Starting a Career
This article will try to bridge the mindset between "hey, you" employment and career employment
By Xavier Royer — July 10, 2023
One of the most depressing realizations one has near or after graduation is that the next step is putting that degree to use and getting a job. Many will have already had jobs before, but these, for the most part, are "hey, you" jobs. A "hey, you" job requires little or no experience or skills besides baseline timeliness and effort. In other words, the employer can likely say "hey, you" to anyone on the street, and that person would likely be able to fill the position(footnote: this is not to disparage these positions! There is dignity in all work and our world would cease to exist without these roles). College graduates should be shooting a bit higher, if not a lot. They should no longer be looking for those part-time "hey, you" positions; instead, they should aim for a career. A career entails a full-time job in the field that students plan to spend at least ten years in. This article will try to bridge the mindset between "hey, you" employment and career employment.
Benefits
Students will likely have heard the idea of "benefits," but I knew what they were when I had a job with them. In this context, benefits are formal perks to the job outside of the salary. My cousin's part-time job at the zoo had a mix of formal and informal benefits.
Formally, she got a free zoo membership as an employee and access to certain behind-the-scenes events, such as sneak peeks of new exhibits. An informal benefit she received was never having to bring lunch because there were enough "mistakes" where she worked in concessions that there was always an extra burger or hotdog that would have otherwise gone to waste.
When looking at career jobs, when we talk about benefits, we typically mean how PTO (paid time off) is structured and insurance. As a student, insurance is easy to ignore as the ACA means students are typically still on their parent's insurance. However, some companies can get away with offering lower salaries because they have such a good insurance plan. Don't take this for granted. Retirement plans are also a common and important benefit. Most employers will match some of your paychecks that you choose to put into retirement. For example, my current job matches up to 3.5% of the check that I put into retirement.
If this number is $1000, to pick an easy number, they will also put in for me whatever I put in up to $1000. If another company I wanted to work for would match up to $1500, that would be something to consider. Especially just starting, a student's starting pay will likely not transition much from company to company, but the benefits can differ drastically.
Longer Hiring Process
Hiring a cashier at a big box store usually takes weeks, as those positions generally have high turnover and low skill requirements. On the other hand, career jobs may take much longer and have multiple interviews with multiple people. Whereas "hey, you" jobs have people come and go, career jobs usually look for someone for at least three years, if not longer, so they spend more time ensuring they get it right.
Take every part of the hiring process seriously, and understand the process may be as long as months — don't quit that "hey, you" job until you've received a formal offer from the career job. Also, understand your search may be much longer. It took me a year of "hey, you" jobs and constant applications before I finally got my current career job, so don't be discouraged. If, after months of searching and not getting called for any interviews, consider looking for internships as well. It could be your resume needs just a bit more "oomf" to stand out.
Salary Thinking
The transition to thinking yearly instead of monthly about earning money can be odd. Most "hey, you" jobs pay weekly or biweekly and are typically hourly. Some career jobs are still hourly, but how you'll receive payment feels very different. Salary is nice relative to hourly because knowing exactly how much money you'll make each month is good. On the other hand, hourly jobs usually still ensure a 40-hour-a-week minimum but have the upside of working even more for overtime pay. Regardless, career job paychecks will look quite a bit different. A "hey, you" check is usually whatever you've earned minus the taxes. Career jobs not only subtract taxes but also insurance and retirement. Be sure to account for this when calculating expenses and budgeting for the year.
Xavier Royer
I am currently a full time instructor at a William Penn University, a small private university in Iowa. I am the lone political science faculty member there. In my time teaching, I have already connected with an incredible cohort of students in ways I could never have expected. Partnering with SAGE will allow me the opportunity to help even more students across the globe navigate those tricky questions.
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