How did you get your first job?

We asked our social media followers to share the stories of how they landed their first jobs. Here are some of our favorites:

Through family

"I got my very first job through family. My cousin, brother and friends I grew up with ending up all working at Jersey Mike's together. And then my first "grown up" job with benefits was through a temp agency that got me on with a bank that hired me on permanently when I was 18. Ended up working for them for 10 years." – Dana Wells Harrell

"My Dad owned the company and it was between me and another person, but, he hired me..." – Ray Byke

"I worked for my parents' company. After that I went to a temp agency and it turned into an awesome job." – Leo Norris

"I worked for my dad at his jewelry store." – Christina Landrum

"My uncle hired me to do bookkeeping with his company part time." – Rey Rey

Pounding the pavement

"My first job was at Dairy Queen. I accompanied a friend who was applying for a job, and while waiting, I completed an application, too. We both were interviewed on the spot and we both were offered a job. Those were the good ole days." – Sheon Pinckney

"I worked a summer at the beach and water park. I drove to the HR building, filled out the application, and then got a call telling me to come to orientation. Twenty years later, I dragged my son to their job fair and he got hired on the spot (not because of me, lol)." – Lisa Marie Milby

"Well, not counting jobs like babysitting, mowing lawns, etc., my first job was at Burger King. I filled out a standard application, interviewed, and that was pretty much it." – Jeff Schicke

"My first job was washing dishes when I was 14 at a local family restaurant. I got the job by applying and then calling back two days after I applied; good summer money." – Tom Tompkins

"I got my first job by filling out a lot of applications and jumping on the first one that hired me – a movie theater." – Kas LeGault

"My first job was at Raging Waters. I went down to open interviews as a 15 year old, and got a job." – Philip Malan

"Paper applications. These online applications are a waste of time." – Joshua Halberstadt

Hitting up hiring programs

"My first job was an accounting clerk for an excavating company. I got it through a co-op program at my high school." – Sandra Williams

"First adult job: Showed up at a textile plant with like 30 other people waiting in a line to be interviewed. I was fresh out of Catholic high school working for a year to get money for college. I was the only one with a tie on. A guy comes out of an office (later learned he was the owner) [and] saw all of us. I was like 20th in line to be seen. Comes to me, takes my application [and] looks it over. Goes and knocks on [the] HR manager's door. Tells her to talk to me next and hire me." – Anthony LeGore

"Through a summer job program. [I] worked for [a] school district at [a] print shop, printing books or booklets for schools." – Noor-Jahan Noor

"[I] was out on the streets of San Bruno with a high school friend. The local S,F. Examiner delivery manager stopped his truck and asked us if we were interested in paper routes delivering the print edition daily ([there] was no internet yet). We both took local routes that included our own streets. When my friend from school got a part-time job in a business at 16, I took over his route and delivered 100 papers or so every day until I got out of high school. [Then I]bought a car and was attending community college and got a part-time job in a restaurant." – Philip C Di Filippo

"I joined the Navy." – Drenna G. Marino

Parents demanding you get out of the house

"In high school because my mom (almost) literally dropped me off at a restaurant and said to work there – post grad because I gently made fun of a stranger in line for coffee and made him laugh, [and] he gave me my first salary!" – Hannah Hastings

"My dad dropped me off at a hamburger joint and told me to land a job." – LaMonte George