Collegiate office assistants perform routine tasks such as answering phones, filing, duplicating documents, typing reports and running errands. Office assistants can also provide help coordinating and staffing on-site and off-site school events.
Enthusiastic students help organize and create new systems to make busy offices run more efficiently. This type of experience helps the departments they work in and gives the students valuable lessons in the practice of professional environments.
Campus bookstores are busy places. They require the services of cashiers, inventory clerks, shelf and display stocking, customer service, general maintenance and computer input. Working in a college bookstore can give new students exposure to different subject matters and disciplines they may not have seen if they had only pursued their intended coursework. An added benefit is that the student will have ample occasion to interact with customers and practice the basics of customer service.
Students proficient in keyboard skills and basic computer knowledge would be eligible for clerical data-entry positions in a variety of college departments. Areas such as the registrar's office, financial aid office, payroll department or other data-intensive work stations need assistance carrying the heavy workloads of data entry to keep records current and operations running smoothly. When positions like these are administered through the computer technology department, students may gain exposure to higher-level computer skills in light-apprentice positions.
College research assistants can be responsible to perform various tasks from clerical help to apprentice lab work in the area of study that interests the student. These are some of the most coveted jobs on campus because of the direct exposure they can offer to a student's desire coursed work and future career path. Various skills will be required for different jobs; however, the best candidates would have solid computer skills and good internet research techniques.