Nearly a third of NIU students each year flip burgers and push paper in jobs with the university.

Melody Amundsen, NIU student employment coordinator, said about 8000 of NIU’s nearly 25,000 students find work on campus annually.

Between 3000 and 3500 students at one time are employed by NIU during the academic year. About 1500 students are employed during the summer, Amundsen said.

The biggest employer of students at NIU is the food service department at the residence halls, Amundsen said.

NIU Food Service Director Robert Frederickson said his department employs between 600 and 700 people at one time, depending on the success of recruiting efforts.

Mark Cinkus, the Lincoln Hall assistant student manager, said the food service jobs in his hall are about 90 percent filled.

The worst time to find help is in spring since most of the people looking for jobs found them in the fall, he said. More than half of their staff returns each semester so there is always a “real good mix” of experienced and new staff, he said.

Students work three to four hour shifts at either breakfast, lunch or dinner and generally are able to work as many shifts as they need according to their after-school activities.

The starting wage for the food service jobs is $4.40 an hour, Frederickson said. “I believe that’s higher than any other campus starting job,” he said.

Amundsen said some computer department jobs pay more but require experience. For students with no prior job experience food service offers the highest starting salary, she said. Clerical jobs start out at the lowest rate—$3.80 an hour.

Clerical jobs, however, are one of the most popular jobs at NIU, Amundsen said. Library jobs also are often requested, she said. Most students want jobs that relate to their major in some way, she said.

For example, the biology department always needs people to clean the chicken cages in the biology department, Amundsen said.