Holding a Job while in School can Help Your Career

As the cost of a college education keeps rising, students are looking for manageable ways to fund their education and more and more of them are working while in school. This trend belies the traditional picture of college students who enroll immediately after high school, depend on their parents and spend an uninterrupted four years before graduating. Only one-fourth of today’s students fit this description.

The fact that holding down a job is a financial necessity for many students makes it easy to see work as an unmitigated burden and difficult to focus on any benefits beyond the paycheck. The benefits are there nonetheless and the working student’s burden may feel a little lighter after giving some credit to work’s advantages.

School is not Work

School takes undeniable effort, but there is a vast difference between academic work and the reality of holding a job in the world beyond school. A student can be completely selfish about his academic career. He has no responsibility for the success of the school as a whole or the success of his fellow students. Work at a job, however, is about contributing to the success of an organization. It means depending on other employees and building relationships. It can mean dealing with difficult people and living with arbitrary policies, all while subordinating your own needs to your on-the-job responsibilities.

The reality of the working world can be a rude awakening for someone who has yet to live in it. Working students at least learn what to expect and how to cope, developing real-life budgeting and time management skills.

Career Choices

Career preparation is a central motivation for going to college, but school provides a very abstract view of what it might be like to work in your chosen field. In an ideal world, student work would always align with academic interests, but working makes a difference regardless of the field.

Job experience, regardless of the field, provides insight into the kind of environment in which the student would be happiest, and that information is invaluable when making career decisions. Students making career choices without the benefit of personal exposure to working life are more likely to meet with unpleasant surprises. This experience will help you build an achievements resume because you will have something to say and you’ll be able to provide a compelling description of your achievements.

The World Beyond School

College may not quite be an ivory tower, but college life is hardly representative of the wider world. Working students experience a broad range of people and situations, all part of a different culture than the one defined by college life. They are ready to live outside the academy. In addition, the availability of those activities and relationships while attending school can provide a healthy alternative to the insular college world.

Building a Resume

What does a new grad’s resume look like? It would be nice to leave school with a resume packed with impressive titles and achievements, but that is not what it takes to impress future employers. Regardless of the kind of work a student does, employers respect a history of responsibility and accountability. Those qualities, the hallmarks of a work ethic, are valued in any field.