There’s a series going around the web about people’s First Seven Jobs. It’s been fun and fascinating to see the very first jobs people held. There’s a diverse selection of people’s first seven jobs here, Fred Wilson, Brad Feld, and Keenan.
I jumped onto the bandwagon with my first 7 jobs. In the comments, you can also see Hank Barnes‘ first seven.
It’s actually a huge amount of fun–first thinking about your own, reflecting on what they meant to you (privately) and seeing others’ experience. Consequently, I’ve invited a huge number of people of diverse backgrounds, ages, and locations, to share their first 7 jobs. I’ll be posting them weekly, usually on Sundays. Feel free to join in, send your first seven jobs to me by email (dabrock@excellenc.com). I’ll post them in the order I get them.
This week, we have two more fascinating people. Maddy Pesec (You may recall, her father, John Pesec posted his First Seven Jobs not long ago) and Alyson Button Stone.
Maddy Pesec, Currently In Med School at The Warren Alpert School Of Medicine, Brown University:
I just made it to 7!
12 years old – babysitting three toddlers while their mom was still home so she should have a break. eventually graduated to babysitting while parents were away and continued babysitting through high school.
13 years old – house sitting while owners were away. There were plants to water and fish to feed and cats to scoop litter for… who knew houses could be so needy?
14 years old – Spanish tutor for an upperclassmen. She was not thrilled a freshman was tutoring her.
19 years old – Teaching Assistant for Health Care in the US and Development of Vaccines. again, the seniors were not pleased getting lectures from a sophomore
20 years old – Research Assistant for a history professor cataloging what we actually know about having kids with your cousin. turns out, not as bad as we all thought.
20 years old – Blue Cross Blue Shield Intern researching interventions to reduce disparities. They were not pleased when I told them that the only evidence-based intervention was eliminating copays for medications.
21 years old – Primary Health Care Intern at Ariadne Labs in Boston.
Alyson Button Stone, Marketing Team, Freshdesk:
Here are my first seven jobs from age 16:
Neighborhood babysitter and summer Mother’s Helper at the shore. Oh, the stories I could tell….
Summer worker in a plant nursery — my favorite question from customers, “How many tomatoes will grow on this plant?”
Clerk in a neighborhood drug store — favorite customer story is a boy in my class at high school looking for sizing advice for his athletic supporter. Having five brothers, I coped. Also, I was the only employee except for the two druggists who could read the handwritten prescriptions, so I had to do the data entry in the log….
Order taker for Hewlett-Packard. Had to leave because they brought free donuts around EVERY DAY — it didn’t mix with Weight Watchers…
Secretary in an investment firm, where I was ignored when I recommended a little-known stock, Advanced Microdevices (maker of the daisy wheel in typewriters). Years later one of the vice presidents saw me at a farm stand and remembered me right away, “I want you to know that I regret how I blew you off when you brought me that tip about Advanced Microdevices.”
Avon seller – that was just a huge mistake….but I gave it my best (side effect was that I got a lot of exercise).
Self-employed typist — I worked my way up from a used manual typewriter and an antique dictation machine (for typing up doctors’ notes) to my first electric typewriter; later went on to business writing and editing — The rest is history!
Thanks Maddy and Alyson!
Please share this with #myfirstsevenjobs.
Send yours in, ask your colleagues for theirs. Learn, Have Fun!
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