First Job

Trevor Pryce has spent 11 seasons chasing quarterbacks and decking running backs. But before he became a defensive end for the Denver Broncos and the Ravens, Pryce had a job that was less lucrative and less exhausting. What was your first job? I was a softball scorekeeper at the park for a bunch of old, drunken men. It was terrible. I was probably 12, and they paid me $10 a night, and you were there for five hours watching some [dude] swing and miss. It was like, "What am I doing here?"

Listen up college seniors, you have the upper hand in the job market this year. So that means you could be pickier about your first job, which can set the groundwork for the rest of your professional life. "I really believe that the chief value of the first job out of college is to help you figure out what you like, generally your strengths, what you're good at, and what you don't like, generally your weaknesses and what you're not good at," says Dede Bartlett, a former executive at two Fortune 500 companies who lectures on career issues to college students.

EMPLOYERS HAVE been complaining for quite a while now about the quality of the high school diploma.Too many of the young people who tote them into job interviews aren't literate, can't add a column of figures, don't know the first thing about comportment in the workplace and show up late or not at all.Meanwhile, teachers feel as though they are sending students out into the dark. They have only outdated information about the skills employers want, especially in the rapidly changing area of technology.

Last year's federal edict giving welfare recipients two years to find employment has transformed the Howard County office of the state Department of Social Services into a job placement agency.And it's an agency that's having some success.The county DSS office's caseload fell 36 percent, from 2,843 recipients in January 1995 to 1,818 this February.About 750 of those people voluntarily removed themselves or no longer qualified for welfare, mirroring a statewide trend, Howard DSS officials said.

Last year's federal edict giving welfare recipients two years to find employment has transformed the Howard County office of the state Department of Social Services into a job placement agency.And it's an agency that's having some success.The county DSS office's caseload fell 36 percent, from 2,843 recipients in January 1995 to 1,818 this February.About 750 of those people voluntarily removed themselves or no longer qualified for welfare, mirroring a statewide trend, Howard DSS officials said.

Remember your first job? Remember how it felt to earn your own money? How all the things grown-ups tried to teach you about responsibility suddenly became clearer? Remember learning the value of taking a workmanlike approach to any endeavor? Thousands of teen-agers in Baltimore may miss those important lessons this year.The Republican House, in its laudable but sometimes misdirected zeal to achieve deficit reduction, has passed a "Contract with America" that doesn't include a summer jobs program for youths.

Newspapers have a heart and soul. They are all different, personalized in a special and distinctive way. That's why, when one expires, the mourners gather around to sympathize with the bereaved survivors, otherwise known as the readers.They even offer a toast or two in memory of the dearly departed, this thick roll of newsprint, a recycled tree, that so many times had become what the late syndicated columnist Bob Considine appropriately called the "daily miracle."The Evening Sun represented our first job -- as a delivery boy -- so it all began with hands-on experience at age 13. Such a modest start was to lead to the greatest of adventures, an eventual involvement and responsibility in the gathering and reporting of sports news and being judgmental and opinionated about the initial and long-range impact of those stories.

Jimmy Haynes, pitcherCareer recordIs in his first season with the Orioles. His 191 strikeouts last season with Double-A Bowie and Triple-A Rochester were the most by an Oriole farmhand since Ken Dixon struck out 240 in 1984 for Double-A Charlotte. Named Oriole Minor League Pitcher of the Year last season. Has averaged a strikeout per inning in his five-year professional career. Selected by the Orioles in the seventh round in the June 1991 draft.Personal recordBorn, grew up and still lives in LaGrange, Ga. Turned 23 on Sept.

ASK successful people about their first job, or their worst job, and chances are you'll hear a bunch of horror stories. But the stories will be gleefully retold by the survivors, who were fortunate enough to find out early on that those awful jobs aren't dead ends -- they're stepping stones.Truth to tell, most of us were probably pretty awful employees to start with.This everyday wisdom is in danger of being lost in the debate over welfare reform and work. The chairman of the House Ways and Means subcommittee on welfare policy, Democrat Harold E. Ford of Tennessee, thinks no one should have to give up welfare benefits for jobs that pay less than $9 an hour.

