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What You Can Learn from a Menial Job

Many of us have worked in a low-status or low-paid job at some point in our lives. Most people grin and bear it, and breathe a sigh of relief when they say goodbye to it and move on to something better.

But this attitude could result in missing a golden opportunity to improve work skills. Menial work offers many chances for you to turn boring, frustrating hours into experiences that will enhance your CV and make you more employable in the future.

Low-paid jobs are more likely to bring you into contact with the general public – whether in a call centre, restaurant, bar or supermarket. This is a perfect opportunity to hone your responses to customers, some of whom will be irate or difficult to deal with. Try to focus on the customer’s needs. If you can get into the mindset that asks ‘how will what I do benefit this person?' you have a skill that will prove useful in future years.

Your work may be dull, but it probably still requires you to interact and negotiate with your boss, colleagues and the public. Honing your ability to deal with these diverse groups shows that you are flexible and responsive.

Menial jobs can be fertile ground for gaining teamwork experience. Sectors such as catering, temping and labouring often offer the opportunity to work with colleagues as a group. You can even offer suggestions as to how to reorganise a team - an essential skill in many senior management positions and high-flying careers. Especially valuable for your CV are examples of where you've turned a weak or negative group around.

Low-status jobs are stressful – from working in an understaffed, overcrowded bar, to flipping burgers for impatient fast food customers. If you can cope day after day in such an environment you have developed an attitude that will serve you well in your future working life.

If your mind-numbing job involves filing or simplistic administrative tasks, console yourself that many more important jobs will be performed more efficiently if they are well organised. Work out as you file how you would reorganise the system to better effect, and then present your suggestions to the boss.

Any working environment can prompt an analysis of how the business runs and how it can be run more efficiently. If you approach your job with this attitude it not only makes your work more meaningful, it enables you to see things from an employer’s perspective and adopt a problem-solving approach, which makes you far more employable.

Turnover of staff members in low-paid jobs is high, and you might find yourself in a variety of menial positions in a fairly short amount of time. Turn this to your advantage by ensuring you mention in your CV that you adapted quickly to each new environment and to changing work patterns. So, if you temped all summer in different offices, consider yourself a highly flexible worker with a positive attitude to change.

For more information see the UK Net Guide articles Writing the Perfect CV and The Job Interview.