Each year in their financial packages, thousands of students are offered work studies to help them start paying off their student debt. For students at UNH, there is a vast amount of options where students can turn for a work study, but it’s harder to land a job that’s not only on campus, but keeps their employees on even when they earn their total amount of work study allowance. Lucky for me, I was one of the fortunate students that nailed a job involving the latter. My freshman year I was hired at the Memorial Union Building, MUB for short, here at UNH. Not only has this job provided me with many opportunities, it has helped me develop into a better college student. So to all of you looking into on-campus jobs or questioning whether it’s worth it to balance school and work, I’m here to give you five influential reasons why getting an on-campus job is more than worth it.
1. Some jobs offer different trainings you can go to to not only earn money, but also gain valuable skills to use in life and work.
If you’re like me, then your job offers trainings that you can pick from over the course of a semester. The MUB requires us to attend two trainings each semester, one that all of our team attends together, and another that we’re allowed to choose from a list given to us at the beginning of each semester. These trainings don’t necessarily apply specifically to our job, as some are about how to handle stress, our financial situations, or more. However, each training helps us gain a little bit more knowledge into each field, which we can use for our job and it looks really good on a resume. Plus, we’re paid for each training we attend.
2. You can pick how much or how little you want to work.
Some semesters are obviously more strenuous than others. At the MUB, we all sit down at the beginning of the semester and compare our class schedules to what shifts are available. From there, we pick what set shifts we have per week, and we also choose which weekend shifts we are willing to pick up. So working while also having class doesn’t mean you’re sacrificing one for the other.
3. Your job helps you evolve into a better student, better worker, and hopefully, better person.
Balancing a job and schoolwork, as well as a social life and extracurricular activities can be tough on a student, yet doing so forces us to manage our time and work more efficiently in the time we do have. My job, for instance, allows me to do my homework while I work, which helps me get a lot of schoolwork out of the way. On the other hand, because I work a set number of hours a week, I’m forced to choose what needs to be prioritized in my life and follow through with them.
4. It expands your career opportunities as well as social horizons.
As I mentioned earlier, if you’re like me, then your job may offer different trainings each semester that allow you to gain valuable skills you can use in life. These opportunities are much more valuable than you think. However, working also allows you to meet new people that you may necessarily not have met without the job. The MUB has given me countless friends and people to turn to when I’m having a rough day and they’ve always been there to support me. Without some of my coworkers, I wouldn’t have made the lifelong friends I have now and I wouldn’t have been exposed to as many opportunities without them, such as learning about Alpha Phi Omega, the community service fraternity I joined this year.
5. There will always be someone there for you.
Gaining friends through your job always gives you someone to turn to whether it’s walking back to your dorm after a closing shift, getting a meal together, or just needing someone to vent to. Not only this, but they’re the people who understands your work stories better than anyone else on campus. Your coworkers know the frustrations and funny situations that occur throughout the day while you’re working together. These people will have your back and understand you better than most, if you’re lucky enough.
Even though it can be difficult to juggle a job and class, on top of everything else, working an on-campus job is (or should be) more empowering and positive in your life, and, if you're like me, it can help you more than you could imagine.
