For the last three summers since I graduated high school, I have worked at a local supermarket owned by a national conglomerate. The beginning of this school year marks the third time I will leave my job at the store to go back to school.
My manager and department head were always willing to work with my school schedule, but after two attempts, I decided not to try to regain my positon. The corporate heads of the company set the amount of hours, in each department, in each store, all over the country, that will be worked every week. Trying to fit my school schedule to these hours is not the easiest task. While we have been able to create non-conflicting schedules, I have found that it is unwise to be in a situation that forces you to choose between doing schoolwork and sleeping.
After having to quit my job twice before, when I returned this summer, I kept a watchful eye for reasons. Reasons why a successful national company and their subsidiary couldn’t supply one of their most reliable employees with a schedule that allowed him to follow his academic passions as well as provide a quality service for their company.
Employees are given seniority based on how long they work for the company. A union defends this seniority; it was hard for an employee like myself to get the hours I needed when other employees got their first pick as to when they would be working. Being that I found myself at the bottom of the totem pole for three summers in a row, I ended up working the hours that no one else wanted.
In the middle of the summer, this is fine. There are no obligations that work could somehow get in the way of. But for a student who wants a reliable source of income while they go to school, these national corporations are not the easiest entities to deal with. In the middle of a cost-cutting frenzy during the current recession, why would a large company go to such lengths to compensate Evan in Grand Junction, Colorado? Who just wants one day a week where he doesn’t have to go to work or school?
Take some advice from me and drop the big box store. Find a job at your school, or with a business that is connected to your school, one that benefits from its existence. Locally owned businesses or nearby services and amenities are much more open to students and their interests. The national conglomerates are less interested in hiring students; they want individuals who want careers with them. Not students who just want a side job for some moderate income.
This connection with a school community is beneficial to you and your academic experience. Why risk such important time and energy for a corporation that has no perspective in the value of student employees? Use your status as a student and an employee to your advantage.
l
elinko@mavs.coloradomesa.edu