The Daily Roundup: Did I ever tell you about the time I . . .

By Zack on November 25, 2008

Welcome to the Daily Roundup. Each day at the ThinkTalk Blog we will post some links that we find informative, interesting, or just plain funny. The goal is to let you know what else is going on out there, and ultimately help you with the development of your career.

I don’t have a whole lot of links today (quit slackin’ in the short week, bloggers!) so instead, I will relate a quick story.

Money was an issue for me in college. I didn’t have a lot of savings going in, but in order to pay for things like rent, food, and other things, I took a number of odd jobs. Some students will complain, “I don’t have experience because I was too busy paying tuition and rent to get an internship.” Blasphemy!

One job I found was as a sort of dorm room handyman. This was a job sanctioned by the school, within the housing department. I would, essentially, fix dorm room furniture. Except I didn’t fix it. I just replaced it. Mattress has a hole, here’s a new mattress. Desk chipped, here’s a new one. We had storage rooms all over campus full of furniture, and it was always easy to find a new unit. Students are incredibly easy to please when it comes to dorm room furnishings. And as long as I didn’t report the bottle of vodka I found hidden in the ceiling, they were sure to give the new unit the A-OK.

We worked 20 hour weeks, except we didn’t have an office or a base of operation. We simply roamed the dorms in search of students who required maintenance. We also had walky-talkies, so someone would call us in the rare event that there was actually a problem. For the most part, though, we were un-monitored. Are you kidding me? Guess how many hours a week we actually worked? Come on guess. 15 hours? 10 hours? Wrong. 5 hours. Maybe. On a bad week. And this was a legit job offered by the school . . . not work-study!

Instead I slept. Or studied. Or did homework. Or, uh, ya know, other extra curricular activities. Most semesters I actually worked other jobs while I was supposedly on the clock. But I want you to know, I am not a scam artist. I did what was required of the job. Actually, by senior year I was offered the role of supervisor and even got a salary bump. This job was that easy.

Another job I had was in the projection booth of the University Theater. This was college though, not a freaking Lowes. I wasn’t running 35mm projectors. I put a DVD into a DVD player, pressed play, and watched Citizen Kane for 119 minutes. For $8 an hour.

These weren’t jobs, these were felonies. And the best part was, I could work weird hours, whenever I wanted, with plenty of time to attend class, study, and pursue internships.

My point is, if you look in the right places you can find some very simple gigs, to give you a little extra money, with very little sacrifice. These jobs are especially important because you can take a lot of them and still have time for internships and a full class schedule.

Keep this in mind next time you are short on rent, tuition, or just food money and don’t think you have time for a part time job. Trust me when I tell you, there is a job out there for everyone. On then, to the links . . .

Other links of general interest:

Playboy Found: Just the type of job I am talking about! Writing for Playboy? Check. Writing about sports? Check. Writing from the Final Four? Check. I wish I could go back to college.

George’s Employment Blawg Has: A realistic look at how to conduct a search for Federal Jobs. Working for the government may have it’s benefits, but does it beat working for Playboy?

The Wall Street Journal Profiles: Some of the best resources on the Web for conducting a job search. In all seriousness, I don’t know how people did this before the Internet. Did you just wander around and randomly knock on company doors? “Hey, BearingPoint! I know you’re in there. I can hear your breathing! Open this damn door. I want a job!”

JibberJobber Has: Even more resources for Job Seekers. A very good list. I would add one resource to it, however. Can you guess which one. Oh, sure you can. Just think. Got it? There you go.

Alright, alright. Since we will be taking of Thursday for the week, I have a special treat for you all tomorrow. And a whole batch of links. So be sure to check in before you leave for break to see what it is.