Uncle Steve's student advice: Try four jobs

Tuesday could be the start of something special for hundreds of local children.

School resumes, bringing with it all the hopes and, yes, fears of the future.

To bolster the hopes and minimize the fears, we sought out advice from one of the smarter people we know. Steve Griffitts isn’t just a successful businessman. He’s a father, a grandfather, the mayor of Hayden and, for more than a decade, he led the multi-faceted business recruitment and retention efforts for Kootenai County and beyond.

As well as anyone and better than most, Mayor Griffitts has some pretty good ideas about how students entering high school might begin with the end in mind.

We asked him, “What advice would you give kids entering high school to best ensure them of heading toward rewarding careers?” Griffitts said there’s nothing wrong with figuring it out along the way. Just make sure you’re doing something.

“First, try different things throughout high school,” he said. “Try four different areas of focus. An example would be to work in retail, intern in an office, do landscape work and maybe a computer internship.”

That diverse set of options would likely introduce the student to something she or he feels really passionate about — and conversely, clearly eliminates other possibilities.

“After high school, focus on different options within an industry or two,” he suggested. The goal is that by well before you finish your formal education or other training, you’re already pointed in a direction that could both pay the bills and provide work that makes you happy.

Students who don’t think seriously about what they want to do “when they grow up” until late in high school or even in college or the trades end up wasting valuable time, which is also serious money when you’re paying today’s tuition rates. Uncle Steve’s advice suggests that students experiment with kinds of work in a winnowing-down approach, rather than a do-nothing attitude and putting off the big career decisions for a hazy date on some distant horizon.

Roll your sleeves up, kids. Those of you getting a head start now will be miles ahead of many of your peers. Your eventual payday will be something to look forward to, not dread.