Your Opinion, please!

[icarus]

I'd like your opinion.

I've been signed up for Work Study for school. I have two fairly challenging classes (out of three) that will have a lot of memorization and homework.

The work study job I applied for turns out to be very intense. She needs someone to take a neglected scholarship program and promote it. It's for AmeriCorps.

There are no specific job duties, and the goals are vague. They've never had a work study job for this department of the school, but they're considered the "flagship" volunteer program in the area. My "boss" works part-time and wouldn't be there most of the time I'm there. So it's a "make it up as you go" kind of job.

In my career these have always proven to be bad news. People want the world, but don't know exactly what they want. It's challenging, and there's a scholarship opportunity that would go with it.

But I dunno.

What do you think? Those of you who've done work study especially.

Comments

[cordelia_v]

Sure, I'm always willing to tell other people what to do. :-) I haven't any experience working in Work Study positions (I worked my way through school cleaning other people's houses, which I found more restful than office jobs, and also as a translator/interpretor).

But I've been supervising student aides who work using Work Study grants for years, and have some familiarity with AmeriCorps, too; we have it at my school as well.

The fact that your salary is largely paid through Work Study makes little difference, in terms of your experience of the job. It means that your employer gets reimbursed for most of your salary (75% of the total, at most schools), so it's cheaper for them to employ you. There is also usually a semester or annual "cap" on how much the grant will reimburse the employer for, so you will need to make sure that you don't work so many hours that you use up the grant before the end of semester.

You don't say how many hours a week this is. If you have three classes, and two are challenging, then IMO you shouldn't be working more than about 20-25 hours a week. That's the ideal, of course, and doesn't take into account what you need in financial RL.

AmeriCorps is not the world's easiest way to earn Work Study money. There are always many jobs on a campus that are much less labor-intensive, involving perhaps only photocopying, answering the phone, maintaining mailing lists, etc. Often, there is a tacit understanding that the aide can use the time to study or do homework, as long as no job needs doing at the moment.

I treat my own aides that way (please don't tell my dean). They're paid only $7.25 an hour, which I consider to be far less than a living wage. So, if they spend part of the time they're logged on doing their own school work, that's fine with me, as long as they do answer the phone and do whatever small jobs I leave for them when I'm not in the office.

AmeriCorps, however, seems to be a fairly complicated, paper-intensive program (to judge from conversations I've had with students who work in that program at my school). Some also did AmeriCorps teaching stints, and didn't seem to enjoy that much. But there's no doubt that it's a good thing to have on your resume, if you want to go into teaching below the college level.

If your would-be boss seems vague about her expectations, that's not a good sign. A good boss makes it crystal-clear what she expects as a minimum performance, and is open to feedback from the aide about how the job could or should be done. And the boss should be willing to serve as a mentor to the aide, in terms of career development. Does your would-be boss sound like she/he would fit this description?

So, perhaps sit down and talk about exactly what he/she expects you to accomplish in the time you're given. And you might want to see if there are any other Work Study jobs listed in the campus HR office or student employment office (if there is one). A library job, or a position as an aide in an academic department, is probably less demanding. For part of my undergrad career, I worked the late shift at the law library (closing it up at midnight), and this guaranteed that the last two hours of each shift I had free to read or write. But if the scholarship opportunity at the AmeriCorps job is substantial, it might be worth taking a job that demands more work from you.

God, I'm verbose. A professional hazard, I'm afraid.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

This is very thoughtful advice.

I'm thinking of taking a second route: telling her no for this quarter, but I'd be interested for the future. My next quarter has a much lighter homework load, and someone else can break them in to the concept of a work study student. For the time being I'm going to look for other work on campus.

Icarus

[cordelia_v]

Hmm. Well, be sure that you're willing to let the AmeriCorps job go for good (potentially) if you do that; because if the person she does hire works out well, the job won't come open again that quickly. Once I hire an aide, he/she usually stays with me until graduation.

But if you can get a library job, or an aide position in an academic department that has a good atmosphere (i.e., not a department that is tense, or which has an unpleasant secretary/admin asst.), you'd be much better off in terms of having time for your schoolwork, IMO.

Good luck.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

I am willing to let it go.

I am on the president's list largely because of focus, and I'm old enough to know myself well enough to realise that this job will suck me dry. I will do a good job with it, but not be happy with the results, and my grades will slide because of my dividing my energies. I refuse to take on more than I can manage.

I suspect that their expectations are so high they will not be happy with anyone they get. That's my instinct in this case.

Icarus

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

I can't explain my bad feeling about this job, which, by the way, isn't directly working for AmeriCorps. It's plugging an AmeriCorps program for the school Service Learning program.

I can't tell you why this job has Bad Idea written all over it. It's just gut instinct. Maybe experience.

Maybe a thousand little clues... the fact that she works part-time and yet is proud of the fact that she accomplishes the work of a full-time employee.

The fact that she knows virtually nothing about the program, yet comes across as a bit of a control freak.

The fact that the only person who knows anything about my upcoming job is off-site and was described as "young."

The fact she criticized the "young" program director to me in the interview, not overtly, just questioned his judgement on having a forum on a particular date.

Her tense hope that I would be able to attend an orientation that was beyond my current hours, and disappointment when it conflicted with my class schedule.

The fact that she's never had a work study person before and was asking the kinds of questions you'd ask of a University grad student, not someone in their second year at a Community College.

Maybe the tension in the other employee's body language when she was there.

I can't quite put my hand on it, but something's wrong. I've had dozens of bad jobs before, and this one has "trouble" written all over it.

Icarus

[cordelia_v]

OK. Sounds like you're making the right decision.

You offer an interesting list of reasons, btw: you are able to rely on inference, intuition, and non-verbal cues to a much greater degree than I ever could. But I had guessed this already about you, since your characters often reason in that way, as well. (actually, that's part of why I find them intriguing to read about---they're very smart, but they think in an absolutely different mode than I do).

At any rate, I posted again because I had an idea for the ideal on-campus job for you, if it exists at a community college. All four-year schools (and many community colleges) have a writing tutorial center, where students can go to get help with their writing skills. At most schools, the tutors are other undergraduates, who have been hired because they possess good writing skills themselves.

Icarus, that's your gift or skill: you write much better than most Ph.D.s I know. If your campus has a writing center, you should print out a copy of one of your gen stories (perhaps the Hermione "first magic" piece?) and take it over there to see if they have an opening. Tutors don't have to take on a lot of responsibility or administrative functions, and the duties are clearly defined.

And given the choice, it's more satisfying to do work that enables us to use our gifts to help others, rather than work that doesn't. *Shrugs* Anyway, I thought I'd offer the suggestions.