By Nathanael Hawthorne
Jambar Contributor
Youngstown State University has many opportunities for students. From club sports to Greek life to opportunities within specific majors, YSU seems to run the gamut when it comes to student success. But what about students who want to earn money while earning their degree?
YSU has many on-campus job opportunities for students, from the Andrews Recreation & Wellness Center, to various offices like Graphic Services, to the on-campus restaurants.
“The bigger employers on campus are campus recreation and the Center for Student Progress. Parking services and athletics hires quite a few people, as well,” Melodie Provencher, an administrative assistant for the Division of Student Success, said.
The best way to get employed on campus is by going to YSU’s website and searching for job listings, each displayed with its own qualifications regarding the job. However, YSU also has standards for student employees.
“You have to be a student in good standing, with a GPA of 2.0 as an undergrad student and 3.0 for a graduate student,” Provencher said. “During the spring and fall semesters you have to be carrying at least six credit hours. You don’t have to take summer classes, but you have to have a commitment to the university for the spring and fall.”
While each department does its own hiring and advertising for jobs available, many job opportunities that students receive come from word of mouth from friends or associates who already have a job on campus. Dan Raver, a sophomore marketing sales major, has been working on campus for a year and a half with student security, a job he heard about from his father.
“He told me about someone in the police station he knew had openings and another employee let me know about it too,” Raver said.
Student security works hand-in-hand with the YSU police department. They have an office in the Chestnut Room, as well as an office in the police station itself. While they don’t handle some of the serious events that happen on campus, they have a decent amount of responsibilities.
They are in charge of transporting students with disabilities from class to class or to their living areas, as well as locking buildings after the end of the work day, among other things. The most difficult part of the job is transporting students in inclement weather during the winter.
“Specifically for my job, when it gets cold outside you need to be well prepared. The weather is a pretty big issue. Having a lot of people who need our services at once makes it difficult because it’s hard to get people from point A to point B all at the same time,” Raver said. “You have to find a way to work it in that you get all those people. It’s up to us to work as efficiently as possible”.
The students who work on campus have a positive attitude towards being employed for the university.
Thomas Almasy, a sophomore business advertising and public relations major has been working on campus for two years as a YSU Penguin Icebreaker.
“I like working on campus as it helps me still be able to be involved on campus, and having the weekends off is a plus too,” Almasy said.
“I love it. It’s really nice to talk to students and faculty and get to know people,” Raver said. “Our work staff is very friendly and easygoing so it’s nice to kind of have a second family like that.”
Students who seek employment on campus should utilize online resources as well as online job postings.
“The best time to look for a job is the late spring after midterms,” Provencher said. “But look to get a job for the fall — that is the time period where departments will be thinking of the fall because students will be graduating in the spring. They don’t hire over the summer but they’ll be thinking about the fall.”