By: Matt Balsinger

As an orientation leader for the Office of New Student Orientation, I often get asked a lot of questions.  One of the most frequently asked is how to get a job on campus, and is a campus job really worth getting?

A little known fact, it seems, is that The University of Akron has an entire department devoted to careers, jobs and other services related to employment.  This office is known as the Career Center.  They have an office in Simmons Hall as well as a very helpful website that is available to students 24/7.  Both on-campus and off-campus job listings are available at the site, but the question of whether or not a campus job is worth having still persists.

In my personal experience, getting an on-campus job was one of the best decisions I’ve made during my college career.  Over the four years that I have been at the university, I have worked for New Student Orientation, the Bierce Library tutoring center and the Buchtelite.  Each of these jobs is very unique and has generated countless opportunities for me.

Through these jobs I’ve been able to connect with peers that I may never have met otherwise, and I have also been given the chance to meet very important people at the university.  To say the very least, it has opened doors.  The most important part of any college career is making connections and networking with people.  In complete honesty, the people factor is probably the most important in all of college.  The more people you know and get to know, the more opportunities you have at your fingertips.

Though campus jobs are a great opportunity to meet people, there is one problem that may hurt some people, which is the financial aspect.  Most jobs pay minimum wage or slightly above on campus.  This is good and bad depending upon what type of money you are used to making at jobs.

I used to work as a server and made much more money in a week serving than I do working on campus jobs.  However, I was miserable with that job and there really was not any connection with my co-workers.

Though campus jobs pay me less, they are overall a preferable choice to being miserable. The work load is generally not overbearing or stressful and you can usually fill hours that you work in with whatever your class schedule is like.

If you are considering a campus job, from personal experience, I highly recommend it.  It is always important to make sure that you can handle working a job and still support your class schedule.  Though money is a good thing, your college education should always be the top priority.