Tag Archives: summer jobs

Paperwork, Paperwork, and More Paperwork

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Coming back from spring break, in addition to over the break, I have found myself filling out so much paperwork for so many different applications and programs. Whether it’s been applying for scholarships, filling out paperwork for study abroad programs, applying for summer jobs, or registering for summer classes, the stacks of paper keep getting higher and higher.

I decided that I needed a system to organize myself and make sure that I remember important deadlines. Here’s what I have proposed for myself:

  1. Highlight deadlines and key dates on information sheets that are giving you a lot of information all at once. It’s likely that most of what’s written is important, but by highlighting the main info, you can glance at the sheet and remind yourself of what’s coming up.
  2. On that same note, place these papers in a visible place, somewhere you walk by regularly, so that you will pass by often enough not to forget what the paper is even talking about. I often place them on my bulletin board so that I can see them on a regular basis and refer back to them when making plans or trying to schedule meetings or weekend outings.
  3. Get a calendar or planner and write major dates and deadlines down so that you can plan around them and ration your time. Writing it on post-its is also an option. I recently wrote about keeping a planner to organize yourself, and that helps so much when it comes to these larger deadlines because it can help you manage your time better. If you know you have a large exam coming up, in addition to a job application deadline, you can start the application earlier so that you can spend more time focusing on studying for your exam.
  4. Don’t wait until the last minute to start applications or to start paperwork. Oftentimes, questions arise while you are working on an essay or filling something out, and you will do yourself a favor if you have not waited until the last minute because it means that you have time to contact someone and ask them questions about what to do. In addition, it will alleviate more stress in the long run. Getting stressed about these sorts of things is inevitable, but you can reduce the amount you feel by taking the work in chunks. That way, you’re not trying to it all at once, which is always a recipe for stress.
  5. Make sure that you are still having enough time to get all of your schoolwork done outside of your paperwork. Although it may seem like solidifying summer plans is the most important thing, but it is also very important to remember that you are a student first and foremost. If job applications are stressing you out because you need the money to help pay for Scripps or are stressed for other financial reasons, reach out to those in charge of the hiring process. Letting them know that you are interested is something they will view positively. If you don’t feel comfortable doing that, there are many resources on campus (including CP&R!) that are here to help you navigate these exact situations. If you are worried about applications or paperwork due for study abroad programs, reach out to either Neva or Patricia in the SAGE office. They are very accommodating and are wonderful to talk with.

Paperwork can be overwhelming, so it’s good to have a system in place that can help keep you organized and on top of things. If you have any ideas that I didn’t list, comment below! Here’s to the second half of the semester!!

No internship? Don’t sweat it.

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So much has changed when it comes to summer work: my friends and I spend the majority of spring semester worried about applications, interviews, and affording internships, while my older cousins and parents ask why I’m not working at an ice cream place or camp, like they did in college. Sometimes, especially at a competitive liberal arts school like Scripps, it’s as if we are living in a new world that pressures us to network strategically and think about resume boosters 24/7. I read this article in Forbes the other day that explained why working a minimum wage job gives students an experience that is far greater than an internship. This article was a great reminder that working at a camp, in a grocery store, or ice cream place is actually quite advantageous:

  1. Responsibility. When working as an intern in an office, most often I’m given work that supervisors might not have time for, and believe someone who doesn’t know as much as they do can adequately handle the job. When working a minimum wage job, however, more times than not bosses will ask a lot more of you than what you signed up for originally. When working as a waitress, every day I would be asked to go above and beyond duties such as waiting on customers and cleaning the tables. And even more importantly, the office you intern in would still run efficiently without you. But slack off as a waitress and you could do some serious harm to the restaurant’s reputation or orderliness.
  2. Teamwork. Summer jobs usually require physical work and working with the public in not the most glamorous settings. This experience delegating tasks to co-workers and being a proactive team member during your shift is invaluable. I’ve learned how to be a leader, a responsible team member, and a dynamic communicator through my restaurant jobs.
  3. Communication. Working with the public and with people from different backgrounds is challenging, but there’s no choice in facing nerve-wracking situations that depend on clear communication when working a minimum wage job. From being a waitress and hostess I learned when to speak up and when to go with the flow, how to deal with mini-crises [with the public and with co-workers], and how to adequately annunciate problems/difficulties I was having to my boss.

