In order for campus partners to operate smoothly, NC State Campus Enterprises employs students as a way to provide additional resources for students, faculty and staff members and visitors at NC State.
Annaka Sikkink, the student employee development and success specialist, mentioned that Campus Enterprises relies on student jobs in their departments. According to Sikkink, Campus Enterprises hires approximately 1,200 students across departments. NC State Student Centers, Rave! and NC State Stores are the biggest areas for student employment.
One of the biggest traits of working on campus is having flexible hours. Georgia Westwood, a second year in business administration currently working at Talley Market, mentioned that it’s easy to get student shifts covered.
“As long as it’s for a legitimate reason, they aren’t going to guilt you,” Westwood said.
According to Sikkink, students work for 15 hours a week on average; however, a student cannot work more than 20 hours per week. Domestic students are sometimes allowed to go work over this limit depending on the needs of the department they work for. For the departments on campus that hire over the summer, all students are able to work up to full-time hours.
Jobs are created based off the needs of the separate departments involved in Campus Enterprises. Afterwards, Sikkink and Human Resources help decide which jobs fall under a set of four tiers that dictate what experience will be required, the level of responsibilities within said job and the minimum wage.
Sikkink said that previously, pay rates for Campus Enterprise jobs were set by each department. Currently, most student positions start at $8.50 per hour. Every semester a student works for Campus Enterprises, they receive a raise of 25 cents. The highest a student could potentially earn with a tier-four job and after working for four years is $12.75 per hour, according to Sikkink.
“The biggest perk for most students working on campus is getting to meet peers who they would have otherwise never gotten a chance to talk to,” Sikkink said.
Currently, Sikkink said, Campus Enterprises is making efforts to create student leadership positions where students have an opportunity to experience training and managing their peers. Their Ambassadors program also gives students the opportunity to gain experience doing activities such as event planning, grant writing, data analysis, social media or web design.
“I think there has been the perception that an on-campus job isn’t a ‘real’ job,” Sikkink said. “But I’ve talked to employers during career fairs, and they really value and like to see the different skills students can demonstrate and develop through on-campus jobs.”
Any student interested in applying for a job on campus can check out NC State’s Career Enterprises website to submit a resume
