Whether it’s your first job ever or just your first one since enrolling in college, making the decision about where to work for your first college job can be stressful. Where do I apply? What do I do once I hired? Here are a few tips for working your way through college.
- Trust the reputation
-
One of the serving jobs I had while working in college was one that a lot of people had experience with. I was told by almost EVERYONE that I talked to about this place that they “overwork you”. I figured it couldn’t be that bad but I took their good luck wishes thankfully. When I got there, they were completely right. No wonder so many of them weren’t working there anymore, it sucked! When you hear the same thing repeatedly about one place listen.
- Set clear work boundaries
-
If you tell a boss that really needs people to work all the time that you are available at any given time, you will likely be scheduled regardless of how many hours you want to work. Tell them you can only work a certain schedule so that they cannot schedule you outside of that. Do not let them schedule for periods you have class regardless of how bad they think they need you.
- Working more than 15 hours will affect your school life
-
Most students need to work more than this amount of time in order to pay for rent and college, but statistics show that working more than 15 hours a week increases drop out rates. If you can get by working around 12 hours a week try and do that. Obviously, this isn’t an option for everyone so if you can’t help working this much try to cut down on extracurricular commitments that will take time away from school work.
I hope these tips provide some help if you are stressed about working while in college. I promise you can do it!