As summer heats up we ask industry executives:
What’s the most memorable summertime job you had during your high school and college years, and why?
Responses edited for clarity and brevity
Ben Schlosser
Chief marketing officer
Richard Childress Racing
“I was a head counselor at a summer camp on Cape Cod for several years and oversaw a junior counselor training program of nearly 90 high school aged kids. … I got to work with hundreds of kids in a terrific environment, with many other college students — and it also taught me at a young age how to manage people, adapt to different situations and ultimately be a problem solver. It’s also come full circle, as my kids now attend the same camp, and many of my former friends have kids there as well.”
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Scott Guglielmino
SVP, programming and Global X
ESPN
“In high school, I was a DJ for a company located in Connecticut. We did everything from weddings and birthdays to school dances and company outings. I am proud to say this was back in the days of vinyl (records, for all you youngsters). Providing the straw that stirred that volatile cocktail of slippery shoes, slick dance floors and good spirit was always entertaining. I gained an encyclopedic memory of music. … I also learned that the show must always go on, to improvise, and that the customer is always right even when they didn’t know the song title and I was unable to make out their impromptu rendition.”
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Tom Richardson
President
Convergence Sports & Media
“The summer after high school was the first of four that I worked at Jones Beach State Park in a variety of positions, including night watchman and maintenance worker. My first job, however, was the most memorable. I worked on the Dunes Crew, which was a group of six guys armed with giant rakes and shovels and riding in a pick-up truck that went out at 5 a.m. to clean the 10-mile shore line. We raked seaweed, picked up driftwood and discovered a lot of weird detritus that washed up overnight. By the time we finished later in the morning, we were completely wiped out, but the beach was pristine. It was a great place to spend eight hours a day, and we always had great conversations and a lot of laughs.”
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Paul Johnson
Senior VP, entertainment and new media
PGA Tour
“My most memorable [summer job] is being a microfilm clerk at a bank. Memorable, because it was pretty boring! I knew then that I needed to do something that interested me every day. Hence, high-tech, management consulting, a Silicon Valley startup, and the [current] PGA Tour jobs followed.”
— Compiled by Molly Hogan
