One of the biggest problems is that adults are now willing to take many of the jobs that they didn’t used to want. These jobs were the ones that eighteen year olds and older teens would traditionally take because they were part time or hourly. Entry level positions are also gobbled up by workers who sometimes have a lot of experience just because they can’t find anything else.

With older and more experienced workers taking the jobs that used to go to 18 year olds, what is left for them? In many cases the answer is nothing and that is why we are in such a crisis right now in this country. It is well known that the one thing that helps you get a job is experience and if you can’t get your first job to get that experience, where does that leave you?

Jobs for 17 year olds are crucial because that is the age that many teens go out into the marketplace and try to get their very first jobs. If they can’t find anything at seventeen, how can they ever get experience? Then they turn 18 and can’t get a job then either. We might have ten years or more where teens aren’t getting the jobs they need to then get better jobs later in life and that will be the beginning of a dangerous cycle.

There is a definite timeline in any persons working career and it all starts with being able to get those first couple of jobs. That is when you learn what it is like to have a boss and what is expected of you in the workplace. It is where young adults learn how to handle themselves and they learn responsibility. Older teens especially need jobs to begin this process that help them make a living for the rest of their lives.

Once you get a job in an office, you might be able to turn it into something better and move up. Showing a willingness to learn and work hard will go a long way towards whether your boss will decide to promote you. Learning the business from the ground up is the key to advancing and ultimately getting better paying jobs. There are many stories of company presidents and CEO’s that started in an office, learned the business, and wound up eventually running the company.

Office jobs for 18 year olds are great because they can often be flexible in nature. Whether you are still in high school or just graduated, you might look for something that will work with your schedule. The types of work you will be able to get in an office will often allow you to come in during certain hours and not necessarily be there all day.

If you don’t like doing manual labor, that would be another reason for looking for this kind of job. Usually a job in an office will have something to do with answering phones, working on the computer entering records, making copies, bookkeeping and other tasks such as that. These are all things that are a lot easier on your body than going out an working digging ditches.

Eighteen year olds are in a bad position right now with the economy being so poor and jobs being so hard to find. If you are a high school student or recent graduate, don’t overlook the option of working in an office somewhere. You might find that it is the perfect job for you!

Here is the list of free job search sites:

1) SnagAJob.com - This is free to sign up and you can begin your job search here. This job website specializes in hourly and part time jobs so if that is what you are looking for, this is the place to go.

2) Job.com – You can post your resume for free and search through 1,000’s of jobs in your area. 

3) Resume Bucket – Post your resume for FREE so that prospective empoyers can find you.

4) Monster.com - This is one of the biggest online job databases. Submit your resume and look for jobs FREE.

18, 19, and 20 year olds are limited in their job options because at that age, they haven’t graduated college and might not even be going to college. This means the only jobs they would qualify for are entry level jobs that don’t require a degree. Although there are many jobs of this nature, it does limit your options and it does mean that you will start out on the low end of the pay scale.

Getting a college degree is agreed to be the best choice by most people because it may open up job doors in the future. However, college is clearly not for everyone and there might be any number of reasons why college is not an option for you. Getting in early and getting some solid job experience is the next best thing to going to college and many people have made successes of their life that way too.

Good jobs for 18 year olds and 19 year olds include entry level office jobs where you can get in and learn the business from the ground up. Many big time CEO’s have started that way either in the back office or the sales floor and worked their way up until they became the top man (or woman). Learning a business and everything it encompasses is a great substitute for a college degree and there is no reason why you can’t be a success if you are hard working and motivated.

Jobs for high school graduates can also be found in sales. Being a good salesperson is something that you might already have the talent for or can learn. It is definitely not something that is learned in a college classroom so if you are outgoing in nature, you might look into sales as a career. In today’s bad economy, companies are always hoping to find people who are talented at sales.

Any job you get for 18 or 19 year olds will probably be something that is not glamorous and will not pay great. However, if you are willing to work hard and keep learning whatever business it is, you will find you have a lot of upward potential.

