Take Your Kid To Work Day Assignment
Name: Mina P
Advisory #: 08
Name of your hosts: Sue Park, Don Park
Relationship to you: Mother/ father
The Interview: (ask your host these questions)
1. What is your job title?
Business owner (Sushi Restaurant).
2. What is your job description?
To overview the restaurant.
3. What are the duties and/or tasks you perform at your job?
To make decisions, order materials such as food/ produce, cutlery; managing/ regulating employment (the hiring/ firing of employees), consult with paperwork (wages, bills, maintenance),
4. What qualifications do you have for this job in the following areas:
- a) training? (Received food safety training, waitressing [covering shifts, if they are unable to])
- b) education? (Now before my parents had bought this business, they had both been working in different careers, which consisted of jobs that were very different from being a business owner. Thus, had not received and special education for this area in particular.)
- c) experience? (Worked alongside their parents’ business when they were younger)
- d) skills and attributes (personal qualities)? (Financial management, leadership, a good sense of communication, firmness, organization, responsibility)
5. What are some of the things you like about the job?
Now with being the business owner of the restaurant. There are not designated hours to work,
like a typical workday with a strict schedule. This is more relaxed, and I am able to come anytime
during the week, as long as I check in to make sure that everything is going well and maintain the
status. With this, I still need to come in around 3 times a week, but since the days and hours are
flexible, I am able to come whenever I can. Unlike my previous jobs, I don’t have to stress about
coming into work early in the morning, which I enjoy very much.
6. What are some of the things you dislike about this job?
Now with having to come in to check in on the restaurant in making sure that it stays maintained,
and consistent, I unfortunately have to come on the weekends, for it is often the busiest time, and
I have to check that everything is operating correctly; and also collect the bills, list of food
needed etc. Adding onto this, another task that I have to complete is going to the grocery store
multiple times a week to collect the materials, and food supply for the restaurant. Nevertheless,
something that is also hard to “work with”, is knowing that there is no guaranteed sources of payment,
as you would normally have receiving paycheques by the hour. Instead all the income is decided
amongst costumers and dependant on how much business we receive (how many costumers come/ what they buy)
7. How do you anticipate this job changing in the next 5 years or so?
Now with having checked the “sales statistics” from previous years. It managed to stay consistent
all throughout, therefore I expect that all will stay roughly the same, or hopefully improve.
Nonetheless, further down the future, I hope to possibly buy other businesses as well.
Student Reflections
1. Give three reasons why you would like this job (be specific):
a) Now as opposed to many other jobs, there are not many skills acquired to partake in this job. Thus, meaning that the standard requirements needed to be met for many jobs, such as previous experiences, intelligence (e.g. grades, GPA), etc. Were not hugely considered components for the acceptance of the job. This meant that during your high school experience, you didn’t need to worry too much on getting good grades, nor did you need to take extra-curricular classes, earn certain degrees and so on. Nevertheless, with taking this into thought, I would consider this as a fairly positive benefit, for I wouldn’t need to stress out about getting a perfect score on a test and such, for it would not really affect the acceptance of the job, as well as the job itself.
b) Another component is that it pays pretty decently as well. While most people are taking the income, they will make into consideration, many will look into careers in which earn the most amount of money. This will typically consist of entering the medial field, becoming a lawyer, etc.) Now though these jobs, produce a steady and high income, it requires a lot of training, not to mention that these types of careers require a fairly good academic statistics, obtaining certain degrees, spending time in university/ college etc. With becoming a business owner however (more specifically a restaurant), it does not require a high education degree, much training, previous experiences etc. So, for a fairly good amount of income, the position does not require many aspects such as a good education, and so on.
c) Additionally, you can also start operating your own business at a young age. A positive aspect that can lead to extremely beneficial results, is starting a small business at a young age, and slowly start to digress into a larger one, or perhaps to build/ purchase another one. Since the prices are gradually increases each year, the ability to afford one starts to become more difficult. Furthermore, the profit within the business also starts to increase as the prices rise. So by purchasing/ starting a business at a young age, it reduces the stress of being able to afford one further off into the future; and if you had purchased a small business, you could slowly start to digress into a larger one, and possibly purchase another which offers more income. In the end however, this gives an advantage, for it allows for you to start at a young age, possibly before graduating school; and increase it the time goes by.
2. Give three reasons why you would not like this job (be specific):
a) Now one of the main reasons that it is challenging to start or purchase a business, is because it is so expensive to buy in the first place. With my parents’ business for example, when they were going through the process of purchasing it, they had to receive loans from the bank, and additionally, ended up long and tough progression waiting for approvals, and so on. The most challenging aspect of becoming a business owner in my onion, is the first step. Whether it’d be purchasing one, starting the basis of one (creating it). For it gives you a “foundation” to start on, where you can then start to expand as the time goes by.
b) Taking into consideration the income. A negative component is that there is no guaranteed salary. Depending on the service received, and how many costumers come, the income can vary. So, for example if during one particular year there was a great effort in income, since there were so many costumers, the next year could drop, therefore also dropping the salaries. Nevertheless, in the end you’d often be worried/ anxious about the amount of sales made, for it all depended on the number of costumers that came, and how much they purchased. So personally, for myself, I would always be worried about the
steady income, and constantly checking the sales statistics to make sure that they are consistent as possible, if not starting to rise.
c) In relation to the previous point, with the fact that the salary varied, and was unpredictable.
Another negative effect would be that regardless of what you (the business owner) made, you’d still
have to pay for all the materials, food and supplies, along with paying the workers their amount
of wages. In summary, the income that the business owners receive is considered after the
expenses, workers’ wages, etc. So, like I mentioned in the previous paragraph, the income is decided
upon the costumers. Meaning that unlike many other jobs, where they receive a steady source of
payment after a certain period of time, in this job the payment is not guaranteed, which may cause
anxiety.
3. Is this job for you? Why or why not?
After considering all the aspects of this job; I don’t think that this career is the right fit for me.
Mainly with the source of income to get started on the business, along with the fact that there is no
guaranteed source of payment; would cause me to worry a lot, thus creating a lot of anxiety.
Additionally, I’ve also already “chosen” a career that I am passionate about, leaning more into the
medical field. Therefore leaning away from the business industry.
4. Explain the value of the TYKTW experience in relation to your ideas about your post secondary (after high school) plans (education?, training?, travel?, work?).
In conclusion, I took away a lot from this activity, and found it a great experience to learn
about the business industry and the working conditions of it. I was able to observe what my parent’s
along with many other people did for a living in helping to overview the business, etc. Nonetheless,
I was also able to realize that this type of career was not for me, and that I still wanted to peruse my
own passion of entering the medical field.
.