For most students, years spent in university or college aren’t about making money.
Tuition is the biggest financial commitment for students, but rent, textbooks and other expenses all add up as well.
Part-time jobs, summer employment, student loans and scholarship all help students afford the post-secondary life, but sometimes it’s still not enough.
That’s why a group of University of Waterloo students decided finding jobs for themselves was one thing, but finding jobs for other students could be just as rewarding.
They created uIntuition, a service which matches students looking for work with employers looking for help in certain specialized fields.
“The whole intention of uIntuition is to help students … so that they can work during their terms to help pay off their student debt,” says Nicole Papp, the company’s chief operating officer.
Papp and her co-workers benefit themselves from every student they’re able to find work for, though a sort of finder’s fee.
“It’s a commission basis, we take 15 per cent before $150 for the job and then 20 per cent when it’s over $150,” she explains.
Students like Chandan Vatish say they don’t mind handing over that cash in exchange for jobs they’d have never found on their own.
“If it wasn’t for this I would be looking for similar opportunities myself, but they wouldn’t be so easy to come by as they are with uIntuition,” he says.
“(The pay) can be more than any co-op job that I can currently get can give.”
But it’s not just about money. Papp is quick to point out that students get plenty of other advantages in exchange for a portion of their pay.
“It’s essentially not only making the money, but building their resume and making sure that they’re getting professional development at the same time,” she says.
Vatish is quick to agree, rhyming off networking, future job prospects and relationship-building as three other advantages of the service.
Tutoring, design and photography – the last of which is Vitish’s specialty – are just a few of the areas where uIntuition matches temporary employees and employers.
The company says it hopes to expand to other parts of Ontario before long.