First jobs teach great lessons for career success

A front-page story in USA Today got me thinking back to my youth and all the lessons I learned in my various summer jobs. The newspaper asked executives in major corporations about their first jobs, what they learned, and how they helped them in their careers.

All worked as teens, several of them before age 11. Many talked about hard work and the need to finish college. Today's teens should think of every job opportunity as an important building block in life, no matter how menial it seems, says Chris Kearney, CEO of industrial-products giant SPX Corp. "A successful career is built incrementally, one step at a time."

I've always said your first job on any job is to learn. Donald Trump says: "Learn all you can. Try to view your job comprehensively, as if it were your own business. Ask yourself: 'What kind of employee would I like to have?' Be that kind of employee."

While I grew up, my father insisted there was no substitute for working odd jobs during summer vacations and Christmas holidays. I had a variety of short stints, from setting pins at a bowling alley to delivering newspapers to working at a golf course. In high school, I landed a neat job at a downtown St. Paul men's clothing store.

Peddling pants, socks, underwear, ties, hankies and occasionally a shirt or two may not sound glamorous, but in retrospect, it was a great job. At a young age, I had an opportunity to learn about business, have a boss, show up for work on time, handle money and credit, understand how customers shop and learn a little about the retail clothing industry. My boss, Chris, hammered these principles into me:

• Before you could count to "one-Mississippi," you greet a customer at the front door with a "million-dollar smile" and say, "Hello ... may I help you?"

• Never put more than three ties on the counter. It will only confuse the customer.

• Once you get the customer to try on the pants, consider it a done deal.

• Never ring up a sale without asking: "What else do you have in mind?" and "Would you like me to introduce you to our best suit salesman?"

• Walk the customer to the front door (and sometimes even out onto the street), look him in the eye and say, "Thanks!" And then say, "Be sure and bring it back if you are not happy with it."

• Never, never, never start to lock up if a customer misses closing time by a few minutes.

• Don't come to work in competitor's clothes, even if you are just a young kid peddling men's accessories.

That's the short list. Looking back, probably the greatest plus of the job, whether I realized it or not, was polishing my sales skills at a very early age. When you are young, you don't have a care in the world. You don't quite realize the responsibility of holding down a legitimate job. Better said, you don't realize the importance of holding down a job legitimately.

Mackay's Moral: What you learn on your first job will last you through your last job.