Jobs for 18 year olds can be for part time jobs while you are still in high school or jobs that you hope to get after you graduate. No matter which type of job you are interviewing for, there are things you should and shouldn’t do that will either help or hurt your chances. Remember, if you are eighteen, that means that you are now an adult in the eyes of the law and of society. You will now be expected to present yourself as an adult and interview like an adult. Here are some tips:

1) Come to the interview prepared – If you are not ready to answer some of the questions you will be asked, it will be very obvious you are not prepared and perhaps not even serious about getting a job. The more interviews you go to the more you will know what types of questions to expect.

2) Resume complete with references – At 18 years old, you should be able to put together a resume with references any employer can call. Some will have better resumes than others due to the fact that they have had more job experience but even if you have little, you should try to have a resume ready to give the interviewer.

3) Know what hours you are available – If you are a high school student, you should know ahead of time what hours you will be able to work. It is unlikely that an employer will be able to work around your schedule and so it is smart to do some research ahead of time to make sure you can actually work the hours that will be required.

4) Know as much about the job as possible – It helps to find out as much information as you can about the job you are interviewing for before hand so that you don’t waste the interviewers time. If you are able to discuss the job and ask intelligent questions about it right from the start, most any prospective employer will be impressed and assume you really are interested.

5) Don’t ask silly questions- Be careful to only ask intelligent questions and ones that adults would ask. For instance, you wouldn’t want to ask about how much break time you get every day or something trivial and juvenile like that. Remember, the questions you ask an employer reflect on you and can damage your chances of getting hired if you ask the wrong ones.

6) Be gracious and thank them for the interview- Always thank the interviewer for the time they have set aside to consider you for the job. Many people go an extra step of sending a thank you note a day after the interview which can be in the form of an email or a paper note sent through the mail. Jobs for 18 year olds are hard to find and any small thing you do like send thank yous may make the difference.

The job market is bad right now as all of you should know and it most likely won’t get better in 2010. By starting your summer job search now, you will be a step ahead of all those who wait. In this economy, you have to do all the little things you can to give yourself an advantage over everyone else who is looking.

All 18 year olds should have a resume and if you don’t have one, you need to put one together. You are now considered an adult and you will be competing with adults who do have resumes. Even if you don’t have a lot of work experience, you should find out how to make one that presents you in the best possible light to prospective employers.

Starting this early looking for summer jobs for 18 year olds means that you will have a hard time finding places that will know now that they can hire you this summer. However, if you make the rounds and start asking questions now, you will be able to get a good idea of what the job market is like in your area and what your chances are. It will also give you the opportunity to meet face to face with some hiring managers and hopefully make a good impression.

Employers who are in charge of hiring decisions like to see young adults that are enthusiastic and who plan ahead. If you start now trying to get interviews for summer jobs, whether it be for high school graduates or before your senior year, it will show that you know how to plan ahead and are interested in your future. This makes you more likely to make a good impression and will increase the chances that you will be remembered when it does come time for an employer to hire.

This Christmas is proving to be much like last Christmas; everyone is holding on to their wallets and spending is down. Later in January we will find out just how bad things were this holiday season and we will find out if any more retailers declare bankruptcy like they did last year.

President Obama is now in office and that is not good for anyone seeking jobs. He seems to have a blatant disrespect for small businesses as he is raising taxes on anyone that makes more than $250,000. What that does is hit many small businesses right in the pocketbook and forces them to lay off more workers or not hire any new ones.

Small businesses are the backbone of our country and many jobs for 18 year olds can be found at these types of companies. Raising taxes on them is only going to raise unemployment and force many smaller businesses to give up and shut down. If you are an older teenager or one who will be graduating high school, it is going to be a difficult year for you in the job arena. Hopefully I will be wrong but that is what it looks like now.

Many teenagers get their summer and winter jobs at small Mom and Pop businesses and if taxes are raised for them, they are not going to be able to hire any extra work. Many teens have been looking for jobs since last summer and still haven’t found anything. This is very sad as young workers want to get hired and start earning some extra spending money.

2010 may be another tough year for anyone searching for jobs for 18 year olds or jobs for 19 year olds and if you are in that group, just keep looking. If you give up you have zero chance of finding a job so never give up. Your best option may be to find work on or through the Internet. You may also be able to figure out some sort of business on your own where you take advantage of your skills and try to sell your services. Whatever you do, don’t ever give up, keep your chin held high, and keep interviewing!

