Many students decide to take part-time jobs during a college semester. I was one of those students. Rather than looking for a job outside of the college, I looked within the college.
During the end of my sophomore year, I felt like I had figured a lot out. I had my major decided, I knew what clubs I wanted to be a part of, and I had a strong core group of friends. Getting a part-time job was always on the radar, but I never felt “ready” to take one on.
If there is anything to take away from this, it’s to get a job on campus. To be honest, I never thought of this as an option. I heard about employment opportunities on campus in the past, but I never took it seriously. After talking to my mentors and my parents, I decided to work on campus. I applied to a couple of positions, but I managed to land two, a peer tutor and a front desk job, for a combined 14 hours of part-time work. While this may not be as long as a traditional part-time job (20 hours), I think that 14 hours was a good balance for me.
There were some perks for working on campus. For one, I lived in an apartment complex that was less than a ten-minute walk from both jobs, so the stress of added travel was not there. Beyond this, both jobs understood that I was a student and were able to be flexible in their scheduling. I was able to work with both employers to find time frames that made the most sense with my schedule.
Due to this, I never really felt the stress of “having” to go to work. It just worked with my schedule. It’s funny because sometimes in college, you have moments where you look at your schedule and think it’s way overloaded. I remember the times where I was like “I cannot handle this”. Whenever I felt that way, I compared it to working a 40 hour week. Nine times out of ten, it isn’t as much.
However, I also understand that many other student’s situations don’t flow as well as mine did. For those who may have a job off campus and feel like they are finding it hard to handle both, my first thought is to find your sweet spot.
I realized from previous internships that my productivity levels went down after lunch. I don’t know if I was packing the wrong lunches or truly just wanted to go home by that point, but I knew that when I made my schedule for the semester, I wanted to put everything right beside each other. I didn’t want to give myself a break because I knew that I would a) not be 100% ready for class or b) not be a productive employee.
I also had friends who took jobs on weekends rather than during the week. They wished they had the time to enjoy their weekend or spend it on school. By the time Monday came back around, they were pooped.
To anyone who reads this and wants to learn or relate: you can totally manage a job on top of your studies. Everyone knows or will learn the right balance of how to spend their time. Do what you can to make your work schedule best fit your current curriculum. When in doubt, prioritize school. Also, look for work on campus. Some jobs only need you for a couple hours a week, and I am sure you can find an hour a day to help pay for college. I cannot recommend that enough.
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