Friday, March 29, 2024

Local options for students seeking job opportunities

<p>Communication junior Kelly Crawford works as a barista on Aug. 29, 2015, at the Red Cedar Cafe, 1331 E. Grand River Ave., in East Lansing. Courtney Kendler/The State News</p>

Communication junior Kelly Crawford works as a barista on Aug. 29, 2015, at the Red Cedar Cafe, 1331 E. Grand River Ave., in East Lansing. Courtney Kendler/The State News

Photo by Courtney Kendler | The State News

One off-campus business benefiting from hiring students is the Red Cedar Cafe on Grand River Avenue.

Mechanical engineer junior Will Martyka serves as the general manager of the Red Cedar Cafe. As an MSU student himself, Martyka understands the importance of hiring students to help run his business.

“With where we are located, being so close to campus, a huge part of our customer base is students,” Martyka said. “I think a huge part of employing students is integrating ourselves into the MSU community, because the MSU community is predominantly students.”

Communication junior Kelly Crawford said she finds easily fits her work schedule with her class hours.

“It keeps me busy,” Crawford said. “It doesn’t take away from my school work because they’re good with my hours.”

But for some students, leaving campus to work off-campus could prove troublesome, especially during the winter season.

Those students are the ones that could be found working on-campus jobs throughout the school year.

Student Employment Program Manager for MSU’s Residential and Hospitality Services Sarah Wescott said MSU Culinary Services employs up to 3,500 students during the school year at the 21 Sparty’s locations and in all 11 dining halls across campus.

“Student employment is vital to our operations,” Wescott said. “We’re happy to employ on-campus students as well as those who live off campus.”

However, even with the added benefit of hiring local students, many businesses across East Lansing have faced multiple hardships when it comes to summer staff. Retaining employees during the summer season is just one of those problems cited by business owners like Martyka.

“Essentially, (the employees) will do anything to get out of East Lansing after they’ve been studying for two semesters at a time,” Martyka said.

Wescott, however, has found ways to keep MSU Culinary Services thriving during the slower summer season — not every Sparty’s nor cafeteria on campus is open to the public, making it easier for MSU Culinary Services to operate during the summer.

Some businesses, though, have decided to leave East Lansing.

GrandRiver Coffee Cafe ceased business this past June, following the popular hot dog joint What Up Dawg? from just one month prior.

Mediterranean restaurant Woody’s Oasis also ceased operations in July.

These local places have now been replaced by restaurant chains.

However, that hasn’t stopped Martyka from flourishing in his business.

“I’ve had people come in every single day tell me that now that GrandRiver Coffee Cafe is closed, they’re looking for that new place to come and study,” Martyka said. “I think that the students are looking to fill the hole that (GrandRiver Coffee Cafe) has left, and it definitely seems like a number of them are coming here.”

Wescott said on-campus job opportunities are still being offered to MSU students.

“We are in the midst of our hiring peak right now,” Wescott said. “While (MSU) Culinary Services is definitely the area where we’re doing the most of our hiring right now.”

Need more info on finding a job on-campus? Visit jobs.rhs.msu.edu for details.

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