by David P. Willis, Business Writer

Monday, July 9, 2007

These days, Laurence M. Downes concerns himself with the affairs of Wall-based New Jersey Resources, a company with $3.3 billion in annual revenue and hundreds of thousands of customers.

But back in June 1973, as a teenager in Bergen County, Downes' responsibilities were to make sure patrons at Stellje's, a luncheonette in Hackensack, were happy. He waited tables and worked the grill.

"I wasn't allowed to use the slicer. That was probably a good decision, in retrospect," said Downes, chairman and chief executive officer of New Jersey Resources, the parent company of New Jersey Natural Gas Co.

Downes is not alone in making great strides in a career after humble beginnings. Some of the Shore's business leaders spent their summers as teenagers working traditional summer jobs.

Besides providing cash, these jobs would help prepare them for the careers they would have later in life.

S. Thomas Gagliano, a former state senator and senior vice president for corporate and legal affairs at Engineering and Professional Services Inc. in Eatontown, worked as a waiter at San Alfonso Retreat House in Long Branch.

Monmouth University President Paul G. Gaffney II cooked hot dogs, hamburgers and milk shakes on the beach at Oak Bluffs on Martha's Vineyard. "I worked as a short-order cook, and sometimes I raked the beach in the morning," he said.

Barbara Davis, owner of Barbara Davis Employment Services in Red Bank, worked as a retail clerk at a small shop in Westfield that sold buttons and fabrics. She helped customers choose fabric and then measured and cut it. "I wanted to earn money for my own wardrobe," Davis said.

Some high school and college students today are choosing other summertime options, such as educational opportunities or sports camps. But local executives say the skills associated with a summer job can help later in life.

"That work experience helps them to really understand the importance of being industrious, the importance of continuing to make an effort," Davis said.

While working at the luncheonette, Downes got a glimpse of the operations of a small business up close. He saw how the owner had to manage his inventory, know how much food to buy and how he had to raise prices to cover increased costs.

"I was getting the equivalent of really a panoramic view of every aspect of that business," said Downes. Looking back, it reinforced the importance of hard work, discipline and attention to customer service, he said.

Over time, Downes was given more responsibility, such as taking the cash bag to the bank. "It was a sense that we were building something there," he said. "I enjoyed the work."

Gagliano remembers waiting tables and working in the kitchen at San Alfonso at about age 14. "I think it certainly went a long way towards making me responsible, in terms of going to work. We used to get there at 6:30 in the morning," he said. "I really enjoyed the job, because there were so many nice people and so many opportunities to talk to people."

At age 16, he ran a hot-dog stand in Highlands called Tommy's Snack Shack. "You would open up these shutters and hook them to a chain and you would be open for business," Gagliano said. "It taught me the responsibility of not only getting there and working on it, but you had to make a profit."

At age 11, entrepreneur Brian Smiga, founder of Atlantic Highlands-based Preclick, a company that develops software to organize and print digital photographs, started working with his 14-year-old brother, who had a lawn-mowing business in Rumson. "When we grew up, having a job and earning your own spending money was the norm," Smiga said.

As he got older, Smiga inherited the business, which had grown to about 30 accounts. It gave him an early taste of entrepreneurship.

"I had my accounts. I had to do good enough business to keep my accounts," Smiga said.

Mowing lawns was also a job you could do while daydreaming about other things. "I am still trying to do some of the things I thought about when I was cutting the grass."

Gaffney learned some important lessons from his time as a short-order cook. "I think it taught me to keep a few balls in the air at the same time," he said. "You are taking orders. You are making change. People are paying their checks."

Working a job as a teenager will pay off when it's time to look for employment as an adult.

"You have something to talk about in your first interview, other than you got a B+ in psychology," Gaffney said. "It shows that you have proven yourself a little bit and knew something about what is expected in the job market."