Do I go for it?
October 14, 2014 9:27 PM Subscribe
Currently employed in retail working my way through college.
I am full-time for a big-box electronics store, been doing so for over a year now. But there is a temporary position at the college I attend I'm considering applying for and I'm having difficulty figuring out whether or not it's something I can pursue. Basically I would be working in a student leadership position alongside the faculty in hiring/training students, developing the orientation programs for this summer, and ultimately supervising them at each session. I know I will be challenged and benefit greatly from having this experience, plus it'd be great to put on my resume. I know I'd enjoy it too.
Should I get this position, I'd work 10 hours a week on campus from January - May attending meetings, training students etc. then attending most of the orientation sessions over the summer where the hours will vary week to week. Obviously I'd have to drop my full-time status with big-box retailer to part-time, and lose benefits such as tuition reimbursement (up to $3,500 per academic year), paid time off, and sick days. Once August wraps up and orientations are over, there's no guarantee of me being full-time again with said retailer which worries me.
My situation -
$6,200 in savings account as of now. Living at home if you've seen my first question.
Monthly expenses is about $170, which is gas for my car and my portion of the shared phone bill, before anything miscellaneous. Currently drive an 18 y/o car which has needed more maintenance lately but still very reliable.
Attending school part time this semester (6 credit hours) as I'm trying to pick a new major (again, see first question).
Retail job:
~35 hrs/week (full time is 32+)
Monthly income is ~$1360 before taxes, it will be greater come holiday season.
University gig should I get hired:
10 hrs/week from January - May. June - August there will approx. 20 orientation sessions I will have to attend, each around 6 hrs long.
IIRC when I was previously a orientation leader the pay was $8.00/hr but may be more.
I have no idea what my next semester of school will look like. I'll definitely be taking the next level of my algebra sequence, but without that new major picked out everything is murky. I'll be meeting with my academic adviser soon to sort it out, but I have a feeling I'll be part time again.
Is working both jobs feasible and worth pursuing?
I am full-time for a big-box electronics store, been doing so for over a year now. But there is a temporary position at the college I attend I'm considering applying for and I'm having difficulty figuring out whether or not it's something I can pursue. Basically I would be working in a student leadership position alongside the faculty in hiring/training students, developing the orientation programs for this summer, and ultimately supervising them at each session. I know I will be challenged and benefit greatly from having this experience, plus it'd be great to put on my resume. I know I'd enjoy it too.
Should I get this position, I'd work 10 hours a week on campus from January - May attending meetings, training students etc. then attending most of the orientation sessions over the summer where the hours will vary week to week. Obviously I'd have to drop my full-time status with big-box retailer to part-time, and lose benefits such as tuition reimbursement (up to $3,500 per academic year), paid time off, and sick days. Once August wraps up and orientations are over, there's no guarantee of me being full-time again with said retailer which worries me.
My situation -
$6,200 in savings account as of now. Living at home if you've seen my first question.
Monthly expenses is about $170, which is gas for my car and my portion of the shared phone bill, before anything miscellaneous. Currently drive an 18 y/o car which has needed more maintenance lately but still very reliable.
Attending school part time this semester (6 credit hours) as I'm trying to pick a new major (again, see first question).
Retail job:
~35 hrs/week (full time is 32+)
Monthly income is ~$1360 before taxes, it will be greater come holiday season.
University gig should I get hired:
10 hrs/week from January - May. June - August there will approx. 20 orientation sessions I will have to attend, each around 6 hrs long.
IIRC when I was previously a orientation leader the pay was $8.00/hr but may be more.
I have no idea what my next semester of school will look like. I'll definitely be taking the next level of my algebra sequence, but without that new major picked out everything is murky. I'll be meeting with my academic adviser soon to sort it out, but I have a feeling I'll be part time again.
Is working both jobs feasible and worth pursuing?
It sounds like you'd be taking a pretty major hit both financially and in terms of job security if you took on the student position and cut your hours at Big Box. In exchange, you get a job that may be a bit more challenging and enjoyable.
Maybe someone with more HR experience can chime in, but I am not so sure that a very part-time student job--even one with some supervisory aspects--is going to be much of a game-changer on your résumé. My suspicion is that real-world employers would be more impressed by a FT real-world job that demonstrates the ability to cope with real-world job demands. However, that consideration may shift somewhat if the student leadership job is directly related to the field you want to go into after graduation.
