Teen Jobs (my unofficial guide)

[justproud2b]

So You're Ready for Your Teen to Balance Work and School?

The image above is the North Quad's all in their job outfits

Teens have the option of five different jobs. These jobs do not seem to give any boost to any careers as a young adult.  Some of these jobs do however have requirements for promotions that are the same as some careers which will help later. Each career keeps the same hours throughout their jobs (days change on some).  I found it important to also consider the time that your teen will work when picking a job. You teen is able to use a phone or computer to find a job. The information for that job will show in the same areas as their school information which you can view by clicking the brief case or hitting 'J' on your keyboard. My sims were also able to completely quit and regain their exact position when they joined the same job again (quitting is done by the phone or computer as well). So if you feel your teen needs to take time off of work for whatever reason this should be an option to quit and join again.
Please Note: Upon aging your Sim will quit their job automatically nothing needs to be done by you.

Career Options and Info on Levels

Manual Labor
Manual Labor seems to pair well with people with the gardening aspiration or wanting to get a headstart on gardening in general. This is also useful as gardening at this time does not have a career itself but can make money. See Carl's Guide for more information on Gardening skills. This job requires you to work on the weekends but I felt like my Sim had a ton of time for extra things. He maintained his garden at home as well as had plenty of time to socialize with others.

Good Trait(s) and Aspiration(s)

• Loves Outdoors - Your sim will spend a lot of time outside working on plants. Even though this isn't required it is helpful to get that constant bonus just for being outside.
• Athletic - Although this doesn't help with actual tasks requirements for the job it can be helpful for becoming energized for work.
• Freelance Botanist Aspiration - This to me is the natural choice for this job as it requires you to level your gardening skill.
• Body Builder Aspiration - Even though none of the tasks for the job help with aspiration I included it because Bodybuilder has tasks that require you to be energized so I know this job won't conflict with the emotion.

Retail Employee
This job is like a typical Retail job and seemed to have a high risk of stressing out my sim (although that could be me too as I like to push my sims to the limit). The job has you work on your social skills in order to gain promotions. The pay left me feeling like I did when I worked for retail jobs myself "That's it" whenever she came home. This job requires Confidence as does the Secret Agent career so I assume this would be a good job for a sim that would be heading for that. While having this job my Sim had a harder time getting her grades up due to her working almost every day and situations at work making her come home pretty annoyed with life (this was just my experience though and I was playing 5 sims).

Good Trait(s) and Aspiration(s)

• Outgoing - This job requires Charisma in order to become higher. Outgoing sims tend to want to socialize a lot so I found this to be a great trait.
• Self-Assured - Confidence is the ideal mood for this job and self-assured sims literally wake up feeling confident most the time.
• Friend of the World Aspiration - This to me is the natural choice for this job as it requires you to socialize the most with sims and the bonus relationship from Gregarious help a ton. Most Aspirations under "Popularity" or any other Aspiration would work as most require some type of socializing.

Barista
Have a future Mixoligist in your family this is a great job to choose could also pair well with a Master Chef as it would allow you to focus more on the food later. The hours require you to wake up early but I was able to get my sim on a pretty good schedule and head to bed early every night yet still have plenty of time for anything else he wanted to do. The pay was decent and in my experience he had the least stressful job of all my sims. I will admit it was weird going to the bar with my teenager and tending bar so I did break down and buy one at home to hide my shame.

Good Trait(s) and Aspiration(s)

• Creative - I suggest this trait only due to I find it easiest to get your sim inspired with but personally feel any trait would work well.
• Master Mixologist Aspiration - This was suprisingly easy to do with my sim I was actually able to get halfway done my Aspiration and was only halted by needing to become an adult and be working in the mixolgy branch.

Fast Food Employee
Just like Barista this job is perfectly inline with someone entering the Culinary career later. The hours were tolerable and my sim rarely seemed frustrated after work. Although being the only job to switch days working every promotion is did throw me off guard the most so be cautious of your sims days working/off.

Good Trait(s) and Aspiration(s)

• Foodie - This is a great trait for when you start making good food but can kick you a bit in the beginning due to you not enjoying your own cooking.
• Outgoing - Since outgoing sims tend to have the easiest time (in my opinion) making friends this helps your charisma raise the most.
• Athletic - Although this doesn't help with actual tasks requirements for the job it can be helpful for becoming energized for work.
• Master Chef Aspiration - This aspiration seems to fit the best to me as it has you work for cooking. I was looking very professional by the time I had my sim to the top of his job.
• Body Builder Aspiration - Even though none of the tasks for the job help with aspiration I included it because Bodybuilder has tasks that require you to be energized so I know this job won't conflict with the emotion.

