A commonly known Dartmouth statistic is that about 60 percent of Dartmouth students are involved in Greek life.
The number of student employees on campus, however, might be even higher.
According to Todd Kilburn, manager of the student employment office, approximately 62 percent, about 2,800 students, are in some way employed by the College. Student jobs include Dartmouth Dining Services, the library, the Hopkins Center, jobs involving community service, research assistants, academic department assistants, the Collis information desk and Orientation Team leaders, just to name a few.
Eric Ramsey, director of the Collis Center, agreed that students are a positive addition to the staff.
"The student voice is the most important voice," Ramsey said. "We really rely on our student employees to keep us fresh on current issues and tied down to what the Dartmouth experience is all about. They redirect us in a way that we most meet the needs of our students."
Ramsey also pointed to the advantages that student employees themselves get from the jobs.
"[These jobs] provide students with the opportunity to synthesize what they're learning in the classroom with a paid experience," Ramsey said. "They get to apply their knowledge in a real world experience. And that's what employers are looking for: people who can operate in a high-pressure environment with a ton of customer contact."
For students, college job offerings provide much more than the ever-important monetary incentives.
Ali Peterson '10, one of three Drug and Alcohol Peer Advisers interns, focused on the benefits her job offers not in terms of monetary payment, but instead in terms of both experiential and emotional reward.
Peterson said that the job gives her an "immense sense of satisfaction because conversations that need to happen are [happening], in part because of what we're doing."
But the experience goes beyond just a "feel-good" reward. The job, Peterson said, provides her with a set of skills that help her be perceived professionally among both an adult and student community.
The satisfaction, she said, comes from working for something "that is actually helping me and others."
Similarly, Gabriel Rodriguez '13, a student employee in the theater department, mentioned several other advantages outside of the weekly paychecks.
"Working in the theater department provides you with a broad set of skills," he said. "[These skills] give you opportunities for employment in later life, but they also help with daily life. I work with my hands, so I can fix things. Carpentry is so useful."
Several students also mentioned the downsides to college jobs. "Sometimes I feel like it pushes into other things just a little," Sam Seehof '13, a Collis student employee, said. "I could get a little more work done. And I don't always have time to just hang out. Everyone needs downtime, and you don't always get that [when you have a job]."
Seehof admitted that some things inevitably get left on the back burner.
"I would definitely say my room could be cleaner," he said. "It's not exactly a top priority,"
But despite the time pressure the employees said they feel, each year students file into the employment offices seeking on campus jobs.
With a majority of the students at Dartmouth earning a paycheck, students contribute a huge amount to the campus' daily operations.
"We couldn't do it without our students," Ramsey said. "The really keep things going around here."
