According to four EWU students who have carried jobs through their college careers, having work experience can be beneficial in many ways.

Shannon Hooper, a senior biochemistry major, is a plus group facilitator and tutor in the math lab.

“I love to actually make money on a regular basis. My job has helped me to finance school,” said Hooper.

Jeremy Larson, a music performance major, is a barista for Eagle Espresso and plays in pep bands for a job.

“It’s great to have the work experience, because when I graduate, I have a fall-back job. I could be a barista if things don’t go as planned,” said Larson.

Holly Edwards, an education major, works at the office of undergraduate studies as a secretary.

“I don’t think having a job negatively affects me at all. I just make money and then I can eat,” said Edwards.

Nick Stephens, an English major in graduate school, has had at least seven jobs during his college career. These include jobs at a car dealership, a sandwich shop, a paint company, a telefund company, Hollister and People to People Ambassadors.
Stephens currently works as a teaching assistant at Eastern, which includes teaching classes such as English 101, 201 and 112.

“Having a job in school was helpful. Other than paying for food, books, transportation and rent, it forced me to budget my time and forced me to study on my breaks. It built my character and got me used to doing things that I didn’t necessarily want to do,” said Stephens.

In addition to the benefits that are mentioned above, these students had some advice to offer.

Rule number one: Do not spread yourself too thin
“You just have to know how to balance homework and your job. It can be easy to sign on for too many hours,” said Hooper.

Rule number two: Be nice to people.
“I have gotten a lot of connections from these jobs,” said Hooper. “I’ve never had to have a job interview for a tutor student, because I know the people who then hire me for a tutor job. Also, working for tutoring, I have learned more about the free services that Eastern has to offer. You just have to be nice to people, and you never know who will offer you a job.”

Rule number three: Do not expect to be a millionaire
“It’s good to keep in mind that most college jobs are just part time and that the on-campus ones you can only work for 19 hours max, so there’s no way to make an actual living,” said Larson.

Rule number four: Be self-motivated
“One benefit of having a job like mine is that I get to work on my communication skills over the phone and over email. You have to be self-motivated to have a job in college,” said Edwards.

Rule number five: Be professional
“Keep in mind that to be successful at a job, you must have a certain amount of professionalism and punctuality,” said Stephens.