Today’s blog post is going to be in a slightly different fashion than usual. Today, I’m going to go into detail about every resident hall working position. I’ve recently had to start looking for employment, and have decided to look on campus for this, for several reasons.
Working on campus grants you an additional $1,500 – $2,000 scholarship, per semester. Over the course of eight semesters, this feat will save you $12,000 - $16,000… If it’s the latter of the two, that is nearly a full semester, COMPLETELY PAID, just for doing some work on campus. And that is on top of being paid for the work you do! I don’t have the exact figures on what each position on campus makes monetarily for their work, but who cares, really? It’s probably around minimum wage, and you are only allowed to work around twenty hours a week. While some look at that as a horrible thing, it is pretty nice that they’re restricting you like that. It gives more room for other people to work shifts, and it allows for you to have a life outside of your work.
So here is a list of the campus jobs, and my general opinions, and whatever else I feel like writing about them:
Resident mentor - This is the position I personally applied to. To become a resident mentor, you have to have at least a 2.5 GPA, you must have earned at least 13 credits (meaning, most second semester freshmen, all sophomores, all juniors, and all seniors +) . The perks of being a resident mentor are FREE room and board for the semesters you do it, on top of the work study scholarship on top of that. Room and board is around what? 3,500 a year? Give or take. Let’s assume you start being a resident mentor in your second semester, and continue to be one until you graduate your fourth year at college. That’s seven semesters. 7 * $1750 = $12,250 dollars saved. And that’s for a single dorm room… A room, all to yourself… That to me almost makes it completely worth it… all free.. I’m not sure if the resident mentors get free meal plans or not, but that would just add on to the benefits. And that’s on top of the $12,000 - $16,000 dollars you save just by working on campus. Pretty impressive, I’d say anyway.
Resident Mentors have the job of communicating with their floor what is going on around campus. Some do this beautifully, by sending out weekly or biweekly e-mails to their floor. Others don’t give a shit and tell you to find out for yourself. Both work, having a nag while at campus could be pretty annoying.
Resident mentors also have to deal with annoying people on their floor who are having issues with their roommate. I don’t know, nor do I really care how they do this, I just know that’s what they’re supposed to do. They also have to go to stupid weekly weekends, in order for their hall to receive some kind of funding from something or another. There are also frequent training sessions for these positions, which are supposed to be able to help you with your job, and relate better to people… or something like that anyway.
You also have to set aside a block of time each week for office hours. This is the time of the day that the people in your hall have free reign to come and annoy you with complains, questions, and advice. This time you set aside is actually pretty important, as that is how they judge your hours they need to pay you for… If you get paid. Basically, what these office hours involve is sitting at a desk, across the hall from where you live, and chatting on facebook, or doing homework until someone walks in and asks a question. At this point, you minimize what you were “working on”, and give them their full attention. Answer their questions accordingly, and kindly show them the exit. (the last part is fudged, just a little bit.. but it’s probably what they wish most of the time).
This job has so many perks. The only reason I can possibly see justifying not wanting to be one is your currently already way to busy, and office hours would cramp your style.. Also, having to be held to a higher standard than those around you is difficult for some people.
I realize I only talked about one position in this blog… But in the next one, I should have less to say about the few remaining positions on campus. Stay tuned, folks!
I looked into being a resident mentor myself and have looked at all the campus jobs because my parents refuse to send me anymore money until i get a job. By the way i love the title you chose for this title. Rob and Big is my favorite show by far and since being up here i have seen every episode there is. Big Black is the funniest guy ever. Okay so now that i'm done ranting about my favorite show back to the topic. I looked into being a mentor because my mentor this year is really cool and i figured i could be like him and get my room and board paid for. I tried convincing my parents that if i got my room and board paid for i should be able to keep the money they would have spent. That didnt go over too well though. I am almost positive that mentors get a free meal plan which is nice. I dont know if they get sparty cash and if they do how much but still anything free can help especially for college students. I'm convinced that college students will take ANYTHING that is free. I chose to not apply because i can't live alone i would get too lonely plus i'm too excited to live in emmons next year with all my friends. Also i dont think i could deal with jackass kids that try to make there jobs even harder. Most kids are cool but some kids just screw with the mentors. I looked into being a night receptionist and i really want to get that job because i'm definitely a night person and that would be the perfect job for me. I worked at the brody cafe my first week up here and quit because it was not the job for me and my schedule with classes was way too hard for my first semester and to hold a job was impossible. Thank god that this semester is almost over. I have heard working at spartys is easy and i think i could handle that. Plus most of the campus jobs are offering 8.00 an hour instead of minimum wage which is really nice. I guess it just depends on what your interested in doing.
ReplyDeleteFirst off, I truly commend you for even looking for any type of employment this year. Hahaha. Also, all this talk about being a resident mentor does not seem half bad. Yes, it is a good amount of work but it is free room and board for one and two, at least this is the case for most kids on my floor, little immature freshmen worship you. I never understood why they worship the resident mentor. Maybe it is because he is an “older, cooler” guy or maybe they are just trying to get on his good side so if they were ever busted for something he would take it easy on them. Either way it is stupid to be but the actual resident mentor job, as a whole seems pretty interesting. I was thinking about getting a job at IM west. I think this would be the perfect job for me because I am always in the gym and to be able to be there and get paid for it feels like I am almost cheating the system. I always thought a pointless college job was just to get extra spending cash to pay for food and booze mainly, but to have a college job that I actually would enjoy? Now that sounds like a good deal to me. The only down side is the hours that I may have to take that may cut into my daily schedule but than again that comes with almost every job you will have. They will mess up your schedule a little bit but if the job makes up for it by giving me some extra cash on the side and enjoy myself while doing it I would not mind the schedule disruption. Well anyways, whatever job you decide on applying for/getting, good luck with it man, and enjoy.
ReplyDelete