Odd jobs pay the bills

After sitting for six hours with a wired cap on her head, Boston University sophomore Sophia Gutierrez made a contribution to science and earned her own award: a cool $90.

Gutierrez, a Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences sophomore, was taking part in a brain stimulation research study at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center after finding the job on BU’s Quickie Job Service website, which is a free short-term job listing for BU students.

‘I just wanted some sort of income, but didn’t want to commit to anything,’ she said. ‘They explained it to me over the phone beforehand, and they can’t really do harmful stuff during a study.’

Though most of the Jobs posted on Quickie Job Listings are standard positions like ‘Administration Work’ and ‘House Cleaning,’ more unusual jobs, like Gutierrez’s brain research on dandruff studies, find their way onto the list and manage to attract students.

Gutierrez said she was so satisfied with the $8 an hour she received for participating in this study that she became a research participant a second time for a different electrical brain stimulation study at Beth Israel.

Student Job Service Program Coordinator Colleen Courtney said in an email that she strongly urges students to ‘use good judgment when accepting a position’ from the Quickie Job Listings.

‘Although we do review every job prior to being posted, we do not perform background checks on employers,’ Courtney said. ‘If we feel that a job posting will not be a good opportunity for students, we choose to err on the side of caution by not listing the posting.’

Quickie Job Listings has been a service at BU for 25 years, and has been available online to students through Student Link for more than 10 years, Courtney said.

‘Quickie is an excellent way for students to put money in their pockets while choosing when and where to work,’ Courtney said.

In the past, students have dressed as mascots for advertising companies, manned the Sports Museum at TD Banknorth Garden, hung holiday decorations overnight at the CambridgeSide Galleria and bunched flowers for the New England Spring Flower Show, Courtney said.

School of Education sophomore Kerri Furbush said she usually looks at the Research and Focus Groups listings first, because ‘they’re the easiest for the most amount of money.’

‘I got paid $150 to walk around BU Barnes & Noble for three hours for a research study,’ Furbush said. ‘All I had to do was pick out BU merchandise and clothes that I liked.’

Furbush accepted a second Quickie Job at Catering on the Charles shortly after the study, which helped her acquire a permanent position at the company, she said.