There are a lot more qualities you get from working typical summer jobs than the ones I reflected on above. The underlying theme is that yes, internships are important for students to familiarize themselves with their potential career atmosphere, but it is by no means a bad thing to not have one for the summer. In fact, working as a camp counselor or ice cream scooper might even prepare you better for whatever you take on later in life than any office job could do.

Life Lessons & Lobster

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As it gets time to frantically apply to every possible internship and summer program, I want to take a moment and acknowledge everyone who – by choice, by necessity, by both – will be working in the service industry this summer. I worked as a hostess at a corporate, popular seafood restaurant the summer after my first year, and what I learned there will stick with me for life. Thanks to friends A and E, who augmented this with their excellent suggestions. Sadly, people in the real world aren’t always reasonable, thoughtful, or interested in hearing your side of the story. Pull up a chair, everyone, and let us impart our wisdom.

Multitasking. It was common, at my corporate seafood restaurant – hereafter shortened to CC – to have a manager stroll up, request that something be done immediately, and stroll away, completely ignoring the fact that I was busy doing something another manager had commanded mere moments ago. Too many cooks, all that broth, you know the story. The first time this happened, I tried to explain how I was in the midst of something Manager X had requested, and could they perhaps ask someone else? Manager Y looked at me blankly and I could sense they were forming a pretty negative opinion of me – What a shirker! Tries to worm out of anything I ask of her! The next time this happened, I was prepared. I thanked Manager Y, said I would deal with their request as soon as I finished what Manager X had asked of me, and rushed off busily. Both tasks were soon completed and Manager Y was pleased that she didn’t have to deal with a long-winded explanation. Moral of the story: don’t explain every side of the story. Acknowledge the request, note that you’ll get on it as soon as the job at hand is complete, and move on.

Common courtesy. It’s unfortunate that this even needs to be a topic, but such is life. Things I learned from working at CC: “Please” isn’t said half as often as it should be. People assume hosts and servers are uneducated and therefore have no other job prospects. People assume that the poorly-cooked dish is the fault of the busperson or the host. I promise, if you complain to the busperson, they will apologize, whisk the plate away, and laugh about you with everyone in the kitchen. If the problem is with the food, don’t take it out on the server. Let them know you’re unhappy without acting as if it’s their fault. I guess this bullet point is less about how to work in service and more about how to be a human being, but – again, such is life. This goes both ways – a customer may be behaving badly, but they may be having an awful day. Give them the benefit of the doubt, kill them with kindness (it’s funny how disarmed people can be when they expect something else and you smile sweetly instead), and remember that all this will come in handy when you write your memoirs.

It’s the little things. There were so many days I came to work peppy and cheerful, only to deal with unpleasant customers or angry managers and find my mood taking a turn for the worst. I went from being a cheerful hostess to one who treated interactions with customers as perfunctory and impersonal. One day I was feeling horrible and didn’t want to deal with anyone. A couple came in to celebrate an anniversary, and I realized that my bad mood and the rude actions of previous customers shouldn’t affect this couple’s happy evening. I did my best to make sure they had a great time, and the smallest things – a comp card for a free dessert, tipping their server off so he could offer them his best wishes, making sure they got a table with a nice view – made them very happy and cheered me up in the process. Think of it as being a benevolent secret elf. They may not realize that you’re the one making their experience better, but you know it! That good feeling will stick with you. The smallest things – a smile, or asking them how their dinner was and genuinely waiting to hear the answer – can mean so much. Likewise, if a family is having a heated discussion or a solo customer wants a quiet table for a meal and a book, it’s often better to remove yourself quickly and not force conversation.

In conclusion: It’s not the most glamorous job, and sometimes it’s hard to deal with customers who have no interest in you or your life and assume you were born to deal with their whining. But! I saved up for an amazing adventure abroad with the help of my summer job at CC, I got my foot in the door in the restaurant industry of my hometown, and I was able to secure a job at a bar in Germany because they liked that I had restaurant experience. Go forth and apply! (And for those who absolutely need an internship because the rest of their college career depends on it – I was able to balance this job with a part-time academic thing. It’s totally doable.)

