Multiple departments at Fresno City College are hiring student workers, giving opportunities to earn experience, work skills and some extra pocket money.

According to Heather Gray, office manager of Student Activities, every semester students are hired to work for Student Activities, Ram Pantry and Disabled Students Programs and Services (DSPS). 

“We are constantly cycling through students because we have people leaving when they finish their studies and transfer at the end of the year, they graduate with us and move on. So we are hiring new students,” Gray said.

Gray said it’s rare for a student worker to become ineligible due to their grades fall-off that results in a job loss. 

According to Gray, Student Activities’ main goal is retention whereas the College Activities department focuses on recruitment. 

“We are trying to keep the students engaged and provide the students real full bodied college experience while working on campus,” Gray said.

Benefits of working on campus as a student are working with the staff and faculty, meet new people, networking, assisting with events and outreach on campus. 

“You are not here just for academics. Academics is great and really important. The best part of college is having that community experience where you get to bounce ideas off each other and get to learn new things and gain new perspectives,” Gray said. 

Jasmine Wiget, a student aide at the DSPS office at FCC said “I enjoy working with a variety of students using American sign language, helping the deaf students and the work schedules are very flexible with my classes.” 

Wiget said being an interpreting major student, the work helps her gain experience. 

John Buchann, magnetic resonance imaging major and student aide at FCC’s DSPS office said, “The staff and the students are very friendly. The office is very caring for their students.”

There are multiple hiring steps starting with the interview, getting fingerprints for background checks at the SCCCD Police department on campus, and an updated TB test. 

Working on the campus makes it convenient for the student as the DSPS office also provides service hours and reference letters to the student aide, if required.  

Ram Pantry provides a necessary service on campus that helps students with food insecurity, and gives student workers the ability to work in a grocery store environment.

“Volunteer positions would work a certain amount of hours per month and also per semester. A lot of ASG members volunteer their hours at the Ram Pantry,” Gray said. 

The student aides who work at the Ram Pantry get paid minimum wage and up to 19 hours per week. The Federal Work-Study students also get paid based on the Work-Study program, plus it pays for their tuition, whereas CalWORKs is the only one that can provide 20 hours. 

The flyers help the students know about the hiring process and they also post it on their social media.