Campus jobs?

fa-la-la-lena
Tue, 12 Jun 2012 13:04:18 +0000

I have held about 8 different positions on campus in my 4 years at MSU. Mostly administrative/social science research positions (for a study or academic institute), but I also worked for my student government for a semester and also worked as a cultural aide (similar to a resident mentor but focused more on cultural/diversity programming) for a year.
It is definitely worth it, at least in my opinion. It is the main way I have been able to pay off my bills/housing/transportation/food/bar expenditures. The work history/experience it gave me also is probably one of the main reasons I have a full-time job related to my major/interests shortly after graduation. Plus as others have pointed out, campus jobs are so much more flexible to your needs as a student (you can often make your own hours, do homework/check email/fb during work if you aren’t busy, or take days off if you are visiting home/going away for the weekend/have huge tests to study for coming up).
In terms of how to go about finding one, it depends on the school. I’ve found lots of jobs through emails from my advisors/professors/random academic digests that I’m signed up for. I’ve also found them on my school careers/job posting website. Start looking early - if you want a job for the fall semester, start looking in late February/early March (and keep on looking). If you don’t have a long work history, definitely be flexible - cafeteria and front desk receptionist positions are probably easiest to get. But if you have a bit of a work history, you can get research jobs with a professor, lab, or institute (that can look as good on your resume as an actual off-campus internship).