by Vanessa Gopez

So far at Stony Brook, I have applied to about 10 or so jobs – health science bookstore, hospital jobs, dean’s office, dean of students’ office, the library, Seawolves’ marketplace, tutoring positions, and some others I don’t remember. I have managed to actually get four of them. It is quite an endeavor to find a good job when you have almost no experience and no special skills. You practically have to make up past jobs in order to get anywhere. I would include things that I did in elementary and high school because I was so desperate. My lack of experience is attributed to the fact that my parents believed that I should study hard and not work (that’s what they were there for). That was a mistake.

Of course, I blame them for having to go through the slew of useless, pointless, and sometimes painful jobs. My first job was at an accounting office back in high school. It paid a whole $5.60 an hour. Hours and hours of endless paperwork and spreadsheets. It’s not so bad in the beginning, but when you type the same number close to 200 times, you start to get bored. On the bright side, it made me amazing at Microsoft Excel, which is a plus, but despite the skill, this brought me absolutely nowhere in my search of better jobs.

My next job was at the Interlibrary Loan division of the Melville Library. This job pays minimum wage with no hope of an increase at any time in the future. However, they do offer a Distinguished Library Employee scholarship if you work for them for at least two semesters if you can stay that long. I don’t know about the rest of the library, but working in ILL is not for anyone who needs social interaction. You spend most of your hours wandering the deserted aisles of the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th floors (did you even know there was a 2nd or 4th floor? – I didn’t) of the library searching for books and articles that may or may not be there or at least not where they are supposed to be. Also, they may or may not be in English. I won’t put this job down too much. Your supervisors are very sweet old ladies who will bake you cookies and cake on holidays and your birthday, which makes it worth it for awhile.

In my junior year, I got a job at Seawolves’ Marketplace. Starting pay is minimum wage, but there is potential for an increase if you do your job well (but only up to 25 cents for every 30 days or semester – I can’t remember which – either way, that’s not very great). Basically, you make coffee, sit at a register, or restock the shelves. This job isn’t that exciting either, but it beats the library and accounting any day. You socialize a lot there, but you’re not supposed to. Another plus is that you get free coffee, hot chocolate, and tea. Also, if you’re socially capable, hard-working, and detail-oriented, you’re likely to quickly get a promotion to store manager, which pays more than $9 an hour.

Now, I have a job that I can say I like but isn’t perfect either. I tutor for both PASS (USG) and Athletic Tutoring for Physics, Organic Chemistry, Algebra, and Neuroscience (so if you need a tutor in any of these, go to SAC 202 and request for me ;) ). The down side of this job though is that your pay isn’t consistent. If no one shows up to Athletic tutoring, you get nothing. If no one wants a tutor for your subject for PASS tutoring, you get nothing. On the bright side, PASS pays $15/hr and Athletic pays $16/hr.... so when you do get someone, it’s definitely worth the effort.