Also note that it's more work to hold down two part-time jobs than one full-time job.
I personally think the wisest option would be to stick with the full-time Big Box job, ramp up your course load to finish as soon as you can, and then be in a position to job-hunt after graduation from the secure position of already having a full-time, albeit "fall back" job.
posted by drlith at 5:57 AM on October 15, 2014 [1 favorite]
Maybe someone with more HR experience can chime in, but I am not so sure that a very part-time student job--even one with some supervisory aspects--is going to be much of a game-changer on your résumé. My suspicion is that real-world employers would be more impressed by a FT real-world job that demonstrates the ability to cope with real-world job demands. However, that consideration may shift somewhat if the student leadership job is directly related to the field you want to go into after graduation.
Also note that it's more work to hold down two part-time jobs than one full-time job.
I personally think the wisest option would be to stick with the full-time Big Box job, ramp up your course load to finish as soon as you can, and then be in a position to job-hunt after graduation from the secure position of already having a full-time, albeit "fall back" job.
posted by drlith at 5:57 AM on October 15, 2014 [1 favorite]
One thing that I would think would be a major deciding factor is time.
(a) how many hours do you want to work?
(b) how many credit hours do you want to take, and how much total time do you anticipate spending (classes, studying, etc)
(c) how well do you personally respond to time pressure? If you had exams, scheduled BigBox hours, and an orientation deadline all coming up in the same week, what would you drop? (less sleep vs lower work quality vs less studying, or call in sick, etc?)
I'm not familiar with your situation or your school, but my impression of campus jobs like that is that they're geared towards full-time students on work-study, someone picking up some cash on the side for books and pizza but with tuition and housing already paid for, and having an organizational position like you describe (instead of being a cafeteria minion) would be good resume fodder for them. Frankly, though, I'd be more impressed with someone taking 2 classes and working fulltime, in that it shows more dedication to the degree and/or interest in the coursework, than someone doing a cooler-sounding campus position, but taking only one class.
posted by aimedwander at 6:49 AM on October 15, 2014
(a) how many hours do you want to work?
(b) how many credit hours do you want to take, and how much total time do you anticipate spending (classes, studying, etc)
(c) how well do you personally respond to time pressure? If you had exams, scheduled BigBox hours, and an orientation deadline all coming up in the same week, what would you drop? (less sleep vs lower work quality vs less studying, or call in sick, etc?)
I'm not familiar with your situation or your school, but my impression of campus jobs like that is that they're geared towards full-time students on work-study, someone picking up some cash on the side for books and pizza but with tuition and housing already paid for, and having an organizational position like you describe (instead of being a cafeteria minion) would be good resume fodder for them. Frankly, though, I'd be more impressed with someone taking 2 classes and working fulltime, in that it shows more dedication to the degree and/or interest in the coursework, than someone doing a cooler-sounding campus position, but taking only one class.
posted by aimedwander at 6:49 AM on October 15, 2014
Response by poster: Appreciate the input, I suppose taking this position wouldn't be a huge game changer now that I think about it. I already have two summers experience worth of being an orientation leader here and while doing some number crunching I realized that my savings account would have only half of what I'd make compared to staying full-time with big-box up until August (if I did my calculating right). Plus I don't want to lose that financial stability/job security.
posted by Urban_Painter at 7:44 AM on October 15, 2014
posted by Urban_Painter at 7:44 AM on October 15, 2014
This thread is closed to new comments.
Seriously - I don't know how much your schooling costs, or how much of that $3500 tuition reimbursement you are using, or where you are in your schooling (when do you anticipate graduating?), or how much money you're making at the big box store during holiday season, or how much would your income from the big box store be reduced if you went part-time, and there's car insurance and health insurance, and just how much of your savings are you willing to dip into ...
In case you can't tell, I view this as primarily a financial question: for each option, you need to determine your income and expenses per month for the next 10 or 12 months, along with a realistic estimate of the time you'd spend at work and school. I know you can't predict the future, but you can probably come up with a reasonable estimate for these things.
Once you have that, you'll have a better ability to look at the situation and decide if the school job is an option.
posted by doctor tough love at 10:14 PM on October 14, 2014