Get Paid to Study - The Best Jobs on Campus

College is a great time to find jobs that are comfortable and easy to do. In fact, it may be the last time in a person's life when they will get the chance to get paid to do little to nothing. There are lots of jobs like this available all over campus, and they're usually pretty easy to get if you know where to look and how to interview for them.

When I was in college, I worked for two years for the small press that published out of the English Dept. Every year, they had a call for manuscripts, and a few were chosen to be published. My job was to pick up the manuscripts from the department mail, number and log the pertinent information, file them and the entry fee checks, and send a confirmation of receipt to the author. Simple enough work as it is, but for only two or three weeks out of the year, I did this for my entire shift every time I worked. What made this the ideal job for a student was the fact that the rest of the year, there were only about two manuscripts in the mail every day. The rest of my shift was spent studying, reading, and working on assignments. Very rarely this leisurely pace was interrupted by a phone call or a session of answering emails for my technophobe boss, but that provided just enough work to keep me interested and make me feel needed. It sure beat the pants off of McDonalds.

If you're looking for a job that contains very little actual work, you usually don't need to look much farther than the front desk of your residence hall. This strategy is usually better for night owls, as the day workers do have to sort mail, organize packages, hand out equipment, etc. The night shift workers need only make sure guests are signed in. The rest of the time is theirs.

Another good place to do nothing much but sit are the copy rooms or computer labs. Admittedly, the computer labs are usually staffed by knowledgeable people, but if you're knowledgeable, it can be a pretty easy going environment. Bear in mind that during the last few weeks of the semester, you can expect to dread going to work, since those are the busiest times and students are so stressed out they can't see straight. Especially if they've resorted to working on their papers in the labs.

One way to find jobs like these are to check around with the professors in your department of study. Not only could you luck out and find a job that entails simply being a living human being to sit in a chair and wait for a phone to ring every two hours, it will also look good on your resume. Especially if your supervisor is also a professor who can write you a letter of recommendation for the point of view as an employer and a teacher.

The best way to find work on campus is to check the campus classifieds. My university had a computer search specifically to list on-campus employment for the students. Look for positions that list things like staffing desks, answering phones, manning equipment rooms, etc. Keep your eyes open. If you see someone doing a job that you think you might like to have, ask them how they got it and even if they can introduce you to the supervisor. In my experience, many people are willing to create unneeded shifts and positions to enable willing students to work. That usually goes double if you have a work/study grant.

Remember that just because you've got a job that allows for slacking, you shouldn't show disrespect to your boss. He or she is the one nice enough to have hired you for this cushy position, so when work should be done, do it. In the right job, there should be plenty of time for texting later. Looking for jobs where you'll be the only person on a shift is an important strategy for this approach. With no other people around, as long as things are done, who's to say how long the work took you and how long you played Tetris on your phone. Not to mention, you'll do away with all the annoying coworker problems that the "adult" workplace is rife with.

The most important thing to remember is to be willing to walk away. It's okay to change jobs every semester, so if you don't like what you're doing now, wait it out and explain to them before winter break starts that your schedule is changing, so you'll have to find something new. Give the courtesy of letting your boss know two to four weeks before break, and plan on sticking it out till then and starting fresh in the next semester. This will leave them thinking well of you and set you up for a good referral. If you're worried how too many job changes will look on your resume, explain that it was by the semester student work, and it either ended, your schedule changed, or your living arrangement changed. These will all be perfectly acceptable reasons for leaving a job as long as you can also provide good recommendations from those supervisors.