Hi everyone! My name is Kylee and I’m sure you’ve seen my face or read some of my posts before but I am an upcoming junior communications and media major at the college! I write blog posts, create content and participate in some of the film campaigns for Nazareth’s Marketing and Communications department. Being a student ambassador and carrying out all of these projects is not only a hobby of mine but also an on campus job. I get paid to get real experience in tasks and skills I’ll find in my future career field as well as the opportunity to make connections with students and staff on campus! This is not the only on campus job I’ve had. I served as a Resident Assistant for a semester, worked in the Residential Life Office and served as an Academic and College Success course Peer Mentor. The amazing part about all of these jobs is that I have had the chance to strengthen the bond that I have to college as well as make money and gain valuable experience. 

My suggestion to anyone is that you apply for a job on campus! You can still apply if you live off campus and you can also still apply even if you don’t qualify for work study. Applying for these jobs serves as experience when applying for other jobs in the future as well. It gives you a chance to freshen up your resume and go through the interview process. Applying is easy too!  You can set up a profile through the handshake app and a majority of the on campus jobs are posted on there with all of the instructions. There are opportunities from working at the IT desk in the Library to getting paid to attend events and document them on social media! Career Services hosts career fairs and offer a lot of help to have academic and college success. For any information, there are so many different resources on campus that can help you! All of this can seem so unfamiliar if you’ve never had a job or haven’t had one on campus before and I’m here to help! Going through the process of getting a job on campus may seem nerve racking but I assure you it’s not scary. Everyone was incredibly helpful and they want you to succeed! Overall I have been so incredibly grateful to have on campus jobs and I’ve loved working for the school. Here are 5 perks of an on campus job that aren’t just about the money!

  1. Making More Friends 
    1. Since starting the Student Ambassador Position in the winter of 2019, I have forged so many new relationships with people all across campus. Not only have I gotten close to my coworkers but also other students that attended the events I did. For my job, I do a lot of interviewing, video making and picture taking so that requires other students of the college to be the subjects of these activities. I really enjoy seeing more and more friendly faces on campus and I know that anyone else who has an on campus job can agree that it’s nice to work with and see your friends while you’re on the job. This is definitely one of my favorite perks and I’m hoping that in my future career path, I can find people to work with that are just as passionate and kind as the people I work with now! Also, when I served as a Resident Assistant (RA) in the fall, I met one of my roommates that I live with now. Everyone that I currently live with wouldn’t have met each other had it not been for our RA positions! We formed these life long friendships that I am so thankful for!
  2. Improved Professor Relationships
    1. I was lucky enough to find a job in the relative career field I’d like to enter and a job that requires a lot of face to face interaction with all parts of campus and on all different platforms of social media! Therefore, I run into my professors a lot on campus or they see my work online. It’s given us something else to talk about other than coursework and for a lot of assignments, I’ve found an overlap in what I’ve learned at my job and in class. It’s nice for professors to see another side of you  and that you’re more than just someone that sits at a desk in their class! 
  3. Flexible Schedules 
    1. I don’t know a lot of jobs that give you the flexibility like on campus jobs do! They take into consideration reading days, school breaks and most importantly work around your class schedule. You can work a few hours here or there and that’s okay! Your supervisors understand that you have to get to class on time or that you’re coming from class. No one gives you a hard time about having to reschedule a work day or change a shift because you have loads of homework or a big test to study for. 
  4. Resume Growth
    1. Getting a new job and gaining a new skill set will always be important to include on your resume but identifying that you worked an on campus job shows that you have a loyalty to your college, wanted to give back in a sense by working there, and can prioritize balancing work and academics. My resume is full of work experience because of the on campus jobs I’ve had and I am confident that my resume is more valuable with them included! 
  5. Finally, the jobs are just really cool. 
    1. Yes, maybe not all of the jobs are glamorous but in my case the proof is just in the pudding. I get to write posts for you guys, take pictures for social media, make Tik Toks, go to all different types of events, the list goes on and on! Sounds pretty fun to me! You can do all of these things anyway, but the perk for me is that it’s considered work experience and I get paid. Some of the other cool on campus jobs I’ve heard of are game management, where you get to help with a lot of the athletic games and of course you get to watch them! A friend of mine works in the Makerspace and she gets to use all of the equipment and make some really cool stuff on the cricut, button maker and computer programs. Another person I know worked in the Nest, the game room! We would visit her and play games with her while she worked. The benefit of this job to her was that it was late hours so it didn’t interfere with any of her day classes and she could sit and do her homework. There are so many other interesting on campus jobs like working in the bike shop, serving as a Life Prep mentor, and even being a personal trainer in the Golisano Training Center (GTC). 

Not a lot of other jobs that are available to us in college have all of these perks combined into one position. I would highly recommend to anyone that they get a job while they’re in school, more specifically one at their school! It’s taught me better time management, how to form meaningful professional relationships and how to better handle my workload. These jobs have also given me a sense of purpose, they’ve made campus really special to me. I’m going graduate in two years, knowing in my heart that I did everything that I could for Nazareth after all it’s done for me.