Most college students work part-time jobs while attending college full-time in order to
pay for the ridiculous price of tuition. As the cost of tuition has increased and proved to be more
of a financial strain on students, it is becoming more and more common to find students
attempting to balance a difficult schedule of credits with sometimes multiple campus jobs, each
requiring at least eight hours of work per week. While these campus jobs can be a great financial
help to students struggling with the cost of higher education, they can fail to prepare students for
the challenges of holding a real-world job.
Most students at Asbury have experience working various jobs in retail, fast food or other
industries during high school and breaks throughout the school year. Thus they have an accurate
frame of reference by which to analyze the similarities between jobs on campus and jobs in the
“real world”.
There are some significant differences between campus jobs and real-world positions.
This is best evidenced by the different training standards implemented in both scenarios. This
summer, I worked as a veterinary technician for a small animal surgery and emergency clinic in
my hometown. Even though I only worked for a little over three months, I still spent two weeks
in an intensive, job-specific training program to ensure I possessed all the needed skills to be an
effective member of the team.
On Asbury’s campus, though, this necessary training seems to have a lower emphasis.
Junior Phoebe Grimwood, a lab preparatory worker in the Biology department, highlighted this
as she said “most of the time, the turnover rate is expected to be so high that training new
workers is not given priority. This isn’t true across the board, but sometimes student workers are
just thrown in and asked to perform whatever duty they are told.”
However, one distinct similarity can be seen in the time commitments that are
comparable to jobs worked outside of campus. Trying to balance academics, extracurriculars and
work can easily be compared to the stresses of trying to balance a family life and job in the
future. The time management aspect of having a campus job is applicable to any job, regardless
of lifestyle choices or career of interest.
Another aspect of campus jobs is the beneficial experience they give to students. A recent
analysis of over 95,000 job postings by job-matching software firm TalentWorks found that 61%
of all full-time jobs seeking entry-level employees required at least three years or more of
experience. Junior Media Communications major Taylor Eckle said her job in IT “really helps
you become prepared for communication” and helps develop “attentiveness throughout [any
project].” This on-the-job relevant experience is invaluable, as it allows for students to gain the
experience required for them to enter the workforce in their chosen career field upon graduation.
As a student, it is your responsibility to decide if a campus job is right for you, given your
unique commitments, academic loads and self-care needs. However, be aware that there are jobs
available that fit with the experience you need as you draw closer to working in your chosen
career. While on-the-job training might be lacking, and the insulated environment at Asbury will
likely limit the more difficult aspects of a job, learning time management skills while acquiring
valuable experience will make you a better candidate for any position in the job market.