Written By: Chris Nguyen | 🕒 3 minute read

Listen to the audio version of the blog:

Before becoming a wage slave to our 9-5 jobs, do you remember that time where you landed your first part-time job at a boba shop or Starbucks back in high school?

If you do, then you’d probably remember the benefits of getting free food and dealing with crazy customers. 

Well, for me, I didn’t remember all of that because… I never had a part-time job back then. 

Throughout my entire life, I was so focused on studying that I never even thought about getting one until the summer before my senior year of undergrad. As I was thinking about the future, I asked myself, “What will I do after applying for optometry school?” I only had a few classes left for my degree and a lot of free time. And besides, it was my LAST YEAR of undergraduate and I wasn’t gonna spend it watching anime. 🙄  

I wanted to do something productive. I wanted to earn some money to pay for my tuition (and crazy adventures). I wanted to help prevent others from giving up on their dream. I wanted… to become a tutor!

So, I started searching around for a tutoring job, but unfortunately no one was accepting new people at the time. 

At first, I was a little bummed that I didn’t land a single job. I thought that I wouldn’t be able to do the things that I wanted to do until my close friend Taylor came to the rescue. 

I know… Came to the rescue… It sounds pretty cliche. But back then, she actually did save me from having an unproductive and boring year. I even remembered her texting me something along the lines of: 

Yuh… having a job interview in 15 minutes… that’s like both the best and craziest thing that I've gotten, but mostly crazy because I wasn’t even dressed professionally for an interview. However, after some thinking and with the help from my pre-optometry crew, I bolted my way to the other side of campus to get that interview.

As soon as I arrived, I met up with Taylor by the entrance. And after I caught my breath, Taylor escorted me to her boss in the next room, and we began the interview.

[Taylor’s Boss]: So you’re Christopher Nguyen, right?

[Me]: Yes.

[Taylor’s Boss]: Well, Taylor told me so many great things about you. So, I’m going to hire you. Tell me what classes you can teach, what days you can tutor, and what day you can do some training. Once you give me all of that information, I will see you at work this fall! 

[me in my head]: Wait… What just happened?

I looked back at my friend, and I noticed her giggling at my surprised look. I realized that she had put in so many good words about me to the point that her boss instantly hired me. And because of her, I was able to become a tutor.

So, for everyone who’s reading this, just know that it’s good to have friends by your side because you never know, maybe they might help you find a job like mine did for me. 

P.S. Thank you Taylor. Because of you, not only was I able to meet so many amazing people at LAUNCH, but I was also able to make my application stronger to apply for optometry school. Good luck in pharmacy school! I wish you the best! 🙂

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