All of the fun, convenient jobs I mentioned in my other post do look great on a college application, but the ones that truly look amazing are actually the more challenging jobs. Here are the top three winning jobs from some of my past students:

1. Fast food worker Working in a fast food restaurant like McDonalds can teach you the value of hard work and providing excellent customer service. Although it may not be the most attractive employment, it will teach you about punctuality, interacting with authority figures, teamwork, and problem-solving. You will meet tons of different kinds of people from the real world who will surprise you more than you expect.

2. Ice cream shop employee This challenging job is all the more difficult because it sounds so fun at first! In reality, the scooping is strenuous labor that no one appreciates, customers expect a smile from you at all times, and there tends to be a sudden rush of customers quite frequently. At Cold Stone (probably the worst of them) they’ll even make you sing. Colleges know and appreciate what you’re doing here because they’ve seen it from students in the past.

3. Water park lifeguard Unlike the pool lifeguard, there is rarely a relaxing moment at the water park. Not to mention, fewer opportunities for shade, hydration, and friendly social interaction. Honestly, too, people can be mean at the water park, as many of them are dehydrated and uncomfortable. My student in the past who worked at the water park had a truly fantastic college essay to write about her experience. I both do and don’t recommend this job to any teenager looking for a real challenge.

Here are the three runner-up jobs!