As the 2009-10 academic year winds down amid a storm of final papers and exams, Boston University students face their next challenge: finding summer employment.
Ideally, students said they would like to find some sort of employment that fits into their major, but many will take jobs to earn money instead.
Riley Murkett, a manager at Stephanie’s on Newbury, a restaurant on Newbury Street, said that this year’s pool of applicants to the restaurant is older than usual.
“Possibly people have been laid off from more corporate jobs and are trying to make fast cash,” he said. “But we do get a lot of college students &- most go to BU or Northeastern [University].”
He said the restaurant was not suffering from a dearth of applicants.
“We get tons of applications every day, anywhere from five to 20,” he said. “Because we’re such a seasonal restaurant, we have a patio that people use when it’s nice out, we double our staff for the summer.”
He added that the restaurant requires three years of experience from its employees.
Jerome Vergere, maitre d’ at La Voile, a restaurant also on Newbury Street, said that although he was not entirely sure how many people have applied to work for the summer, more were needed.
“We’re definitely looking for some help for the summer, but not as many as I wish [have applied],” he said.
He added that fewer people applied to work than last year, but he did not know why.
He said that applicants should have extensive knowledge about wine and cheese and preferably speak French in order to be eligible to work at La Voile.
Many BU students agreed that finding summer employment was especially difficult this year, and some added that they did not think BU was being particularly helpful in assisting students in finding jobs.
College of Arts and Sciences senior Laurie Jensen said that she will be working for BU’s undergraduate research office this summer, a job she had held for three years. She said that she will also be running summer research programs and maintaining the office’s website.
On the other hand, those without summer jobs to return to said finding summer employment was significantly more difficult than last year.
College of Engineering senior Mandela Kiran said that he has not found a job yet but is still searching.
“I’m looking around Charlestown, but I think it’s slightly more difficult than last year,” he said.
ENG senior Bhupendra Nagpure agreed that finding a job was a struggle.
“I’m looking into anything to do with engineering and education. I’ve been applying to jobs, but it’s hard to get interviews,” he said.
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