After years under a family roof, many freshmen are living away from home for the first time.
For those students fortunate enough to have had a job during high school, working at college won’t be as much of a shock. Those who weren’t as lucky may now need to roll up their sleeves and get a job.
Before giving up hope, students should know that there are plenty of options at BYU to help you earn money, pay rent, eat and clothe themselves.
Student Employment offers a listing of many campus jobs. This center is a great tool for those looking to work on campus. The easiest way is to visit jobs.byu.edu and see what positions are available.
Wade Ashton, manager of Student Employment, shed some light on some important insights students should know in order to get a job.
“Students need to be proactive and be willing to broaden their search beyond one specific job. If they do that, they are much more likely to find employment,” said Ashton. But, not all of the positions on campus are listed online. There may be some departmental positions that are unlisted, which are only advertised by word of mouth.
Victoria Lisowski, a sophomore studying English, had some initial trouble landing a job through BYU’s job listing and relied on networking in order to find work.
“I applied to a whole bunch of jobs and maybe got back two replies,” Lisowski said. “My cousin showed me a flier that said catering was hiring, and so I went and got hired by them.”
Students are not restricted to working on campus. There are many opportunities in and around Provo and Orem.
“It was a lot easier finding a job off campus because there was less competition,” said Kendra Sherman, a piano performance major from The Woodlands, Texas.
When deciding where to work, there are some things to consider. First of all, oncampus jobs only permit students to work 20 hours a week, whereas there is no restriction at an off-campus job.
“As important as it is to be working, students are here to focus on school, and we don’t want them working so much that they have no time for their studies,” Ashton said.
Like any job, you need to prove yourself qualified.
“There are no advantages or priority given to students based on age, year in school or anything like that. A history of prior work experience is always an advantage,” Ashton said.