Summer jobs are a standard part of many high school students’ lives.

Earlier in childhood, summer vacation is a time of sleeping in, playing, and having no cares.  However, when a teenager is in high school, summer vacation is often a time to earn money for college or to gain experience.

Ali Herbsteit found herself in the position of finding her first job during the summer of 2012, between her sophomore and junior year of high school.

After spending many summers enjoying herself, Herbsteit’s parents told her it was time to get a job. Initially, she resisted this idea. ‘Who would want to get up early to work?’ But when her parents said they would cut back her allowance, Herbsteit knew that she should take this seriously.

“I didn’t want to work , but I knew if I didn’t, I’d end up in trouble,” she said.

Like many teenagers, Herbsteit had trouble trying to find a job.

“Everywhere I went, people only wanted to hire employees with experience,” she said.  “I couldn’t get hired because I didn’t have any experience, but I also couldn’t get a job to gain experience.  It was very frustrating.”

Herbsteit spent several weeks near the end of the school year applying for jobs all over town.  She filled out and submitted applications at grocery stores, restaurants, fast food places, tanning salons, department stores and even gas stations.  Despiite all of her work, she heard the same thing from every business. “They all told me ‘thanks, but no thanks.’ I felt like I was never going to find a job.”

One day after school an unhappy Herbsteit went to the library to do some research for her final paper in history class.  While in the reference section, gathering resources, she noticed a few books mixed up on the shelves.

“I didn’t need the books, but I thought reorganizing them would be useful to other people who were trying to find them in the correct places,” she said.  “I have been using the library since I was a little kid, so I know the call number system pretty well.  I didn’t’ have any problem putting the books where they belong.”

One of the librarians at the reference dest saw what she had done, and asked why she had moved the books.

“At first I thought I was going to be in trouble, but the librarian was impressed by what I had done, and by the fact that I knew what to do,” said Herbsteit.

The librarian was so impressed that she immediately offered Herbsteit a job as a summer intern.  She happily accepted.

After weeks of looking for a job with no success, Herbsteit had accidentally found her first job.  She was so glad that the search was over.  However, when she returned home, her best friend’s mom had left a message sing that she wanted to speak with her.

“I thought it was about my friend’s surprise party, but I was the one in for a surprise.”

Her best friend, Savannah Fredricks, had gotten a job as a hostess at a local restaurant, and was going to work there several days a week during the summer. As a result, her best friend wouldn’t be able to babysit for her three younger siblings.  Her best friend’s mom, Carol Fredricks, wanted to offer the babysitting job to Herbsteit instead.

“Ali and Savannah have been friends for ears and Ali’s practically part of the family,” said Fredricks.  “All of my kids know her really well.  So when Savannah wasn’t going to be able to babysit during the summer, it seemed like the perfect fit to offer the job to Ali.”

“Of all the luck!  Weeks looking for a job without finding one, and here I found two good jobs in one day!” Herbsteit said.  “After the luck of finding those two jobs, I wasn’t about to turn either one of them down.”

In the end, Herbsteit accepted both positions because the library agreed to work around her babysitting schedule.

“My parents were very proud of me, and I ended upgaining a lot of experience from this,” Herbsteit said.