Part-Time Jobs

The best way to beef up your resume while making some extra cash and maintaining the flexibility necessary to be a college student: get a part-time job.

Many MSU students have part-time jobs, some on-campus. Here’s the story of one finance undergrad that used tools provided by Career Services to land two part-time jobs.

Lisa Htang (pictured, class of 2010) started working as a service desk receptionist for Michigan State University Housing in August 2007. You may relate to her reason for wanting a job: “I was sick of running out of cash flows, and my parents were sick of me calling for money. So I took matters into my own hands. I applied through MySpartanCareer and then kept calling them until they would finally give me an interview.”

This job isn’t all work for Htang, though. “It was a lot of fun to get to know a lot of my co-workers,” she says. “Most of them have the same goals as I do and it has always been fun working with them.”

Looking ahead to the summer of 2008, Htang says, “I really wanted some sort of internship to give me more realistic ideas of what I wanted to do with my future career path. I figured that it would help me save up some cash for the upcoming school year, while building onto my resume at the same time!” She applied for a marketing internship at the MSU Federal Credit Union, through MySpartanCareer once again, and got the position. In this role, “I got to update and create different brochures, write press releases, update display boards, and it was my first job that gave me the opportunity to get experience with my creative side, which I don’t usually get a chance to do!” Htang says.

Htang headed to Milwaukee over the summer of 2009 to intern at Kohl’s Corporate Headquarters.

When asked what one piece of advice she would give students who are looking for a part-time job, Htang says, “Keep looking. This school is huge and there are a ton of opportunities out there, you just have to find them. A job will not come find you.”

More information on part-time jobs.

Take action: First-time users and registered users alike, login to MySpartanCareer and start searching for your own part-time job experience! Also, check out Internships@State for information regarding turning on-campus jobs into internships.