Student Assistent for the OS Department by Maartje Hermans

Hi everyone,

My name is Maartje Hermans and I just finished my bachelor Organization Studies. Since September I work as a student assistant within the department of Organization Studies. You might wonder how it is to work here and why I made the choice to work there. Well, I hope to give you some answers on these questions!

I wanted to do something extra next to my study and active student life, something which challenges me more than my ‘usual’ work in hospitality. Being a student. assistant within the department of Organization Studies felt like a great opportunity to challenge myself, since you are actually lecturing workgroups and grade papers and/or assignments from people who are about your age.

When looking back I can say with certainty that I have learned from it and that it did not feel like ‘urgh I have to go to work :(’. I really enjoyed it because you get to do diverse tasks, e.g. lecturing a workgroup, grading assignments, helping to organize the Matching Day. You feel like you are contributing to something and that gives you more of a sense of responsibility and satisfaction.

What I learned most about this experience is presenting in front of a group of people and to be able to answer (difficult) questions on spot. You become more and more confident in front of a group (of students)., which can be very valuable in your future career.

Being a student assistant is a flexible job and the workload is divided. One week you will host a workgroup, and another week you are grading assignments. This also depends on the courses you are assigned to. With some courses you will not work the 8 hours per week (as stated in your contract). The coordinator of the student assistants sometimes receives extra tasks or requests for student assistants, and he/she will distribute these tasks among the students who have some hours left. But you will never work more than the hours as stated in your contract!

I would definitely recommend applying for a job as student assistant because it is a fun, educational but also doable job to do next to your studies. If you have any further questions or you want to know a bit more about it, you may always contact me via m.j.hermans@tilburguniversity.edu or +31621400629!

This was written by Maartje Hermans