Employment Opportunities

You should work for Rec Well!

University Recreation and Well-Being employs OU students in virtually every capacity, allowing our student staff to grow in their roles, developing and refining leadership skills. Additionally, we provide all student employees competitive salaries, a fun environment, and the opportunity to expand the transferable skills all employers seek no matter what their major may be. We offer work hours from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. Work hours are planned around employee schedules each semester, so they get an experience that will compliment their academic degree without sacrificing class or study time.

Rec Well’s main hiring periods are in February for the spring/summer semester as well as the fall semester and August for fall/winter semester

Complete the following steps to be considered for an interview:

1. Watch the Student Employee Recruitment Video below to learn more about the available positions:
   
   
   Transcript

   I love all the friendship and networking opportunities that the Rec Center has to offer, whether that being just making a secret handshake with my friends.

   I think of all the places to work on campus, this is definitely one of the best.

   Whether it's the actual employees at the Rec Center or just everyone that I get to interact with on a day-to-day basis, I've made some of my closest friends through this job.

   I feel like I'm close with everybody that works here no matter what department.

   The wellness ambassadors implement a bunch of different types of wellness into our programming, whether that be physical wellness, emotional wellness, social wellness. When it comes to the implementation of these dimensions of wellness, one of the ones that we focus on is emotional wellness. And some of our programs include pet therapy, rock painting for students, just things to improve the emotional well-being of the OU community. When it comes to our physical wellness dimension, we do a lot of nutrition coaching as well as just some sleep habit coaching. Oftentimes we work to promote the group X classes that the Rec Center has to offer as well. One thing that I love to focus on is public speaking and my boss granted me that opportunity to speak to some classes and talk about the Green Bandana Project and other mental health initiatives that the Rec Center has to offer. The Green Bandana Project really does a great job of bridging that gap between the OU community and OU services that are focused towards mental health. It's a great opportunity to not only increase your resume but also to improve some friendships, just create lasting bonds that you can carry out throughout your life.

   Day to Day is back in the office I would say. I work on my laptop a lot but it's all creative work. So any posters, flyers, handouts that the Rec Center you see on campus and in the Rec Center, anything print and then also on social media, all those posts that you see on OU Rec Well's Instagram that comes from me. So we use Adobe Illustrator a lot, Photoshop, InDesign. We use all the Adobe Cloud. I have a great mentor who works with me as well on design guidelines and what we're kind of looking for for the project. Definitely you have direct one-on-ones with your mentor or supervisor and I've learned so much about the graphic design field. In my opinion this is more of a professional setting so I've gotten things to put on my resume and I've gained so much experience firsthand seeing and hearing from them and their advice. You will grow so much as a graphic designer working in this position. From when I started two years ago to where my design skills are now, I've learned so so much.

   So typical day to day for me while I'm working on shift is about every every hour I have to do a shift count where I go around and I check to see how many people are on the south fields, the north fields, the stadium fields, tennis courts and the fire pit. I also have to make sure I'm monitoring the trashes, make sure everyone is doing what they're supposed to be doing on the fields, making sure that everyone on the fields is supposed to be on the fields with a reservation. Currently now since in the fall we're doing a drop-in times on weekdays I have to make sure on weekdays that people who do not have reservations are on the specific field for the drop time. They allow for you to do school work but also when you're at work you still have to do your job. But the thing is that everything's all good and you have some downtime either like you already checked everything's all clean everything. You have the opportunity to do school work which I think is great because the fact that allows you to keep track of what you're doing in school and not fall behind. So for this job I would say leadership is a huge one. You have to be able to do things on your own. That is part of the job is actually being out here is resolving situations and conflicts by yourself unless they get to the extreme point then you have to call somebody else. You have to be able to be assertive with certain situations where if someone is on the field and they cannot be and they are refusing to you have to make sure you stand your ground and be assertive and really be confident in yourself that you are doing your job correctly.

   So whenever I come into work I set up the courts or the fields or whatever and then we get into just officiating the sport that we are doing. Soccer, basketball, flag football, volleyball are big ones. Being official has taught me a lot about the kinds of things that I value but it's also kind of trained me for anything that I want in my career because it really highlights your communication skills. You have to know how to communicate with your co-workers in explaining a call that you made so that they can understand your perspective. You have to be able to communicate with participants to explain the call because they don't always agree with it. The entire Rec Well Sports department is a very collaborative group between all the supervisors. We're all friends. We all feel comfortable coming to each other with questions or asking advice or giving advice. Because of my experience working as an official I actually was promoted the following year into a supervisor and with that I was promoted into a program assistant which is the person who trains officials for all of our sports and they also deal with club sports.

   So at member services pretty much there's two positions. ID check-in, memberships. On memberships you sell products or memberships or day passes and on ID check you check people in make sure nobody's getting in without a valid membership or day pass. Also you have to answer customer questions if they have any questions about memberships or about the facility or anything related to the facility or even outside of the facility if they're related asking questions related to athletics you can help them with that as well. I get mentored by my supervisors. I'm able to learn a lot. There was something that I was working on like patience. I was able to work on that and you get to work with pretty much your friends so it's gonna be a really good time.

