Working part-time jobs or taking the odd gig for some money is as commonplace in the college experience as frat parties. However, as any career-seeking college student will discover, the opportunities that may maintain a good resume are not always the ones that maintain your rent money.
In the fields of journalism and media specifically, the job landscape is rapidly changing which requires students to devote more time to building their bodies of work. In years past a paid internship or school-related job might suffice to cover gas, groceries, and other common college expenses. But for many young journalists and media professionals, the margins between the cost of living and the price of chasing your passions are simply too thin.
Like many students studying journalism or otherwise I have an internship and a few other places I can submit paid work. I am a transfer student due to graduate in the fall. While it has taken me a few schools and a few years to get my degree. I have been able to witness and participate in the wide range of opportunities available to students both on and off campuses and have seen the financial difference between shaking hands and getting your hands dirty.
With that being said, after looking back at the past few weeks of my work both paid and unpaid I had a funny realization when it came to the scale of the value of my labor in a series of unrelated jobs.
For context my background is in food so often when offered a random day of work, if it isn’t helping someone move it’s helping someone cater an event. Aside from that my past semester has been spent working intently on the building blocks of my early career as a journalist.
So when a friend of a friend asked me to help with a pop-up pizza sale for charity a few weeks back I was reluctant at first but soon happy to have an excuse to do anything other than school work. Going into it I thought I would only be manning the register or playing a relatively minor role in the operation. It wasn’t until the first handful of pizzas were made by my hand had I considered it a work day.
Expecting to walk out of the event with a sense of good karma, a clean split of the profit in the form of $200 greeted me after the friend had given 20% of the profit to the organization hosting us. In hindsight, asking about pay in this scenario should’ve been my first question when asked if I would help. But for four hours of my personal time, the risk was worth it as that would’ve been the most per hour I would have ever made at a job.
For comparison’s sake, my paid internship at an online publication gives me a biweekly paycheck ranging from two to three hundred dollars depending on my availability. To further the comparison, I submit work at a grant-funded publication that is only able to pay $250 once a month.
My situation is far from an outlier, I know myself and many of the people I have worked with love what we do and find meaningful purpose in our respective passions and practices.
One of the biggest issues we face as young journalists isn’t necessarily the rise of AI or the constant restructuring of news organizations. It is the financial incentives given to us through things like the service industry on weekends or the barrage of law enforcement offers at job fairs that distract us and the world at large from developing impactful journalism and media.
Oftentimes as young people, we think about costs only in regards to immediate transactions. Transferring a few grand to the school for tuition, receiving a wad of 20s in exchange for some old novelty collection, or getting what amounts to the value of a moderate grocery trip in exchange for a few weeks’ work.
There is a middle ground that can be walked between a high-paying odd job and a more prestigious internship or volunteer position. As students, we need to seek out our side jobs with the same intention that we find our passion projects/dream jobs with.
The phrase “work-life balance“ is thrown around a lot in the professional world and it’s often that the people who give their lives entirely to their work are the ones front and center of the conversation. Take Stephen A. Smith’s visit to campus earlier this semester, he admittedly took time away from raising his family in order to further his career.
While I am not advocating for anyone to abandon their loved ones in pursuit of a prime time slot on ESPN, there is something to be said about letting your passions encompass you.
As early career journalists we need to change our frame of reference when it comes to time and cost. While a gig serving drinks or making pizza in my case might seem like it distracts from academic and professional pursuits, in reality, it aids in shaping perspective and helps to develop a niche that may help anchor you in the increasingly vast world of journalism.
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