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Are you a teen looking for your first summer job? Would you like some tips from someone who has regularly hired teens?

As a business owner, I have hired my share of teens for temporary summer positions; many of these kids had no previous work experience, but I hired them anyway. I hired them because it isn't a teen's work experience that makes for a valuable employee; it's a teen's attitude. If a teen can capitalize on that idea, then he or she will have no trouble landing their first summer job.

Teens, worth having as employees, have certain qualities; appealing universal qualities that make them not just awesome summer staff, but valuable employees that a company will want to keep on, long after summer ends.

Are you an inexperienced teen who needs a summer job? Here are a few tips to assist you in developing a job-winning attitude:

1. First of all, lose the arrogant attitude. Confidence is one thing, arrogance is quite another. Many teens heading into the workforce have this strange idea that because they can eat and breathe, and show up, they are God's gift to a potential employer. Here's a heads-up: NOT!

Come to a summer job interview with a smile and eyes filled with confidence. If you believe you are the best person for the job, your eyes and the enthusiasm in your voice will convince a potential boss that you are a good choice for the job.

2. Come armed with a resume. Employers expect that a teen resume may be a list of baby-sitting jobs, volunteer experience, and high school grades. But those things say a lot about a teen applying for a job.

A few good references, like a math teacher, a next door neighbor, or a youth pastor (complete with phone numbers), will assure a potential employer that you are worth hiring.

3. Research your target company; it's a cinch today to arm yourself with information on any company. Type the company name into a search engine and make some notes.

Impress a potential employer with both your knowledge of the company, and with the ambition you showed in researching their company.

If you really want to make an impression, come with an innovative idea or two that may solve a company problem. The idea is to intrigue an employer enough to make him or her want to at least give you a chance.

4. Present your very best self to a potential boss. An employer is not interested in whether or not you own the top-of-the-line cell phone, or iPod. Or that you rule on your Xbox 360.

They might, however, be interested in your blog web page. Your MySpace

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