Communication studies senior Alex Halland has been working at the Cal Poly downtown store for more than two years and said the store is very accommodating to her class schedule. Halland said students who want to work and go to school at the same time should have good time management skills.
Amanda Margozzi
amandamargozzi.md@gmail.com
Landing a job in San Luis Obispo that is flexible with college students’ schedules may not be as frustrating to find as it seems.
While jobs open up downtown during the early summer when Cal Poly and Cuesta College students go home, late summer is also a prime time for hiring.
Communication studies senior Alex Halland has been working at Cal Poly Downtown since September 2010 and said she applied to the job by simply walking into the store and asking for an application.
“If people want to know where jobs are in SLO, they should look at Craigslist and if they want an even narrower search, MustangJOBS,” Halland said.
Halland said Cal Poly Downtown is extremely flexible with her class schedule and accommodates the schedules of all of the workers from Cal Poly and Cuesta.
During the school year, Halland has taken 16 units or more every quarter and worked up to 35 hours per week. She advises that people who want to work and go to school at the same time should have good time management skills and be able to keep balance in their lives.
Philosophy junior Erica Cruz began working at a Chipotle Mexican Grill in Studio City in summer 2011 and then transferred locations to San Luis Obispo in January 2012.
“Chipotle wouldn’t take me until after the break because there is a rule that you cannot take more than two weeks off at a time,” Cruz said. “But if you are willing to work over the winter break, I recommend applying in early September.”
Cruz has transferred between restaurants in Encino and San Luis Obispo and said neither of them were technically hiring but were willing to take her because she required no training.
“I decided to work at the Chipotle in SLO because I thought that it would be a good way for me to save money on groceries, since I am able to get food from Chipotle when I work a shift,” Cruz said.
Aside from downtown, working on campus is another popular option for students. These jobs are often more difficult to obtain since the location is more convenient for students without cars.
Anthropology and geography junior Rebecca Miller has worked at The Avenue for the past year and a half as a cashier and at Tapango’s Mexican food.
“The Ave works really well with my schedule and is closed during school vacations, so I have never had to worry about taking off time for breaks,” Miller said.