We all know the struggles of life with a college student budget. In high school we would joke about it, but weekend jobs and running errands for the parents could give us the spending money we needed. Now as college students; however, those weekend jobs may not cover it, or we may not be able to maintain them because many college students move, and well as Sammy Adams says in his "I Hate College Remix", "we all hate college but love all the parties", so working all weekend is a no. Work study helps; we can get some cash while working between classes, but that is what, 10 hours a week max? That's if you can even get it. We could also hold down part-time jobs during the week; however, it gets a bit complicated when your availability changes every semester and break—5 times a year.
I have made a few job transitions in my past two years of college (from working till midnight the night before class to four in the morning before class), however, I commute from home so I look a bit more hire-able than my peers that move to campus. It is hard enough for me to find a part-time job and keep that job with my class schedule. For those students who move, it may even be impossible. It is extremely difficult to work and attend a four year university full time and finding a summer job is even more difficult. Yet, for many broke college students, that summer job is what they need to get by. Many hiring managers and business owners don't think about this and don't bother with the hassles that come with hiring a broke college student, but who can blame them? This is just the world we live in.
So you’re a broke college student home for the summer, what do you say on your job application? Please hire me with my lack of experience and no record of holding down a job. Oh yeah, and do it now for the summer, then give me a bunch of hours before I leave you in two months.
Sounds extremely hire-able right? No, which is why many leave out that, "before I leave you in two months" part. The other struggles one faces in the job market are enough to bear.
So, I'd like to say something to those who fail to hire college students: We know how bad we look on paper, we know you don't want a temporary employee, and we know if we stay our availability is ridiculous, but please hire us, we will work hard when given the chance.
When looking for a part-time job, qualities that make people look good to hiring managers are qualities many college students lack: open, flexible, and stable availability and job experience.
As far as open availability goes, we have summer break, or during the year we can take some hours from sleeping, and forget about relaxing or socializing. I have found myself considering why I shouldn't just write down when I'm not available at this point. Who knows how we even have time to go broke anyway; we barely have time to sleep, never mind work--oh yeah those things I think they are called "bills" and "adult responsibilities" right?...forgot about those. Oh and tuition, let’s just ignore that for now.
Even though businesses don't typically look for temporary summer employees, this is the best option for college students, which is just another frustrating struggle college students face. There is always someone with more time to offer that gets hired, while college students go on break unemployed and broke. We are used to being busy; a summer without a job can get boring really fast without money to spend on college fun.
Many college students would make great employees and appreciate being able to make some money over break, but if availability does not stop us from being hired, lack of experience will. I simply cannot make sense of the typical, "must have experience" clause found on many applications. How do you get experience if you need experience to be hired to get the experience? When someone finds the logic in this please tell me.
I have accepted there is no sense in this and many other things we face in life, however, I am lucky enough to currently have a job. I wish I had advice for my peers looking for summer employment, but all I have is this sarcastic rant to let you know you aren't alone in the struggle, and remind you to refrain from resorting to begging for a job. I hope you are all more successful because I may just beg for more hours; my broke college student budget doesn't include the summer plans I have in mind.
