Since school has just ended and summer has began, I have heard a lot of talk from my friends and my peers about how excited they were/ are to start their summer job. A lot of them happen to have either seasonal jobs (like working at the beach) or full-time jobs that allow them to come back over their summer break to resume their long hours at work.
No matter what job you're working over the summer, you're taking on a lot of impressibility on top of your summer fun, and I think that's awesome. Despite the fact I would love to have only a summer job, I decided to work part time during the school year instead, mainly because my college is only fifteen minutes from my job and because I was hired in the middle of last summer.
To be honest, I was completely scared to keep working part-time (weekends only) during the school year because I knew I was taking on a difficult academic load in the fall and spring semesters and didn't know if I'd have time for it. Nonetheless, I agreed completely when my manager asked, and I'm really happy that I did. Aside from being able to make money during the school year, I love my job and the people I work with, so it was a pleasurable experience.
On top of that, I learned valuable skills from juggling my school work, job, and the few activities I'm involved in on campus at the same time. Here's what working during college has taught me:
1. Time management
This is essentially the most important thing I have learned. At my work, I am lucky enough to receive my hours a week and a half in advance, so I would have to make sure I could keep up with my school work and studying during the week and before or after work in order to take on my hours on the weekend.
2. Planning
Before I worked during school, I would allow myself to forget about important events until the last minute, simply because I could. Now, it would be almost definite I would be scheduled on the date said important event was happening if I didn't take off two and a half weeks in advance. This was very hard for me to master at first, but it taught me how to save dates and make plans farther in advance (shout out to the calendar in my phone and/ or my planner for becoming my lifesavers).
3. Weighing Responsibilities
From working during school, I have learned that some responsibilities come before others. I've always maintained the idea that my school work comes first, but work always had to come second to everything else I was a part of. There have been countless times where something cool has been happening on campus, but I couldn't go because of work. Of course, it has stunk, but it has taught me that in the adult world, fun has to come second (but not all of the time, I'm still young).
What I thought would be a difficult battle I was taking on for my junior year honestly turned into a really great lesson in adulthood. Although I will admit sometimes it wasn't easy at all, I've kept my grades up and kept my life together, and I must say, I'm proud of myself. I'm still going to keep my job during the summer, my senior year, and probably for a little while after I graduate as well. If you have the opportunity to work during college, I'd recommend that you do because you'll probably end up loving it as much as I did.
