Working a campus job provides students with more than a little extra cash––it offers a sense of accomplishment, purpose and belonging in the community.
Student employment is mainly administered by the Office of Work Life Engagement, which is where students can find job openings and connect with office staffers to answer employment-related concerns.
“The Work Life Engagement staff is eager to assist you with questions or concerns about employment, benefits, payroll, student health insurance or training and development opportunities,” the office’s website says online. “The Office of Work Life Engagement supports the Anderson University mission by offering a wide range of employment and human resources services. Our goal is to make the AU employment experience—whether faculty, staff or student—the absolute best.”
Kathy Young, the assistant director of Work Life Engagement, explained that campus jobs are a smart way for students to gain experience.
“The concept of student employment is a job training program to give students an opportunity to work on campus, to learn job skills that’s related to their major and also to learn the soft skills that you would need in employment to begin to help teach the necessary skills and begin to build your resume so by the time you graduate you will show that have relevant job experience when it’s time for you to start applying for positions,” Young said.
According to Young, student employment pays by the hour, varying by the specialty of the job held and how many semesters a worker remains on the job. Clerical and campus services jobs earn workers $7.25 per hour. Jobs specializing in labor or maintenance, public relations and technical support have a starting pay of $7.40. Student manager positions have the highest starting pay, at $7.65, while jobs pertaining to a student’s major requirements begin at $7.30.
“In addition, we have an incentive program where a student earns $0.10 per hour additional for every two semesters the student works the same job,” said Young. “The maximum incentive a student can reach is an additional $0.40 an hour.”
Sophomore writing major Dayton Taylor, who works as a technology assistant at Nicholson Library, explained his experience with his campus job.
“If you’re thinking about applying for a student job, don’t do it for the money,” said Taylor. “It should be for the comfortable experience of learning and developing skills, and to keep yourself busy.”
It matters that a job can keep a student busy, according to Taylor, because it can remedy depression and promote a good work ethic, providing a sense of accomplishment and purpose.
Taylor said that his pay, which is roughly $8 per hour, is not enough for him personally. “But when I think about it logically, $8 an hour for this job is fair,” he said, believing that being paid hourly is actually generous considering the inactive periods of time during which he works.
“The tech assistant job is diverse in its duties,” added Taylor, “from printers to laptop problems, to book finding—a lot of problem-solving and critical thinking development,” which is what keeps him in the job he said.
After admiring the Mocha Joe’s culture of student unity and friendship, Rachel Ervin applied to be a barista last fall to better connect with AU. Having served many customers since working at Mocha Joe’s, “I’ve made tons of friends and dove deeper into the Anderson community.” Ervin is a sophomore marketing and dance composition major.
“I’ve gained so much more from it than just a paycheck,” Ervin said. Being part of her community and bonding with the other baristas have been her chief gains, she added.Campus job openings can be found online at www.accessau.anderson.edu.