I’ve worked both on campus and off campus and I’d say that unless you have work study and you have reasonable commute then it’s almost always worth it to choose a retail or fast food service job over a departmental position.
In all of my “minimum wage“ jobs I’ve worked over the years, rarely any of them actually paid $15/hr. Its always paid more like $16.25, $17, $18.25, etc… it’s only when working and applying to jobs on campus that I’ve consistently found that they want to pay us the bare minimum. They also want offer the LOWEST hours possible (5 to 10) due to funding whereas in my experiences, managers are happy to offer you hours. Leftover payroll? pls come in. Someone called out? pls come in. Holiday season? pls come in. My bill is $9k this semester. I’d rather be working retail and be berated by idiot customers for 25 hours a week.
Other cons? Lots of competition. Everyone wants an on-campus job. You can apply to 20 jobs on Jobhawk and they likely wont reach out bc they hired someone else before they looked at your application. Employers act as funny as retail managers sometimes. I was told they’d reach back in a week. I got ghosted for at least 2 weeks before I saw the listing gone and then they told me they hired someone else days after that. Oh, and also 90% of the job listings on departmental won’t even apply to you bc the reqs are hyper specific. So basically u had no chance to begin with. Some jobs are at awkward hours. Closes at 5, Closes on weekend, etc… few exceptions are the rec center and libraries but that retail or fast food job…. That’s open until 9, 10, 11, even 12am at wegmans. and you can do closing shifts.
Pros? Some jobs you can put on your professional resume or application to grad school. Teaching assistant, research assistant, etc… and it’s on campus. U don’t have to travel far and it works best if it fits in your schedule. but if you did have to travel for an off campus job, there’s plenty of buses in Lowell THAT IS FREE that takes you everywhere in the city and outside too. But Uh, another pro for on-campus jobs is that some jobs are just TOO EASY. You don’t do anything most of the day at some on campus jobs.
Cons for off campus jobs? Managers can be mean. Customers can be mean. Sometimes you wanna die. Evil corporations. Weird policies. but like I said earlier theres bills that gotta be paid and sometimes you get PTO and free stuff.
