As Christmas break approaches, many college students will be home for the cold, long months of December and January. If this month isn’t filled with activities, it is going to be a long, miserable month. You are a broke college kid. Your parents are at work all day, and your younger siblings are in school all day. Take it from me, you do not want to be stuck doing nothing, you can only sleep for so long before you start to go crazy!
Christmas break of my freshmen year I had nothing planned, rookie mistake. I was home alone wasting time. It was nice for the first week, but after Christmas hit I felt like a blob stuck to the couch. There is not much to do except hangout with your friends from home, but you are all too broke to do anything fun. As winter break of sophomore year is approaching, I made it a point to search for jobs.
The key is to search early. Although we are home for such a short time, places will hire you. They can always use the help around the holidays, especially during the day when high schoolers cannot work. It helps to go in to the business or store in person. Unfortunately, most places do not have paper applications anymore. Online applications tend to be very tedious and difficult. However, showing you are willing to sit down and fill the application out in person, employers take note of that. Effort counts in each and every facet of life. Employers want people who care.
Apply for any job you see. Walk the mall and look for stores with help wanted signs and apply for all of them! A one month job isn’t going to be your dream career, but it puts some money in your pocket for the rest of the semester. Applying to several places takes time, but gives you options. You always want options. Your schedule is pretty much wide open, so it shouldn’t be hard with shift scheduling. You need to be open and flexible to employers. They are helping you out by hiring you for such a short period of time, you need to be flexible and help them out with hours and shifts you might not want to work.
Being a nice person all around is just going to help you out. People want to hire good people, no one wants to spend their shift with someone who’s miserable. It’s the holiday season, why wouldn’t you be in a good mood? And, now you have some extra cash to buy your friends and family some nice presents.
Be open to all options and get this money this holiday season!!! You can only eat so many snacks in one month. Good luck!