Wanted: Frustrated Job-Seeking Students With Complicated Schedules

By Vallen Driggers on September 8, 2016

Many people know all too well how difficult it can be to find a job that works for you, or even a job at all for that matter. Finding one that you don’t hate AND that works with your schedule? Must be near impossible.

Moving to Tallahassee, I was determined to find a job that helped pay the bills but that I didn’t have to hate and it wouldn’t hurt if I didn’t have to work weekends. It seems crazy to ask for so much in a part-time job, I know. Places like AMC Theaters and Barnes & Noble were my top choices, but I was willing to look at just about anything. I lost track of the number of resumes I sent in.

Is anyone relating to this yet?

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Admittedly, I slowed my search a bit as I started my first semester at FSU as to not overburden myself and ensure that I could handle a full course load as well as a part-time job. Months passed, and I had still received only negative responses from my job applications or, worse still if you ask me, I had not heard back from some of them at all. I started my second semester, now again devoted to finding somewhere that I could fit into the working world.

And then I saw it.

I found the answer I’ve been looking for in an FSU bathroom stall.

A flyer on the inside of the door promised flexible hours, competitive pay, and a convenient location, and all you have to do is type fast!

You better believe I snapped a picture of that real fast.

The company is Student Business Services of Tallahassee (SBST). Having never heard of this before, I did some Googling naturally, only to find … well, not a lot. If you follow my lead, you will find one and only one search result that does you any good at all. Maybe a little sketch, you might think, and, let me tell you, I was right there with you. But I decided to apply first, ask questions later.

So what would this intriguing yet semi-shady job opportunity require of you?

First and foremost, how is your typing? If you’re like me, you haven’t had your typing speed measured since early high school, if ever. People have often commented on how quickly I type, but to me it seemed more like they merely typed exceedingly slow. Regardless, the application provides a link to a test to measure your typing speed. I believe the ideal speed for this job is around 60 words per minute.  I clocked in at right about that. Step one, done.

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Are you old enough to buy a lottery ticket? Could you work for more than six months at this job? Do you know the difference between your and you’re? Have you literally ever laid hands on a computer before? And, here’s where it gets touch for some people, can you type without looking at the keyboard? Personally, I can. Although, if you were to ask me at any given time where a specific key is located, I would probably struggle a bit. It’s almost purely muscle memory at this point.

But if you meet the mark on those very simple qualifications, well get on board, friend. Apply now. That’s what I did.

It wasn’t until I got invited in for an interview (!!!) that I even told my mom about this “SBST.” And, like most moms, I imagine, she proceeded to ask a lot of questions about a place that, on the surface, didn’t seem to have a lot of answers. But after she spoke to someone that worked there and decided this place was not some kind of undercover drug ring, she cleared me to go to the interview. Well, actually, she still had my aunt drive by the place to see how it looked first. But eventually she cleared me for duty.

The interview was simple, just another typing test and a few simple questions to make sure you’re aware of what is going to be asked of you.

So what’s with all the secrecy? Well it turns out that, working here, you would be processing sensitive information sent in largely from financial advisors. Full disclosure, you can’t even have your phone or anything at the computer with you while you’re working simply because you will be hearing people’s monetary status and they can’t have you writing down account numbers or how much money Mr. and Mrs. Smith are leaving their kids in their will.

And that’s largely what this job is, typing out financial dictations.

Oh yeah, spoiler alert, guys. If you hadn’t inferred as much by the mere fact that I’m writing this article, I GOT THE JOB. So, I am officially your girl on the inside. And I can’t tell you what a blessing this job is. You make your own schedule, and the better you get (and you do get better), the more you get paid. And I essentially get to edit people’s grammar all day, so it’s not a bad gig for an English major, but anyone with a basic grasp of the English language can do it.

So if you don’t mind not being able to talk to your friends about everything that happened at work today (which is not that hard anyway because I guarantee you will forget almost everything you type), then y’all hit up this opportunity pronto. I personally think this job was made for me.  Getting paid without having to endure endless hours of social interaction? Yes, please.

So if you think you’ve got what it takes and you’re as tired as I was of the relentlessly looking for a job, you can go to https://www.sbstlh.com/ to apply now, and you can put me down on your application as how you heard about this.

Hope to see you soon, co-worker!

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