Section 1 How a Boy Can Get a Place — Seven Ways to Get a Position
266. Free Service.—Make friends with a clerk. Offer to go with him on the delivery wagon. He will be only too glad of your assistance. The next step will be to help in odd jobs about the store. After a little familiarity with the business, you will find an opening. Your friendly clerk will have a sick day, or a leave of absence, or a vacation. The employer knows you have assisted the clerk, and will gladly give you his place for a day or a week, and from temporary employment it is but a step to a permanent place.
267. Special Department.—Make yourself familiar with a particular department of the work of shop or store. Suppose you take a pound of tea. It will surprise you to find out how many things you can learn about so insignificant a thing as a pound of tea. Ascertain the different brands; what markets they come from; where they are raised; how they are manufactured; in what quantities they are shipped; what are the fluctuations in price; who are the largest dealers; in what section of the country the trade is chiefly carried on. A study of these things will suggest other branches. A year given to a study of this kind, and you will know more about tea than the most trusted employee, whose knowledge is commonly of a superficial kind. Then, if you have an opportunity, you can surprise the merchant with a knowledge of his business, and he will be sure to give you a place as soon as he has an opening. One merchant says: “I always have a place for a person who can tell me anything about my business I don’t know myself.”
268. Show Superiority of Goods.—A man occupied his spare moments in measuring the linear feet of advertisements contained in the different Sunday papers, and sent the result to the one which had printed the most. Go around among customers and find what brand of goods they like the best. Then report to the makers of these brands, and you may be sure they will take an interest in you if they see that you take an interest in them.
269. Advertising.—Here is an advertisement for the right kind of boy: “A brisk-footed, up-to-date boy, not afraid to work, will take a place at low wages for the sake of learning the business.” Here you have four qualities in two lines—quickness, intelligence, industry, and low wages—the four things men are looking for, and such an advertisement will not wait long for a reply.
270. Influence.—Great names are mighty. Introduce yourself to the greatest man in your town, and tell him your qualifications and ambitions. Do not be afraid of him. A truly great man is more willing to do a real kindness to a meritorious boy than you think. Robert Lennox, an old-time New York merchant, one Sunday at church saw a timid young person looking anxiously around as if for a seat. “Come with me,” said Mr. L., “and I will give you a seat.” The next day the young man took a letter of recommendation to the store of a merchant. “Can I get a small bill of goods to begin business with?” he inquired. “I will trust anybody that Robert Lennox invites into his pew,” was the reply. “I owe all my success in life,” said Jonathan Sturges, “to the invitation of Robert Lennox to sit in his pew.” With the great-and-good-man’s indorsement you will find places waiting for you.
271. A Trial Week.—All many boys want is a chance. When you apply in vain for a place, tell the proprietor you are sure that he needs you, and that you will come a week for nothing (better a month if you can afford it). If you really have the merit you think you have, it will be strange if you cannot displace some indolent or indifferent employee.
272. Commission.—Offer to sell the dealer’s goods on commission. You must leave a deposit to cover the worth of the goods. Take the articles to your friends and tell them you are trying to get a place. In most cases, if the goods are cheap, they will try to help you, and you will be able to make an excellent report to your employer. When he sees that your service means money in his pocket, he will be eager to employ you at a salary.