Whether students are looking for a job as the brand ambassador for Red Bull or as a freelance photographer for The New York Times, The Campus Job aims to connect students with real-world opportunities.
“The Campus Job is an online, two-way marketplace where students can find part-time jobs during the school year, and employees can find students to hire for part-time jobs,” said Liz Wessel, co-founder and CEO of The Campus Job.
Wessel said there is a huge amount of pressure on post-collegiate life. Students are told constantly to “enjoy these four years,” but it’s usually not that simple. They’re expected to walk the stage after completing senior year with full confidence in what they want to do with their lives. This expectation, however, is becoming a much more distant reality among many college students.
“A lot of students graduate college and have no experience doing what they think they want to do,” Wessel said. “[The] Campus Job does two cool things: First, we’re providing the opportunity for students to work and build their résumé while in college; second, we’re providing opportunities for students to try out all different fields.”
By offering jobs that range from brand ambassadors and computer design to baristas and freelance photographers, The Campus Job attempts to offer something for everyone. For human relations senior Hillary Schweitzer, UT’s marketing representative for the organization, her role with The Campus Job has helped her realize what she wants to do after graduation.
“Before this job, words like ‘sales’ and ‘marketing’ meant nothing to me,” Schweitzer said. “Now, I’m getting hands-on experience in those fields that I’ve never had before. It’s given me more confidence, as well as a sense of pride for the company I work for.”
Snap Kitchen, an Austin business that partners with The Campus Job, has used the website to hire UT students for several different positions. Katie Barnes, senior human resource generalist at Snap Kitchen, said that the majority of the students they attract are in nutrition-related majors.
“The Campus Job has helped us out a lot with hiring great UT students,” Barnes said. “There’s a large amount of responsibility in the positions [we hire for]. In a way, the students are kind of running their own business.”
Barnes said she thinks that through these part-time jobs, the students are gaining skills that will attract employers later.
“We want the students to learn from these experiences,” Barnes said. “They can leverage the skills [they] learn at Snap Kitchen for when [they’re] looking for a full-time job.”
Wessel said she knows that the fuller the résumé, the better chance a potential employee has of being hired. But while a high GPA and any amount of work experience was good enough to land a job 20 years ago, times have changed, according to Wessel.
“Employers are increasingly looking at previous work experience when hiring students,” Wessel said. “It’s incredible how difficult it is for students fresh out of college to find work. We’re excited to help change that.”
