College is expensive, and once admitted, students often find that they need to work a job to help pay the bills. On-campus jobs provide a good source of cash that?s close to home. Here?s a listing of some jobs on campus that are worth giving up a little extra free time.
Jobs on campus cover a wide array of interests ? there are jobs for people who are interested in gaining experience for future careers, jobs where people develop skills and jobs for people who just want to make some money. Whatever you?re looking for, chances are there?s a job on campus that fits that description.
One of the best things about being employed by a university is getting the chance to gain real work experience in a field or department that interests you. Being paid to take part in something you love isn?t always glamorous, though.
Junior Bridgette Waldron is interested in becoming a veterinarian, and she?s getting a chance to work with animals in her job at the Oral Animal Biology department. She deals with rats that are both alive and dead. Waldron cares for a rat colony, cleaning their cages and putting fluoride on the rats? teeth, but she also de-skins rat heads for use in further research.
While skinning rats for minimum wage certainly isn?t everyone?s idea of a good time, Waldron?s interest in animals and the veterinary field makes this job worthwhile for her.
Many working students on this campus have held more than one type of job in their years here at UR, and occasionally hold more than one job at a time. Waldron is also currently a student athletic trainer at the Goergen Athletic Center. Working about 12 hours a week, she works with different sports teams ? taping ankles, providing stimulation and ultrasound therapies and bringing water to practices.
Waldron?s favorite parts of the job are ?being involved in sports, and meeting people,? but she said she hates ?touching dirty feet.?
Dave Rudy is also a junior who works in the athletic center. He works in the fitness center an average of 16 hours a week for minimum wage. Rudy?s job includes cleaning and checking the safety of workout equipment, answering phones and helping people who are working out with proper lifting techniques or spotting weightlifters.
Rudy said that he enjoys the job because it is very social, and he?s ?paid to talk and be friendly with members.? Rudy was hired for the job because he had worked in Goergen before, and had past experience working in fitness centers.
There are a variety of ways to get jobs on campus, but people often utilize past experience or personal recommendations from other workers.
Sophomore Patty Heckman got her current job as a Wilson Commons Manager through a recommendation of other managers. Last year she worked at the Common Market in Wilson Commons, and it gave her an opportunity to get to know the other managers who would eventually suggest that she take the job as a manager.
A manager of Wilson Commons is responsible for making sure things are running smoothly throughout Wilson Commons, and locking up and alarming the building at the end of the night. While Heckman says she dislikes being alone in the building at night, she does like the amount of freedom she is given at work. Heckman works an average of 10 hours a week for $7 an hour.
Another person employed in Wilson Commons is junior Sarah Malecki, a student who works in the Hartnett Gallery. While the job is not high paying, Malecki enjoys her job because it is usually very quiet in the gallery, and she can get some studying done while earning a few extra dollars.
Malecki got the job by filling out an application at the Student Association Office, and said that she ?found out that there are a lot of good jobs throughout Wilson Commons that many people do not even know about.?
The person who best knows about all the jobs available is Wilson Commons head of student employment George Morrison. Morrison states that Wilson Commons employs about 100 students, but that number excludes those that work in food service.
Students hold positions as attendants at the recreation/information desk, as student custodians, as part of events crew or many other job titles. Morrison estimates that between 75 and 80 percent have Federal Work Study, and the jobs have a 50 to 75 percent retention rate.
Jobs exist on campus that very few people know about, which is sometimes due to location and sometimes due to the nature of the job itself. Junior Rasai Ernst works at the Arts and Music Library, a little known location on the ground floor of Rush Rhees Library. Ernst enjoys the job because the library is quiet and she can get her work done.
Ashley Conner is a senior who has one of the most unusual jobs on campus. Her job title is simply that of reader. Conner works for Professor Walter Oi, an economics professor who is legally blind. Conner was asked by Oi to take the job after taking economics 223, a class taught by Oi. She works 6 to 8 hours a week at $5.65 an hour, and the work consists mainly of reading all sorts of material to Professor Oi or into a tape recorder so he can listen to it later.
Conner enjoys the job because she reads many interesting articles and books. ?The concepts and theories are interesting and I?ve really learned a lot,? Conner said. ?It?s nice to have a job where I get a direct benefit from my work.?
Holding down a job while attending school isn?t always easy, but for many students it?s a necessity. Whether it?s out of a need for cash or a genuine interest in the work itself, jobs on campus have something for everyone.
