What my summer was like as a work-study student

After working for a year through the University Works program, I decided to apply for the summer work-study position. Here’s what my experience was like.

Difference in hours

I’m going to be completely honest, I was kind of nervous about what the summer work-study term would look like for me. Going from only 10 hours a week during the school year to 35 hours a week, I didn’t know what the difference in hours was going to be like. Would I be able to focus for a whole day? Luckily I quickly adapted to this difference and actually began to enjoy it leading to my next point…

Productivity

Having longer workdays meant I was able to get more done! During my work-study term during the year, I would work 2.5 hours 4 days a week which meant I really had to make those 2.5 hours count. There are so many parts to my job that in my 2.5-hour workdays, the process would be super fragmented. Like maybe I started writing out the details of a project one day but wouldn’t be able to work on breaking it down until the next day. If I wanted to get it all done in one shift I’d have to work super quickly or risk losing my ideas and train of thought.

But the great thing about longer workdays was that I could work at a more relaxed pace and get things all done by the end of the day. So this was amazing for productivity! 

Taking breaks 

Another thing I was worried about as I mentioned above was the focus. Would I be able to focus for an entire workday? Having lunch breaks and mid-day breaks was so awesome. That’s something I didn’t experience with my work-study position during the school year because I was working such short hours each day. I really appreciated the breaks! It can also be super draining to stare at a computer for hours at a time and our supervisors were aware of that. They always encouraged us to take breaks when we needed them!

Communication 

Since usually everyone is working different shifts during the school year, it was nice to know that as summer work-study students we were all generally working the same hours. We made group chats to stay in touch with each other during work hours which was fun! Our team also had weekly meetings which were fun to attend!

All the best with your work-study positions! I hope you have a great time working this summer!