Make the Most of Your Work-Study Position
A work-study position at college can offer exciting opportunities for you to learn and grow. Most positions will require discipline and professionalism, and what you make of it could help define your character and future experiences working with others.
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Work-Study Jobs
Work-study jobs give students with financial need a chance to earn money towards school costs, but these jobs represent more than just a paycheck. Students can take several steps to ensure they're making the most of their job, which could result in creating important connections and learning beneficial skills.
About 3,400 higher education institutions participate in the federal government's Work Study Program. The part-time jobs offered through this program give students at least a minimum wage hourly pay and are given based on financial need. They oftentimes offer students the flexibility that can be needed as a student, including the chance to plan their schedule around their classes and maybe even change their hours to accommodate the need to study for a test. Work-study jobs can be available on or off-campus.
Some tips for how you can make the most of your work-study job are listed below.
Be There and Be on Time
With any job, it's always important to be punctual and show up on the days you're supposed to work. Your boss relies on you to complete certain tasks, so it can hurt things when you don't show up. It also can give a bad impression of who you are as a worker. Particularly if you might need to use your supervisor as a reference down the road, you don't want them to think you're a bad worker. You also don't want to risk losing your job because you're constantly late or missing work days.
Don't Take Advantage of the Flexibility
It's certainly comforting to know that your work-study job could give you flexibility in case you have a big test coming up you need to study for or a major paper you need some extra time to work on. But don't take advantage of that flexibility; only change your schedule or take time off when you absolutely have to. Again, it could make you seem like an unreliable worker if you do this too much. You'll also want to avoid ending up in a position where you get denied schedule change requests that you truly need because you've done it too many times before.
Find a Job Related to Your Field of Interest
Your school probably has a pretty wide variety of work-study jobs available, so take the time to look through the listings to find the one that best matches your interests instead of applying for the first one you come across. Not only will you probably enjoy the job more if it's in your field, but it will also give you something valuable to put on your resume.
For example, Northwestern University has a work-study position available for a sports medicine aide. For a student who is interested in sports medicine or even medicine in general this could be an ideal job, since they'll get the chance to work with athletic trainers, doctors and surgeons. In addition to helping prevent, treat or rehabilitate sports injuries, the student in this position might even get to observe surgeries. This could be an invaluable insight into the field.
If You Don't See a Job, Ask
If there's a department or office on your campus that you have your heart set on working for through the work-study program but don't see a listing for it, talk to whoever is in charge or your school's financial aid office. Just because you don't see a posting doesn't mean that there's no chance of getting a job with them. It can't hurt to ask to see if they are interested in having a work-study student and your initiative might even encourage them to take you on.
Don't Just Go Through the Motions
Even though you're not going to have to do coursework about your job and won't be tested on what you do there, it's still important to treat it as a valuable learning experience. Rather than just going through the motions and earning your paycheck, take the time to find out as much as you can about your office and the work it does so you understand it better. You also should feel free to ask questions of your co-workers so you can learn about aspects or responsibilities you are not as familiar with. This might help you walk away with an understanding and skills that could help you down the road.
Get to Know Your Colleagues
In addition to the other workers at your job being your bosses or colleagues, they could also very well end up being mentors or even references. Take the time to get to know them and build a relationship so if you do have questions or need advice or references you feel comfortable approaching them. Especially if your job is related to your field of study, the other individuals in your office could be able to offer you a lot of great information, ranging from the best source of job leads to tips for being as successful as possible.