research assistant

graduate assistant

teaching assistant

student assistant

graduate researcher

Illinois Institute of Technology

I worked at the advancement office of Illinois Institute of Technology, which had very poor leadership and culture. There was a group of favorites in the office, who had no vital fundraising function, whom the vice-president doted on, and who made pictures mocking at least four different women—legally qualifying the office as a hostile work environment. People were regularly overtly hostile to one another, and the vice-president encouraged the staff to "tattle" on one another, which resulted in people constantly bringing her negative stories about rivals they wanted to oust. People made openly sexist and racist comments. Layoffs were common due to the poor financial condition of the university and the failure of the office to bring in big gifts. High performers were laid off—one skilled gift processor was laid off because she was surly toward her manager after not being allowed to take a full week's vacation over four years. She was a single mother, and her son lost his tuition coverage. It was the most anti-intellectual university office I have ever worked in. Former coworkers of mine from other universities told me the office has one of the worst reputations of any development department in the Chicago area.

A typical day at work is never the same, which makes my job all the more exciting.  I work on data requests, manage the student workers and make sure that they complete urgent projects in addition to routine projects. I also take care of the staff office requests from small to urgent in the effort of helping the office run as efficiently as it possibly can.

I've gained management skills that help me in both my professional and personal life.

Management has taught me to have patience and to become a better listener. It has also taught me to never assume in any situation.

I appreciate working with a diverse group of people from ethnicity to a wide range in age differences.

The hardest part of my job would have to be time management because there's just not enough hours in the work day to complete everything, but this is where effective prioritizing comes into play.

The most enjoyable part of my job is watching the students grow into professional adults. In addition to this, I truly love listening to the Alumni share their college stories and commend us on the things that we are doing great as well as the things that they are not so happy with.

This program was a well good experience since we monitor kids to take testing. Make sure that the environment is well suited for them while testing. This is my first time working with them and they have a good foundation to where they want all the kids to do well in their testing for them to go off to good schools. I've learned a lot from this program, from how testing works to making sure that the students have people that are looking out for them to make it into good schools. Co-workers are all great and get along with each other. Keeping a positive environment to keep the atmosphere up high. From all of this, I would say the hardest part of the job would be the early mornings and having parents who don't have manners but it wouldn't be a big deal since we are told how to act when having those situations. Although this job may have some hard moments, overall I enjoy it because it gives me the opportunity to help others in a way for them to have a good educational future.

IIT has so much potential but it will never be able to compete with other tech universities due to the bad culture and poor leadership. The school's highly paid executives allow low-performing, incompetent staff members to remain employed despite the damage it does to departments. There is a general "this is the way we've always done things" attitude among staff and faculty that stifles progress and growth. With the exception of a few offices and buildings, most of the schools facilities are falling apart. I should have followed my gut instinct when the offer letter I received from human resources was wrinkled and had a coffee cup stain on it. On my very first day, I was already planning my exit strategy.

A typical day at work was to continue your research, do what you know kinda attitude from your professor as long as the work is done before the deadline. 

Things learned during my research is how to apply my fundamental knowledge in chemical engineering to different problems and make it more sustainable

Co-workers were from different fields and I had to apply my management skills and understanding to get my points across

The hardest part of the job was time management because everyone had different issues to take care of and no one could be there on time during group meetings

The best part of the job is the pure satisfaction of winning awards and watching people appreciate your work. achievements like winning a silver medal for my water research theme, winning First place in sustainability for storm water management, and finalist for the clean energy competition.

Processed payroll starting at 8:30am until 4:30pm, Monday thru Friday until semester end. Fall, Spring and Summer.

Timelines and deadlines are a must for Payroll processing.
managing work study students

Everything, from accounting, payroll. invoices, DS-2019's, Visa Status, I-9 processing information, data entry, customer service, purchasing, catering, organizing and setting up events for more than 100 people. database management for the Thermal Processing Centers memberships, mass mailings for events or functions..organizing summer camps for the Materials Engineering Program.

assisting visitors, staff, faculty and students, while trying to meet Payroll deadlines.

ensuring every category of employment through department received pay checks in a timely manner.

I worked as a graduate student in a IIT/FDA joint research facility, and focused on the study of food proteins during thermal processing. As a student, I not only learned the important knowledge regarding food proteins, also about the regulation system in the US. During my study at IIT, I learned how to professionally communicate to other people, to train other new students, and to present my research at national academic conventions. The hardest part of my work was due to the fact that some of techniques used were new even to the professor I work for, and no one in our group knew how to apply them. But it also came as the most interesting challenge for me. I read the references and the producer menus, practiced a lot, and I finally managed to apply these new skills into my research. This is the most exciting moment that I accomplished something with my intelligence and hard-working.

I used to work on Campus at Illinois Tech as an application developer. My job was mainly focused on Software development where we used Java EE Spring framework and different advanced Big data technologies such as Scala and MapReduce. I used to work under Professor Jeremy Hajek and gained a lot of useful experience. The toughest part in my job was learning many new technologies in Hadoop about which I had limited knowledge in the past. But I managed to learn these technologies by regular interactions with colleagues and with my passion to learn softwares. The part I enjoyed the most in my job was there always something new to learn and a creative freedom to express myself and maintain a healthy discussion with the staff while completing the assigned task.

This organization has a very low morale and poor management. There is zero leadership skills at the downtown campus. The HR office and management have failed to address the concerns of staff, and there have been many serious issues. There is a normalization of despair and wide spread cynicism about any possibility for positive change. Aristocratic attitudes from the IIT Main Campus pollute the environment creating a severe division between those connected to main campus and those on the bottom of the food chain. Resentment and bitterness reins as staff are constantly overworked and stressed with no support by those in power. There is a total lack of communication, transparency, and general respect in this company. Abandon all hope here.

As a student worker for IIT, everything was limited. 

Pay remained the same with no means for raises, employment ends with student status (no continuing employment / advancement), responsibilities were few with no room for additional duties, staff treats you like an invisible person, and overall I didn't feel welcome when I went to work.

Everything I learned, aside from professional email conduct (yes everybody emails), was learned of my own accord. New ideas were often not listened to, or shot down without logical reasoning / discussion. 

Hardest part of the job was getting respect from full-time coworkers. Easiest part of the job was completing my limited duties.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Research assistant 4 salaries reported	$17.20 per hour
Graduate assistant 5 salaries reported	$16.20 per hour
Teaching assistant 3 salaries reported	$15.00 per hour
Student assistant 6 salaries reported	$15.40 per hour
Graduate researcher 5 salaries reported	$24,500 per year

Working at Illinois Institute of Technology: Company Overview and Reviews

Illinois Institute of Technology

Illinois Institute of Technology Ratings

Popular jobs at Illinois Institute of Technology

Salary Satisfaction

Job Seeker Tools

Employer Tools

Browse

Stay Connected