   Typically as a manager we go around we do occupancy counts so people know who's in the building. We also do spot cleaning to make sure that the building remains intact and presentable for our patrons. We also respond to necessary codes on a walkie. This position helps me develop more people skills. I have to talk to pretty much everybody in the building. The rec works around my class schedule and school is very important. I think that the hours are flexible and it makes coming here more exciting.

   It's a lot of scheduling with clients. There's a lot of communication that you have to do with text or email with clients to try to figure out what times work and then after that it's just about coming in here finding a time that works meeting with them and then getting the session done. So usually it'll just be a couple hours a day and the very nice part about it is it's really easy to fit that in between classes and stuff so in any given day I might go to two or three classes and then have a different job or something and then still be able to fit in during my little bit of free time like a client or two and that's really nice. It's giving me a lot of extra leadership skills. It's putting me in control of people's success in a lot of different fields and I feel like that's something that can definitely help me down the road.

   Well I'm very passionate about fitness. I love the environment here so it was very easy for me to like you know get accustomed to this job. Cleaning, monitoring the fitness center, spotting people whoever needs spotting, just being out there for people you know being helpful. Communication is probably the biggest one that I've developed and getting out of my comfort zone. For example I will not be willing to be interviewed, answer questions in front of a camera but now it's easy for me. Even when I first started working here I couldn't even talk in front of like two or three people but 20 or 30 seemed the same amount.

   So when I'm working it's nothing too serious. You're just up on the stand for 30 minutes and then you're down in the guard office for 30 minutes and you just have to keep watch over the pool and then at the end of a shift do checks of the chemicals and just pick up anything that's laying around the pool deck. I definitely think that being a lifeguard you develop a lot of interpersonal skills. We have our regular people that come in every day and they do their swims so you get to build relationships with people that you wouldn't build a relationship with outside of work. The easiest way to get certified is going onto the American Red Cross website and looking for lifeguard certification courses. In terms of getting a job while you're in school this is probably the best possible option you could do because it pays well. It's right on campus if you live on campus so you don't have to commute far or even if you do commute you can just work after your classes.

   I love working at the rec center. I love the people here and it's such a great place to start your journey and your career.

   I really enjoy the community and being able to stay in more involved with being at OU.

   I just thought it was going to be just a desk job and you know just to pay my weekly bills or whatever but it changed my life a lot.

   There's so many people who come into our facility and it's always nice to see new faces all the time.

2. Fill out the Rec Well Student Applicant Interest Form to be considered for an interview.
3. Stay tuned for recruitment events.
4. Email [email protected] with any questions about Rec Well student employment positions or the application process.

See each position below to learn more about all the student employment opportunities at University Recreation & Well-Being

Applications

All applicants are required to submit a Rec Well Student Applicant Interest Form. Applications are kept on file for one year.

Hired applicants will need to complete I-9, Michigan Tax Form, and Federal Tax Form and turn them into the Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships, 120 North Foundation Hall. Forms can be printed from the Financial Aid Student Employment web page.

Guidelines/Requirements for Internship Applicants

• Preference given to students with experience and/or coursework in Exercise Science or Wellness Health Promotion field.
• Interns are expected to make a one semester commitment. Two semesters are preferred (fall/winter, winter/summer, summer/fall). Scheduling and office hours are flexible depending on class schedules and required number of internship hours.
• Business casual attire is expected during office hours.
• Positive health habits are expected during internship commitment.
• This is an unpaid internship.

The Experience

Each experience is tailored to best fit each student’s personal interest in fitness, wellness, and health promotion. Students will participate in a variety of projects which will provide experience in many of the following areas:

• OU Wellness Fair development
• Health and wellness coaching
• Marketing
• Health and fitness screenings
• Website content development and review
• Campus and community outreach
• Programming for students, OU employees, and special groups
• Employee wellness
• Educational presentations
• Fitness Center equipment, staffing, and programming
• Health awareness initiatives
• Collaborations with campus partners
• Group exercise class implementation

Complete and submit:

• Cover letter (including specific goals and objectives for the internship experience)
• Resume
• Three references (academic and professional)

Consideration Deadlines:

• Fall/Winter consideration- application materials must be received by May 15 
• Winter/Summer consideration- application materials must be received by November 15
• Summer/Fall consideration- application materials must be received by March 15

Submit Applications electronically to Cortney Heileman, Assistant Director of Fitness and Well-Being.

Position: Marketing Graduate Assistantship
Status: Filled
Salary: $11,400 (September - April) with option to work May - August
Full In State and Out of State Tuition and Fees Paid
Location: Rochester, MI (Oakland University)

Applicant Minimum Requirements:

• Undergrad Degree with a minimum GPA of 3.0
• Admittance to an Oakland University Graduate Degree Program

How to Apply for a Rec Well Graduate Assistantship:

Please email a completed resume, with the names, email addresses, and telephone numbers of at least three professional references to the appropriate contact below.

Contacts:

• Emilie Kreger at [email protected]

Resources for Potential Applicants:

• Graduate Admissions
• Common degrees sought by Rec Well Graduate Assistants
  • M.S. in Exercise Science
  • Master of Education in Higher Education Leadership
  • Master of Public Administration
  • Training and Development
  • Business Administration
  • Teacher Certification Programs