Everyone should work in service, regardless of whether they need to make their own money or not. It makes you a human being, and on the bad days – remember, it’s all grist for the mill. Enjoy!

 

Going with the Flow

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Sometimes, no matter how many months of planning or how many agreements we enter with others, plans turn out differently than expected when they finally come to fruition. Sometimes this is good, sometimes it is not. No matter what, we must continuously move forward.

After an initial conversation with the director of the nonprofit at which I am interning this summer, I was counting on my internship to be full-time. To accommodate these plans, I thought I would live in Sacramento in an apartment on my own. The last time I checked in with my soon-to-be overseer, however, I learned that she will only works part-time this summer. Subsequently, she had thought of projects for me to do that were part-time for me as well. After some discussion with both the director and my boss over the phone, they offered to come up with more work for me to do that would enable me to intern full-time, but in the end we decided that my efforts would be most useful if I worked in the office three days per week in addition to some remote work.

This means I will be commuting three days a week rather than renting an apartment in Sacramento. Although I am a little bummed that my experience will not be exactly as I had anticipated, I know my work this summer will still prove to be worthwhile, and I’m sure I will gain the professional experience and knowledge I seek. I have come to expect that things rarely go as planned, but making the most out of the outcome is all anyone can hope to do. I would not have been happy if I did not have enough work to do or if I burdened anyone in the office by making them feel like they needed to provide me with work. As it is, I think I will be able to make a positive difference for this nonprofit while also learning what I hoped to learn.

This change in plans means I will have more free time this summer! But… what am I going to do at this point? I am looking to perhaps go the typical part-time summer job route, poking around at my favorite local bookstores and coffee shops to see if they are hiring. I am racking idealist.org to find recently posted, part-time local internships up my alley. I am asking around to see if any family or friends have any suggestions. All I know is that I want to be doing something; at this point, being idle for half the summer would be the only way I could go wrong!

And so, I will continue to go with the flow and accept that whatever this summer ends up looking like (even though I’m already a week into it), I will find ways to learn, to grow, to connect with others, and perhaps begin to form thoughts regarding what my future holds!

Everything I Learned From My Summer Working Retail

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I had my first retail job this summer. It was at a well-known women’s chain that recently opened a new store near my house. While I went into to it just happy to have a job (and glad that it happened to be at a store I LOVE), I left having learned much, much more than I ever thought possible.

Here are five things I took away from the experience:

1. Ultimately retail workers are hired to sell clothes. This is what I have found most retail managers look for in interviews. They will often have you pick out an outfit for a specific occasion. Instead of telling them why you chose it, sell it to them. Make them WANT to buy it.

2. “If you’re not doing something, you’re doing something wrong.” My manager told me this on one of my very first days at the store. A retail business makes money off of the productivity of their employees. If the store looks like a mess, nobody will want to buy anything. Therefore, even if you think the store looks eat-off-the-floor-clean, I’m sure there’s a t-shirt somewhere that’s not perfectly folded. This situation can be applied to nearly any work environment. Employers always love employees who go the extra mile.

3. Work-appropriate doesn’t mean uncomfortable. The store I worked at had a pretty specific dress code about what brands we were allowed to wear and how we were supposed to present ourselves. In an attempt to look nice, I showed up to my first few days in wedges that were perfectly brand-appropriate and not at all conducive to comfort after an eight-hour shift. Ultimately, I realized that uncomfortable shoes and clothing interfered with my ability to perform at my job. I quickly invested in some comfort-flats and some nice, dark-wash jeans.

4. The customer is always right. In retail, especially, employees are providing a service for the customer. When representing any company you are working for, it is always important to leave a good impression.

5. Talk to your manager when you have concerns. For example, during slow periods in the month, managers had to cut shifts in order to make payroll. It took me a long time to realize that I had a right to let my managers know that cutting my entire shift on a regular was not only an inconvenience but also an interference with my expected income. In any work situation, it is okay to speak up if you feel there is a problem. Just make sure that you are approaching the problem appropriately and respectfully.

Well, clearly this isn’t everything. Maybe we’ll have part two in a few weeks…

Have you learned anything particularly useful from your summer jobs?