Frank G. Zarb, international investment banker, former U.S. energy czar and onetime gas station attendant, looks back with a touch of fondness to his first job: wiping windshields and cleaning bathrooms.That first job, fresh out of the Army, led Mr. Zarb to a position running employee training programs for the old Cities Service Oil Co. (now Citgo). And it taught him the value of mastering the basics."The dealers who checked your oil, who wiped your windshields and who had regularly clean facilities invariably did a better job [at selling oil]

Jennifer Prosa stood patiently in a line of at least 300 people, with each person waiting just to get inside a job fair Wednesday at the Baltimore Convention Center. "I probably should have gotten here earlier," said the 27-year-old Severn resident as she surveyed the hundreds of hungry job-seekers ahead of her. If there is any telltale sign of growing unemployment woes in this deepening recession, look no further than recent job fairs across the country and in the Baltimore region. Many have drawn thousands of laid-off workers and others in search of limited job openings.

The Ravens' Sam Koch is averaging 44.7 yards per punt - an average that would exceed Kyle Richardson's single-season franchise record of 43.9 set in 1998. Even though Koch has taken a few hits from opponents trying to block his punts, it's a task that is light years better than his first job back in Nebraska. What was your first job? The first job I ever had was detasseling. You go and pull the tassels off of cornstalks, the top things on the corn. That's what we do in Nebraska and the Midwest.

Trevor Pryce has spent 11 seasons chasing quarterbacks and decking running backs. But before he became a defensive end for the Denver Broncos and the Ravens, Pryce had a job that was less lucrative and less exhausting. What was your first job? I was a softball scorekeeper at the park for a bunch of old, drunken men. It was terrible. I was probably 12, and they paid me $10 a night, and you were there for five hours watching some [dude] swing and miss. It was like, "What am I doing here?"

Cornerback Bobby Blackshire compiled 265 career tackles, eight interceptions and 39 starts at Tulsa. Blackshire is one of three rookie defensive backs competing for a spot in the Ravens' crowded secondary. How would you assess your development here? I think I'm doing well. When I first came out here, I was a little rusty and a little nervous. But as camp went on, I've progressed. What's the biggest challenge in your first training camp? It's knowing the playbook and knowing where to go. Physically, it's changed just a little bit because it is a little faster and there are some big guys out here.

Thomas Trgovac remembers the day 27 years ago when he went to apply for his first job at a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant. Trgovac had attained the ripe old age of 17. After he told his dad that he was going for a job, the elder Trgovac sized him up and said, "First things first: We're going to the barbershop." Exactly one haircut and one application later, Trgovac had his first gig. He remembers the lesson about how young people should look and act when seeking employment. Trgovac was born and raised in Ohio.

Listen up college seniors, you have the upper hand in the job market this year. So that means you could be pickier about your first job, which can set the groundwork for the rest of your professional life. "I really believe that the chief value of the first job out of college is to help you figure out what you like, generally your strengths, what you're good at, and what you don't like, generally your weaknesses and what you're not good at," says Dede Bartlett, a former executive at two Fortune 500 companies who lectures on career issues to college students.

For many new college grads it's time to learn a skill that will serve them throughout their careers - negotiating a salary. Yes, even those seeking entry-level jobs might be able to squeeze a little more out of a prospective employer by playing their cards right. An improved job market favors new graduates. A few years ago, they were lucky to get any offer. Now some are getting more than one. And competing offers put job seekers in an even better position to negotiate, says Brian Krueger, president of CollegeGrad.

Job search Starting pay, benefits rising Job-search times are shortening, while starting salaries and other benefits are on the rise, according to a prominent outsourcing-and-research company. The average job search this year is taking less than three months, compared with four months in the fall of 2004, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas. "The labor market is starting to look more and more like the one we experienced in the late 1990s," said CEO John Challenger. "Companies are undoubtedly reluctant to increase their costs, but it has become necessary to boost salaries and special benefits in order to attract and retain the top talent."

For young people starting their first summer job, there are more things to think about than being on time, following directions and completing assigned tasks. Even teenagers are facing adult subjects such as sexual harassment and discrimination in the workplace. That's why employers and others are working to help more young workers know their rights and responsibilities through orientations, on-the-job training, mentoring and government initiatives. After fielding a growing number of complaints from young workers about sexual harassment as well as disability and race discrimination, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission began offering free workplace education workshops to teenagers, parents and employers two years ago. The agency teamed up with members of the restaurant and retail industries to develop an education program that encourages young workers to stand up for their rights in the workplace.

Thanks to those who try to make life better for all of us by making life better for themselves. There are still too many homicides in Baltimore - though, at 242, not as many as the 259 last year at this time - and too many men and women addicted to heroin and cocaine. But there are people among us trying to get to a better place in their lives, away from the addictions that create the drug market that begets so much of the violence, and out of unemployment, crime and prison. We should praise and thank them for their efforts, against tough odds, because therein lies the progress of a city, a state and a nation - one man, one woman at a time.