There are real ways to make some extra money online though, while you continue to look for a job. CashCrate is one such place (it is 100% free to sign up) and I want to stress that it is NOT A JOB but just a place to make some money on the side while you job search.

Please see my check from June 2009 which shows my check for $1,612.65 from CashCrate. I have watermarked the check to show it is mine and that it is from this website and not taken from someone else’s. Now that check is big and you will not get a check anywhere near that amount when you start out. I want to make that clear: YOUR CHECK WILL BE MUCH SMALLER.

However, the good part about CashCrate is their referral system and almost all that check comes from referrals. If you are 18 years old, you might have some computer skills and writing skills that you can use to make blogs and get referrals of your own. This is a real way to make money online but you have to learn how to do it.

Again, this is not a job and you should NEVER stop looking for a job. You need to get a good job but CashCrate and something you can use to make some extra money while you job search. There are also many talented 18 year olds that can do a great job of getting referrals and learn how to get a check coming in every month.

You don’t need to make referrals to make money and many people just enjoy filling out the surveys and doing the free offers. You NEVER have to use your credit card but there are credit card offers (such as Netflix) where you will get money back for joining different things if, and only if, you want to do them. You can do those if they interest you but you never have to use you credit card to make money. I have never once used my credit card on CashCrate and you can see the success I have had.

Many people think that everything online is a scam. While some things are, CashCrate is definitely not a scam as I have gotten a check from them every month for over 2 years. They pay right on time and there are now over 1.6 million members. This is a great place to start to learn how to make money online.

When you take your car in to be serviced at a car dealer, the young lady you pay your money to when your car is ready has a job in customer service. When you return something at KMart or have a question, you are dealing with someone in customer service. When you speak to almost anyone on the phone from a company, they too are in customer service.

Customer service jobs are jobs where you will have to interact with the general public either in person or on the telephone. In many cases, you will be the “face” of the company you are working for so you will have to be friendly and up beat at all times. You will have to learn how to deal with upset and angry customers and never take anything personally.

Jobs in customer service are perfect jobs for 18 year olds because they most offen do not require much or any previous experience. They are jobs that can be learned quickly and the pay is often above minimum wage. You can find customer service work in almost any industry so there are a lot of them out there wherever you look. Many eighteen year old high school graduates will take this type of job right out of high school because they can easily be qualified for.

Customer service jobs are not necessarily dead end jobs. If you take this type of a position after graduation, it will allow you to learn the business your company is in and teach you how to deal with the customers. If you learn everything you can, you may be able to move up in the company basesd on the knowledge you have gained. Many people start out in customer service jobs and move up through the ranks to much higher positions.

Jobs for eighteen year olds are limited because at that age, most don’t have too much experience. This makes high paying jobs hard to find and most have to settle for something that will pay the bills and hopefully lead to something better. A job in customer service often fits this description and that is why you will see many young people with this type of job.

This MSN article talks about how you and other young people all over the world are having a harder time than ever finding work. During this recession unemployment rates for young workers between 16 and 24 is around 18% and showing no signs of slowing!

One of the reasons for this is that older workers are willingly taking the entry level and other types of jobs that usually only the younger workers took. So many people have been laid off that they are willing to take any kind of job they can get just to pay their rents and mortgages. This leaves the younger generation out in the cold because they have the least experience and employers are more likely to hire older workers who have families first.

Anyone just coming out of school, whether it be high school or college, is faced with one of the most challenging work environments ever. One thing is for sure right now and that is that it is not a good time to be young and looking for work.

The holiday season is shortly upon us and there should be an increase in jobs in the retail sector. Every Christmas season stores hire to be able to keep up with the hordes of shoppers that will come through their doors. Although there might not be “hordes” this year, it is still very likely that many stores will be hiring. If you need work, you should take advantage of this and try to get some sort of a seasonable job while you are looking for that full time job.

Jobs for eighteen year olds are going to remain hard to get for many months and it could even be years. No one knows what is ahead so if you can get a part time job then you should jump at it. Keep looking, keep your head high, and take whatever type of job you can get right now.