Babysitter
Love kids or are a big one yourself? This might be the best job for you. I used a childish sim and felt like she had no issues at all with the job and it was really easy to get promotions. She had no issues keeping up with her homework and had plenty of time to socialize before work on the weekends. The pay seemed in line with the amount of time she worked and the days.

Good Trait(s) and Aspiration(s)

• Goofball - This job requires you to be be playful and most the time I play goofball sims they are almost always naturally in a playful mood.
• Childish - Just as with goofball this trait is very easy to get a sim playful with I would have assumed that going to work and playing with the children would have made you playful from this trait but unfortunately this is not the case..
• Outgoing - This job requires Charisma in order to become higher. Outgoing sims tend to want to socialize a lot so I found this to be a great trait.
• Friend of the World Aspiration - This to me is the natural choice for this job as it requires you to socialize the most with sims and the bonus relationship from Gregarious help a ton. Most Aspirations under "Poularity" or any other Aspiration would work as most require some type of socializing.

I started this information for myself (I have a horrible memory so I write everything down). Then I began challenging myself with the family I was playing. I am picky how things look which is why I used images instead of text tables as the lack of control over spacing drives me crazy. The format was inspired by the actual guides only due to well they look the best on this site (I hope that is ok). I am sure that an official guide on teen jobs will eventually be released but thought this would be fun and challenging to do and help us till then.

If you see any changes that need to made or you have any suggestions feel free to let me know and I will add them as soon as possible!

[Lisa46]

Thanks for the info!

[Devin]

You might have just saved my life. This is amazing, excellent info. Thank you so much!

[Playalot]

This must have taken you ages, thank you for sharing. 

[saltpastillen]

Thanks, I was just wondering if the teen careers has 3 or 5 levels. This clears things up nicely for me

[ladybug53]

Wow , what great information ! I should get my teen to join one of those jobs instead of watching TV . 

[Dellena]

Well done on this guide!

[Franki]

Thanks for this, been wondering what to do with my teen sims..

[arimau]

Thanks a lot, justproud! That’s really helpful. The pictures that you provided add a nice touch to the guide. Well done

[justproud2b]

Glad this has helped a lot of you and thank you very much for compliments

This must have taken you ages, thank you for sharing. 

It took a few days only cause the adult cheats for the jobs don't work on teen jobs. I did however had a blast with it as I um had their mother have an accident on purpose. Then I made it a challenge to keep the house going using 5 teens with jobs and school. I turned off auto aging just out of fear that I would loose track and they'd age up without me noticing.

[kaitlin980]

Thx sooo much! Now my teens don't just sit on their buts all day eating cereal! 

[Cristina]

Thanks so much for the info, this is a great guide 

[oshizu]

Glad this has helped a lot of you and thank you very much for compliments


It took a few days only cause the adult cheats for the jobs don't work on teen jobs. I did however had a blast with it as I um had their mother have an accident on purpose. Then I made it a challenge to keep the house going using 5 teens with jobs and school. I turned off auto aging just out of fear that I would loose track and they'd age up without me noticing.

@justproud2b, thank you for putting so much time and effort into this guide.
The March patch has changed the way the Connections reward works with teens, I believe.
I used to wait until a teen had an A grade and the Connections reward. They started a job at Level 3, which allowed me to complete the first career-related Renaissance Sim requirement.
Consequently, I'd never really had my teens work a job.
Today, however, I had two A-grade teens with the Connections reward start jobs.  They both began at Level 2.
Despite being so late to the party, I'd just like to say how helpful your guide is.

P.S. Was your no-adult household of teens able to survive okay with just their part-time jobs?

[justproud2b]

It was challenging but doable

[Shewolf13]

Maybe I'm insane, but I thought that Connections worked for the teen jobs at one point.  Either I'm crazy, or it was taken out in a patch.  Or at least I know I've had teens start at level 2 or 3 before.  Does anyone know why this would be?  The only things I could think of (beside Connections) would be having an A in elementary school or a certain level in some childhood skill.  I don't think it's having an A in high school either.  If anyone has any answers, I'd love to hear it!  Thanks.