arrives at their first adult job search with 3–4 years of documented work history. The student who starts at 22 arrives at zero. That gap narrows over time, but the early starter has spent years building references, skills, and the kind of professional self-knowledge that changes how job searches go.