16 Great Jobs For 16 Year Olds

We’ve all known what’s it’s like to be a 16 year old looking for a good job. You’ve just passed your driver’s test and you’re ready to work. After all, you need to pay for all the expenses that come with owning a car, having a cell phone, and saving up for college (you are saving up for college, aren’t you…).

I grew up in a small town, so finding a job as a teenager wasn’t easy. It forced me to be creative and find my own work. Sometimes the best jobs are the ones you create for yourself! Hopefully these jobs for teenagers will spark an idea for you or your teenager looking for work.

1. Craigslist Guru

It’s incredible what you can find on Craigslist. It’s not uncommon to see people giving away things because they just don’t want it in the house anymore. Be on the lookout for items that you can turn for a profit. If you find something worth picking up and reselling, clean it off, take good pictures and relist it online.

2. Tutoring Services

You don’t need a college degree to tutor students. Create a few flyers or put an ad on Craigslist offering your tutoring services. You might even contact a few teachers to provide your information to pass to parents looking for tutors to help their child.

3. Creating websites ($$$)

If you’re really talented with design and know a thing or two about creating a website, why not try to make one for someone locally. If you’re good, you can charge anywhere from $500 to $2500 or more for a website.

Here’s a secret…you don’t really have to be a ‘web-expert’ to develop a good looking website. There are pre-made templates that you can use and sites like Elegant Themes will give you dozens of themes for one price.

This website is built on Thesis Theme, having an understanding of this theme can help you to build websites with ultimate flexibility.

Make money with a blog: Yes, you can make money with blogs. Blogs I own earn $1,000 or more a month. A lot of the tips I learned about blogging are a part of the Blogging Your Passion Webinar. I paid to attend this webinar (yes, it costs money) but when you can earn an extra $500-$1,000 a month through a blog – it was totally worth it!

4. Music lessons

Let families in your church or school know that you’re available to give private lessons to students. If you let your local band directors know, they may forward your information to parents asking about student music lessons.

5. Graphic Design

Are you pretty good with a computer? Look around your town for places that could use a little help in their designs. Think about locally owned restaurant menus, churches, and professional services like dentists and veterinarians. The trick is to come prepared with samples of how you would redesign their look. Get them thinking about the potential that you have to offer and go from there.

6. Waiting tables

It’s not the most glamorous job, but you can get a lot of hours and a decent paycheck for waiting tables if you’re a teenager.

7. Auto detailing

This was one of the first businesses I started. We charged $40 a car and I’d make about $100 ever other week. Not bad for a couple side jobs. Depending on your area and the level of detailing that you’re doing, you can probably expect to charge anywhere from $50 to $120 or more per car today.

8. Delivering pizza

If you don’t mind driving and can land a job as a pizza delivery person, you can make decent money in the evenings. It’s a good job for a teenager to get because you can work after school and on the weekends.

9. Lawn care

Don’t just think ‘lawn mowing.’ While that is a good way to make money in the summer months, people often need yard work done in the spring and fall too. One of my first jobs was to mow someone’s yard, but it turned into a fulltime summer job when he learned that I would be willing to work on other projects around the yard.

10. Home cleaning

Use friends of the family as connections and let them know about your home cleaning services. You can provide an ‘a la carte’ menu or create cleaning packages for people to choose.

11. Baby sitting

How can you forget about babysitting? You won’t get any jobs unless people know you’re dependable and trustworthy. Start with friends of your family and ask if they would recommend you to others. Go above and beyond by cleaning general areas of the house and you’ll be the most popular babysitter in town J.

12. Pet sitting, grooming, or walking

Some people can’t walk their dogs because of work or because they’re physically unable to. If you have an hour or two each week, you can start by walking a couple dogs or providing a dog bath service.

13. Lifeguarding

If you like the water and sun, this job is for you. Local pools and fitness clubs hire qualified 16 year olds as lifeguards. I had a few friends who were lifeguards when they were 16 and they really enjoyed the job. If you can’t land a lifeguarding job, but you really want to work as one, show initiative by getting CPR certified at a community college.

14. Farming Work

If you’re in a small town, you might have luck in finding a job on a local farm. Common summer jobs on farms include: detassling, tree trimming, blueberry picking, or other general labor jobs.

15. Set up computers/computer repair

Tech support is a growing need, especially as older Americans get more tech-savvy. If you know how to erase viruses and make computers run faster, you can make a few extra dollars by providing computer care services.

16. Grocery Bagger

I know you probably don’t want to be a grocery bagger, so that’s why it’s on the bottom of the list. But, it’s still a really good job for 16 year olds because stores are always looking for entry-level workers. If you start working at a store like Walmart, you might be able to transition into a better position after a few months or a year.

What jobs did you have as a teenager?