Flexibility

By Melissa Lawrence, Student Writer

In today’s society, majority of college students are working while they are in college to help them pay for their schooling, or just to make some extra money. Usually wherever they are working, their place of employment attempts to work around the times they are in class, but what happens when their employer does not work around the school schedule?

Finding a job that is flexible with your hectic class schedule may be tough, but you end up making it work in the long haul. However, many employers do not offer the luxury of flexibility. When the mandatory meetings come up and the time of the meeting is during hours you are in class, you make sure you let your manager know you will not be attending. Usually the notice of your absence for the meeting will be enough, and you will not get in trouble for missing. However, some employers may state that if you miss the meeting, it will be considered a write-up.

I have had this happen to me on multiple occasions at one of my places of employment, and it made me very frustrated because I was only made aware of the meeting a day before it took place. Working at this place only every other Friday and Saturday makes it difficult to find out when meetings are going to be taken place, especially when your coworkers do not bother to make you aware of the meeting.

When you work at a place while in school, your place of employment should understand that school is your first priority, and work should be below school. However, many managers expect you to drop everything to attend the meeting and miss class, which is not ethical. You should not have to miss anything involving school to come to a meeting that may only last an hour, but not all managers go by the book.
No college student plans to work at their current place of employment forever because once we graduate, we plan on finding a job within our major. One thing that is for certain, flexibility does not mean a thing to your job while you’re in school.