Part-time jobs first step to independence
Imagine yourself sitting in your dorm room, apartment or your parents’ house watching TV. From out of nowhere, a muffled “Super Mario Brothers” theme song begins to chime, and remembering your ancient Nintendo-game past, you reassure yourself that it is not coming back. It is that moment when you ask yourself: could that possibly be a new ring tone your parents unknowingly paid for?
It is! You pick up your spiffy flip phone, and seeing that it is your best buddy, not your lab partner from whom you are hiding, you open it up. After the usual chitchat, your friend gets to the point of the whole call. Your friend wants to do something, perhaps go to the movies, the bowling alley or shopping.
Of course, your natural instinct is to say “yes, of course, wouldn’t miss it for the world.” But you stop yourself mid-answer. You silently ponder … do I have money to pay for a movie ticket, or cover an hour of bowling or even possess the funds to rent the shoes? Can you really afford to spend any money on new clothes, shoes or anything that costs money? You begin to wonder if you even have gas in your car.
That might be a bit drastic, but let’s face it; most college students don’t have the money to splurge on little rewards 24/7. But here is a proposition: with a little extra work, you can put some money in your pocket. A part-time job is something I have had to consider. I’ve weighed the pros and cons many times over. It’s something that will ultimately benefit you and possibly the community.
For college students, a part-time job can be a bit of a catch-22. Working roughly 15 to 20 hours a week can help students pay the bills and have a little pocket change on the weekends, assuming they get a weekend day off. But those same hours are fewer hours spent studying and doing homework. Thus, the week begins to get cluttered and students are forced into a time crunch.
But for those brave ones who already have a job, more power to you, you’re a few steps ahead of me. I hope to join the employment rank sometime soon. For those of you who don’t have one and are even halfway interested in obtaining one, what you may not know is that the local job market for part-time employees is pretty good. I know this because I’ve scoured the classifieds for a while and have seen numerous openings.
Finding a job is not exactly like a walk in the Hundred Acre Woods, but with the current resources available, it is not exactly like swimming with the sharks either.
One of the most useful resources I found was the jobsnd.com Web site. The site makes looking for a job very easy. Users can log on as guests to the site and narrow their search by city or by the type of job.
Most of the listings contain job details, hours and salary, as well as contact information. It sure beats driving around looking for orange and black “help wanted” signs.
Either of these methods for job hunting can be successful.
After finding an opening, the next challenge begins: updating your résumé and preparing for an interview. I guess a foot in the door is better than an empty pocket.
Columnists' opinions do not necessarily reflect the views of The Spectrum