Learning to Earn
âMaybe itâs a way to buy that first car. It could be a way to support yourself in college. Or it might be the way you enter the corporate world. Whatever youâre looking for, McDonaldâs can help you make your own way, with challenging careers, quality benefits and the best opportunities around.â
Although I didnât buy my first car while working at McDonaldâs, I have supported myself in college throughout 3 years en route to a two-year college degree.
At age 22, I had been to a university and community college, both of which I could not return to because of financial and academic reasons, respectively.  I heard about people dropping out of college for a only few reasons; grades and finances.  When the possibility of being ineligible for a return to degree-seeking status became apparent, I panicked for a solution. I began applying to all sorts of companies in search of a job, most of which I was barely interested in. I just knew I needed to work for income.Â
Working for income was not a phenomenon that I discovered, as many people work for a living, but the importance of being employed was revealed to me during a challenging circumstance as a student in early adulthood. Without car on an island of a college campus and prospective job opportunities in driving distances, how could I exercise my common sense to work while I was in school? Campus jobs were not ideal resources for me, as they provided less hours of labor than I worked in high school -- I wanted to consistent income. During a day of uncertainty, I spotted a McDonaldâs while riding along in a venturing 2 miles away from campus in a classmateâs car. I went in, unexpectedly set up an open interview, and was asked to return for orientation.Â
When I chose McDonaldâs as an employer of interest, I was not aware of the encompassing mission statement and values that McDonaldâs conveyed as a corporation. I was an independent academic who became concerned about earning a degree while earning livable income. I needed to work for a company that suited my needs as a student-worker, and as a person who valued education and income equally. I needed a set amount of weekly hours, I needed to work on specific days, and I needed to work specific hours on those days. Although there was no specific job description at the time of my orientation, I learned that the everyday tasks and operations were suitable for my workplace desires.Â
Within 8 months, I was introduced to McDonaldâs Corporate Ladder, exposing me to various roles that could be attained while exerting mental and physical effort. From there and on, I recognized economic inequality as the difference between employed and unemployed people. Of course, with a solid foundation to continue enrolling in college courses in pursuit of a degree, Iâve learned that there are more details which contribute to the concept of economic inequality.Â













