Out of all the dreaded phrases in the college dictionary — final exam, forced triple, freshman fifteen — perhaps one of the most dreaded is “student job.” On top of everything else you have to do in a day, who wants to trek to the dining hall to serve messy mashed potatoes to your ungrateful peers, or answer phones all day long in some stuffy basement office? For some students, work-study is a necessary component of their financial aid plan, and for others, working is just a way to bring in a few extra bucks each week. But for everyone, student jobs are boring, thankless, and a total pain…right?
Not necessarily. Some lucky students managed to find jobs off the beaten path—jobs that are rewarding, fun, and totally cool. They looked beyond the usual titles of “administrative assistant,” “food service worker” and “barista” to find jobs that suited their interests, schedules, and goals, and found some hidden gems in the sea of menial labor, and as a result, work is something they actually WANT to do, not just a necessary annoyance.
Naia Bonet, a sophomore at Cornell University, works as a campus correspondent for Universal Pictures. She promotes Universal films on campus through print and radio advertising, and she hosts events throughout the year in collaboration with campus organizations. Since she wants to go into the film industry after school, she finds that the job suits her career goals and allows room for creativity and fun at the same time. “It’s cool because I get to decide what kind of event I want to do for each movie, based on the relevant audience, so it gives me a good taste of the film marketing industry,” she said. “I can host social events, like for when I was promoting American Pie: Book of Love, or film screenings for more highbrow pictures like Inglorious Bastards.”
She also gets tons of perks, like free merchandise from Universal — “My friends and I all bring our Wolfman cups wherever we go,” she said — and the chance to go to an LA movie premiere, if she generates more creative ideas than any other Universal campus correspondent in the country. “The possibility of going to the premiere motivates me to do the best job I can at every event,” she said. “I’m up for the challenge.”
If you can’t find a cool job that matches your career goal, however, never fear. There are plenty of awesome jobs that don’t require any sort of professional aspirations, and they can be just as fun, and just as rewarding. Meredith Leeman, a student at Barnard College in New York City, decided to try something totally new when searching for a job: bartending. She registered with the Barnard Bartending Agency, which sends her to parties all over New York City, mixing drinks for everyone from SoHo artists to Upper East Side socialites. She loves the job because it allows her the freedom to make her own hours and the excitement of expanding her horizons: “I get to work when I want, while my friends with other jobs need to fit their schedules around their jobs. Plus I get to learn how to bartend and spend time at fun parties in cool apartments all over the city!”
Even if your school doesn’t have a bartending agency, you can look into tending a local bar on your own; you only need to be 18 to become a bartender. Hayley Kerstein, a Cornell junior, recently quit her job as a food service worker and trained to become a bartender at a local pub. She finds bartending to be a much more stimulating and fun experience: “It really leaves room for creativity…every bartender puts their own twist on how they do their job,” she said. “It allows me to show my own personal style while I work, and have fun at the same time.”
If you’re looking for something a little more academic, you can even make money while you do schoolwork — kind of. Many university professors offer research assistant spots for students, in fields ranging from engineering to biology to social sciences. Melissa Quartner, a sophomore at Cornell, works as a research assistant to her social psychology professor and finds the job both academically and personally stimulating. “I run experiments with student volunteers as subjects, and attend research meetings with the lab staff to discuss them,” she said. “It’s fun and interesting to be involved in research that can be really influential in social psychology, and it’s a great job because it relates to what I want to do after school.”
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Research assistant jobs, with their resume-padding and school-credit potential, may seem like a hot commodity, but in fact they’re much more abundant than you’d think. According to Bridget Foster, Senior Associate Director of student employment at Cornell, more students held research-assistant positions on campus than any other kinds of jobs — and yes, that includes cashiers and baristas. If you’re interested in learning more about your major and gaining some professional experience, you should contact your favorite professor about a research job. All Melissa had to do was sign up in her psychology class’s research lab, and within days a researcher got in touch with her. According to Foster, one Cornell student did such an outstanding job as a research assistant, working with baby spiders, that she was nominated for the national Student Employee of the Year award.
And while some of the more traditional jobs on campus, like being a cashier or working at the library, may seem boring on the surface, sometimes they can be surprisingly cool. Joanna Buffum, a junior at Bowdoin College, found an interesting and rewarding experience in her job at a campus bookstore. “It’s a great experience because I get to explain to tons of people why I love Bowdoin and decided to go there, and I meet so many interesting people.” The job even allowed her to tap into her creativity and discover a hidden talent: window-display decorating. “I don’t just switch up the mugs and shirts on the shelves — I actually take a lot of time to put some creativity into it…since I started doing it I have seriously considered looking into the actual window display industry, like for major department stores in Manhattan around Christmas.”
If you can’t find an opportunity like Joanna’s, and you have lots of school spirit, you could apply to be a tour guide at your school. The job requires lots of energy, a loud speaking voice, and the ability to successfully walk backwards, but for many students it’s much more interesting and fun than more mindless work — plus, becoming a tour guide is a great way to learn more about your school and display your enthusiasm to prospective students. Foster said, “The campus tour guide job comes readily to mind as a very interesting, public, and socially-focused job … both entertaining and informing our campus visitors and prospective students.”
Here are some tips for finding the best job out there:
- Try to find jobs that fit your interest. If you’re thinking of going to medical school, look into helping out at a hospital or clinic; if you’re a chemistry major, see if any labs are looking for assistants. The most stimulating jobs are those that catch your interest; don’t take a job in a field you’re not into just because it’s available.
- Take a job that keeps you on your toes! Desk jobs may be mindless, but they’re also often thankless and totally un-stimulating. Try to find work that you enjoy and that keeps your mind and body active. If you like to swim, for example, you can become certified to be an instructor, or if you like to cook you can help out in the kitchen of a dining hall or local restaurant.
- Don’t be afraid to try something new! Just because a job seems out-of-the-box doesn’t mean it will be too hard for you. If you’re nervous you won’t be a good waitress, or a good deejay — or a good anything — don’t give up and swipe cards at the gym. You never know what you can do until you try!
- Just because a job isn’t posted on your school’s website, or on Craigslist, doesn’t mean it’s not available. If you’re DYING to work at that awesome clothing store downtown, or you really want to try radio broadcasting, don’t be afraid to ask — jobs open up all the time! Employers will be impressed by your initiative if you reach out and express your interest in the job.
So there you have it — all the tools you need to find a cool campus job of your own. It’s really not as hard as you think, as long as you keep an open mind and refuse to settle for Starbucks. Now go out there and get hunting!
Sources:
Naia Bonet, Cornell University sophomore
Meredith Leeman, Barnard College junior
Hayley Kerstein, Cornell University sophomore
Joanna Buffum, Bowdoin College junior
Melissa Quartner, Cornell University sophomore
Bridget Foster, Senior Associate Director of student employment at Cornell University