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

[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.