Whether you’re a newer student trying to fund your first adventures in Miami Beach or an upperclassman who has spent too much money at 5:00 am in Club Space, many of us have found ourselves browsing JobX looking for any kind of side hustle.
JobX is the student employment website for the University of Miami, and it allows students to apply for both on-campus and off-campus positions through the university.
I remember hunting on the site in the second semester of my freshman year after I learned about the Miami freshman 15 also known as having only $15 left in your back account.
A few weeks later, I turned to Indeed and found myself scooping rice and beans at the Coral Gables Chipotle because JobX left me no other options.
Many of my friends have suffered the same fate: getting frustrated by JobX and turning to another site to find work off-campus. The common thread seems to be a lack of clarity with the student employment process.
The University’s Office of Student Employment didn’t reply to requests for comment for this article.
At first, JobX seems like a one stop shop for all of your on-campus jobs. The UM Office of Student Employment website says it contains every student job on campus.
This first confusing point occurs when you navigate to the site and begin to apply. You are quickly asked to categorize yourself into one of the three programs: Federal Work Study, Student Assistant Program, and Lead Miami.
Each category serves a different set of students, so it is important to understand how they work. However, most students don’t.
Their lack of understanding isn’t due to a lack of information — all of the following information is available via the UM Office of Student Employment website — but a lack of clarity on the part of JobX and the University.
JobX isn’t Indeed or ZipRecruiter, a site where all types of applicants will be fitted with a job right for them, and the Office of Student Employment needs to clarify this to students.
I remember thinking my rejection from all of these positions on JobX was due to the fact that I was unqualified or inexperienced, but a lot of it was because the Office of Student Employment never explained the JobX process.
The current set-up of JobX gives an advantage to applicants in Lead Miami and the Federal Work Study (FWS) program, but most students fall into either the FWS program or the Student Assistant Program.
FWS is awarded to students who meet the criteria through their Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and check the box opting in to FWS.
FWS is federally funded, meaning the U.S. Government pays FWS employee wages. But funding is limited, so many on-campus employers pay part of the FWS employees wages.
Lead Miami, on the other hand, is an invitation-only program open to incoming freshmen. Those who are invited have to apply to the program when they first get accepted into UM.
After acceptance, the program matches the student to an on-campus job of their interest according to the UM Student Employment website.
The Student Assistant Program is essentially for everyone else who wants a job.
Applicants from the Student Assistant Program are the last choice for most on-campus employers, according to the UM Student Employment website, but this isn’t generally known information.
Since UM departments pay in full for employees from the Student Assistant Program, they will be much more likely to select an applicant from the other programs where they don’t have to pay their full wages.
On top of this, more than 6,000 UM students were awarded FWS for the 2022-2023, about half of the undergraduate population.
That doesn’t mean all students awarded FWS are applying and working on-campus jobs, since it is unclear how many opted into the program on FAFSA or are actively applying to on-campus jobs.
But with about 5,500 students working on campus and FWS applicants being the most attractive due to lower wage costs for the employer, it can be assumed they take many of the on-campus positions.
Therefore, when combining jobs taken by both FWS and Lead Miami, there is not much left for those who do not qualify for the two programs, leaving about the other half of the university looking for jobs.
Miami does offer off-campus student employment through JobX, but on-campus jobs are hard to beat with their accessibility to campus and wages going directly into student’s accounts.
The advantages FWS and Lead Miami students have for on-campus jobs is another debate in itself, but those who are struggling to find a job on JobX shouldn’t beat themselves up about it.
JobX isn’t a typical job recruitment site, and its partnership with FAFSA makes it complicated for almost all students, whether they are on financial aid or not.
It is time for the Office of Student Employment, along with JobX, to communicate with students and better explain the student employment process so future applicants don’t run into problems.