Pros
- An excellent opportunity to put on your resume and looks good to potential employers after college. - Make friends and solid professional connections. - Flexible schedule/hours, work between classes as a student. - A general encouragement of embracing educational goals and putting school first. - If you are lucky, you will be placed in a team where you are working for people who can teach you something valuable. - My tip for anyone looking to work here: Go for it, learn a lot, and do hard work, but make sure you LEAVE when you graduate or even before that. Your professional growth will become severely stunted if you attempt to stay for too long. Also, just ignore the politics, you are a part time worker, don't let other's personal issues keep you up at night, leave the work at work.
Cons
- Nepotism/Favoritism: It is so apparent that it is a huge force with this place. If you do hard work and have a positive attitude, do not expect that alone to earn you anything. Some staff members might not like you for no apparent reason, don't take it personally, they are probably just sad. - Inexperienced Leadership: There is a very high chance that within 6 months of working you will know more than your manager. If you want to know why then refer to the point above. - Useless Meetings: Wondering where your manager is? Probably in a meeting. Is it important? 9 out of 10 times, no. Another issue with inexperienced leadership who don't know how to have concise useful meetings as they are clearly used as just time wasters. - Inappropriate Business Conversations: It is likely that your manager might bring up budget issues. This should not be your concern and passive aggressive comments about the budget being drained due to how much a certain person in the area is abysmal behavior. - A Battle Within: One side is the "in crowd" if you aren't on that side and try to make a positive difference in the workplace, don't expect much. The politics between staff is like watching cable television. Their insecurities are masked by pessimism and refusal to being open to constructive criticism. - Pay: To be blunt, you will be underpaid for what you do. The experience is the best thing to take away from this place so just keep that in mind. If you think that it is because it is an educational institution and no one is paid above the average there, feel free to view the salaries of the staff as they are public online. In general, if you have worked there for a bit and get another opportunity go for it, don't let anyone hold you back and remember that you can leave before you graduate.
