Features Editor
Photo Justine Borie
I look back at the extensive list of work experience that encompasses my past eight years of commitment with great pride. Adding a new job title and description to my résumé is always a timely, but worthy task as I reflect on the skills I acquired and staff members whom I befriended. As an eat-well, play-well, live-well type of girl, I have always seen the importance and benefits of working from a young age.
I’ve held positions ranging from assistant for a corporate philanthropy CEO to record label intern to your very own journalist and Features Editor of The Bottom Line newspaper. The wide diversity of each experience is a driving motive behind my love of work.
Through these numbered opportunities I learned the rewards and costs that come from jobs within the nonprofit, fashion, music industries and beyond. While school jobs serve as a way to stay involved and adventure as I please, summer positions have taught me the fields I enjoy and those I dislike. I’ve thus reassessed my own goals for the future and discovered the background knowledge and qualifications I will need for my ideal career.
The pursuit of such a discovery also comes with the added bonus of co-workers, which for me, can easily make or break the satisfaction of a job.
“Having good co-workers, especially ones who are considered friends, gives you energy you can feed off,” said University of California Santa Barbara alumnus Greg Goodwin. “If you enjoy working with your peers and you’re all working towards the same goal, then it is more like a family since everyone is invested in the same cause.”
I’m a firm believer in jobs that not only look good on paper, but aren’t a burden to dread thanks to the social aspect. And while I may be preaching my pro-job opinion, I’ll be the first to admit that I often complain while getting ready for a shift. However, being scheduled for Sunday morning is bearable when in good company to recap the Isla Vista weekend. It’s even better when the people you’re laughing with are the ones in the pictures from late Halloween night eating pizza and drinking margaritas. Now that’s what I like to call good employee bonding.
Apart from the résumé and relationships, all students attempting to survive on the typical college budget have a job for the obvious reason of an income to support whatever habits they possess. Although extra money is motivation for employment, it is not the exclusive reason I enjoy my jobs. I’m fortunate to admit that when the going gets tough, my parents are the first people to remind me that my commitments are plenty and work is beneficial, but dispensable.
While this is nice to be reminded, I appreciate the independence that comes with being able to fund whatever fits my fancy without the guilt of relying on my parents. Impulse purchase? Sure. Vegas? Why not. Coachella? You know it. To know the savings needed to travel the world aren’t going to magically appear is inspiration enough to get out of bed and out the door.
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