By David King
Daily Bruin Contributor
“Help Wanted” signs may be in many Associated
Students of UCLA establishments come September, following a
shortage of student employees for the association.
On-campus restaurants and the UCLA Store suffered record low
numbers of student applicants during spring quarter, leaving many
jobs vacant.
In response, ASUCLA officials formed a summer-long task force
early in July to develop and propose a plan to resolve the
issue.
Though the association laid off 19 career employees in mid-June,
officials said there are no plans to lay off student employees.
The lack of student applicants is mainly caused by the changing
campus population, said Bob Williams, director of food services for
ASUCLA and also the head of the task force.
“The general feeling is that students today are more
focused on school,” he said.
Williams also said college students generally have options other
than on-campus employment.
“They are very sought-after employees, so it’s a
competitive market when trying to get students,” he said.
The task force is considering raising wages of specific student
positions, an idea Dario Bravo, assistant director of Internship
and Study Abroad Services, said is a must.
Most wages for starting positions currently displayed on the
association’s employment bulletin board fall between $6 and
$7 hourly.
“On-campus jobs are going to have to pay more,”
Bravo said. “They may have to be more competitive to get the
students they want.”
Bravo also said students turn to internships or career-oriented
jobs instead because they offer higher wages and workplace
experience. He added many are willing to intern without pay simply
to gain experience.
“(Internships) expose them to fields they’d like to
explore,” Bravo said. “Plus, a lot of the employers
will take these students as potential employees.”
With such competition in the job market, informing and
attracting more potential employees is the task force’s
primary goal, Williams said.
“We’re looking at what we think are the positive
parts of the job that we can point out to the students,” he
said. “We want to market better so that students are aware of
all these positives.”
Such incentives include a 20 percent UCLA Store discount for
ASUCLA employees, flexible scheduling and food coupons for
restaurant employees, said Patricia Eastman, executive director of
ASUCLA.
In addition to a greater marketing campaign, Eastman said
bonuses for referring other students for employment, early access
to textbooks and additional employee discounts are some features
the task force is considering.
Despite the benefits of working for ASUCLA, some student
employees like Saul Villeda, a second-year biology student, said
they only plan to work there a few months until they find another
job.
“There’s so many better jobs I could get,”
said Villeda, who started working in the UCLA Store stock room
three weeks ago. “I want to find something related to the
medical profession, for my post-graduate studies.”
Villeda said he enjoys working at the store, but feels it does
not offer the experience he needs for a future career.
But according to ASUCLA officials, many of its positions offer
managerial training and experiences comparable to those found off
campus.
“What many people don’t realize is that the vast
majority of our students are at some supervisor level, where they
are gaining valuable supervisor experience,” Williams
said.
The task force is expected to propose new benefits to the
association’s executive management group by the end of the
summer, Eastman said.
Meanwhile, ASUCLA restaurants have enough workers because fewer
are needed during the summer, Williams said. But he remains
concerned about filling student positions for fall quarter.
“For the summer we’re in pretty good shape, but
during the school year we’d like 100 more,” he
said.
According to Williams, campus restaurants such as the
Bombshelter and Northern Lights had roughly 100 vacant student
positions during spring quarter.
As in the past, these vacancies were eventually filled by
workers of an independent employment agency.
Hiring non-student workers costs the association more money due
to fees paid out to the agency in addition to paying employee
wages, Williams said.
The UCLA Store was also short-staffed during the spring and was
forced to hire outside help for student positions for the first
time in its history, Eastman said.
“Spring is always a difficult time to staff with
students,” she said, explaining students are more focused on
their studies by then.
“As the end of the school year approaches, academic
demands are more significant,” she said.