By Jessica Mazze
If you’re looking to earn some money while you study, then consider applying for a job through Career Boost—a program coordinated by the university to offer students the convenience of working on campus.
“Career Boost offers [students] the ability to find employment on campus to help support their financial needs while building transferable skills,” said Thoywell Hemmings, senior manager, Career Integrated Learning at the Ryerson Career and Co-op Centre.
In order to get a job on campus, you’ll need to see if you’re eligible for Career Boost by finding the right application form according to your student status.
“We have dedicated positions for domestic undergraduate, domestic graduate, Faculty of Law and international students. Students can access these opportunities on our website with their my.ryerson credentials,” said Hemmings.
How does Career Boost work?
In an email to The Eyeopener, Hemmings said undergraduate students must be Canadian citizens or permanent residents of Ontario to apply for Career Boost. They must also have a full-time course load which equates to three classes at the university per term.
Domestic students must have a clear academic standing and minimum GPA of 2.00 to be approved for Career Boost. Students who have applied for the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP) or a student line of credit are eligible for the program or if they fund their studies through a registered education savings plan (RESP).
International students, as well as graduate and law students, have their own application for Career Boost, making the program accessible to a wide variety of students.
According to Hemmings, the Career Boost international eligibility checklist states that an international student must hold a valid study permit from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada and a valid social insurance number. Course load expectations are the same as undergraduate students.
The benefits of an on-campus job
“One of the key benefits to working on-campus rather than off-campus is that your work can fit more easily around your study schedule,” said Hemmings.
The Career Boost program provides students the convenience of having their study space and work space in near proximity.
“Going into first-year university, I didn’t have a job, so I was looking for some money,” said Francis Humarang, a third-year new media student. Humarang is a production assistant at the Andy Kufluk Equipment Distribution Centre (EDC), an on-campus site where students from The Creative School can rent production equipment.
Initially, he was going to apply for jobs around the campus to take shifts after his classes. It wasn’t until he received an email from the school explaining the opportunities of working on campus through Career Boost that he considered applying.
When the pandemic hit and universities across the country closed down, Career Boost jobs were forced to transition to online work. For Humarang, the transition was seamless.
“I ended up working the summer position last year, so those of us who worked at the EDC had a few weeks off. By the time the summer work term started, they had everything figured out.”
Humarang spent that summer and the following school year working from home to create online tutorials and instructional videos for students to access online since they could no longer come to campus for assistance.
“One of the key benefits to working on-campus rather than off-campus is that your work can fit more easily around your study schedule”
Other students have also benefitted working from home such as Kashvi Sinha, a third-year business management student who found her current job through the program.
“One of my friends had a Career Boost job during the school year,” said Sinha, who is a project assistant at Magnet, an innovation program started at Ryerson University.
Sinha wanted a job that would not only offer her a flexible work schedule, but some time off during the exam season. In January, she had applied for multiple jobs at various banks as a way to apply her skills from her program, but there were no responses.
She then applied through the Career Boost portal, which is how she found Magnet.
“It’s been a good experience. I had heard about the company when I had attended a career and co-op centre webinar,” says Sinha, who now works as an assistant for Magnet’s engagement team.
Anshuman Mamgain is also a project assistant at Magnet. Like Sinha, he heard about the Career Boost program through a friend and applied for the spring and summer term.
The fourth-year mechanical engineering student wanted to find a job in his field of study, but couldn’t find the right fit due to the pandemic.
“It was specifically to find jobs based on careers, especially for engineering. Engineering jobs are on the decline right now,” says Mamgain.
While Mamgain chose to work in roles related to research, marketing and public speaking, Sinha worked with the marketing team and had opportunities to work with the legal department.
“I’m in law and business, Magnet really has one legal representative but the manager made sure that I could at least hop on a call with her,” says Sinha.
Both Mamgain and Sinha agree that they are thankful for the professional network they have established working at Magnet. Both students will be returning to work with the company part-time during the school year.
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