graduate researcher

graduate assistant

administrative assistant

career coach

custodian

University of Central Florida

I worked at the The Business Office at the Facilities & Safety department on contract with a temp agency. This place really is one of the worst places to work! First, the pay is horrible. With 8+ years of experience, a BBA, pay is $15/hour with a title of "Accountant". There is no way anyone can live on that. The students get paid about the same as you who is experienced. If you get hired after your contract ends, you salary is still $15/hr. You pay for parking out of the meager salary you get and it's not cheap. I believe it's $200+ per semester or year - Something like that. In Florida where there is no parking issue, you must pay for parking at the place you work, even though the office is not directly on the main campus. Think about it. 

The "Accountant" position was nothing but stupid admin stuff, with the most annoying woman as a manager. That position has been filled so many times and no one stays.I don't have enough time to write how bad it was. Needless to say, I was elated when I didn't have to go there anymore. 

The only pros are the days off you get since it's a university. But if you are a contractor, you don't get paid. No matter how much of a good job you do, the chances of you getting the position after working on a contract are slim. They will offer it to their unqualified friend first, then if he/she no longer wants it, they will extend your contract some more and next thing you know, you are in there wasting your time for a year or more making $14-15/hr, dealing with an annoying manager you can't stand. Don't waste your time, unless you want to go in with a plan to go to school - which you get to pick last since you won't pay, so there is no guarantee there that you would get to the classes you want. Otherwise it's a waste of your time. There are better places coming around here that are hiring.

This school is big. the students and staff are alike in that they are both just numbers. The institution is run by politically biased republican party donation whales, and they follow the governor's whims down to the smallest fathomable interpretable detail. Some units within the institution are supportive, collaborative, and effective teams with good culture. The vast majority of upper leadership over these units are micromanaging, flawed individuals who, despite having terminal degrees don't bother to address these flaws as much as they harass their employees to fix their own. Problem solving is reactive, staff are valued less than and worked more than faculty, and data-driven initiatives that begin with front-lines offices are ignored if they don't align with the BOT's political paradigm. Deans and their subordinates make mid six-figures, and squabble with their employees over every other red cent that might go in said employees' direction. Performance is not rewarded, and students are usually ambivalent, if not downright annoyed at having to deal with the bureaucracy. Some staff strive to make this better and work their hardest, but get burnt out and end up part of the problem because it is too difficult to affect useful change, and doing so can be seen as trouble-making, particularly if not politically agreeable. However, it is so large that, like i said, some units within it are veritable paradises. A great many others are not.

Excellent time off for A&P employees. 10 holidays, upwards of 10 sick days, upwards of 20 days annual leave, and the 8 days of winter break that are granted each year by the president. 

But will you have time to enjoy those benefits? Depends on your supervisor and unit. UCF is chronically understaffed, perhaps due to the low compensation. As such, many staff members are overburdened with high caseloads and too many projects to reasonably complete. Staff are regularly in the office past closing and I do not know a single colleague who has utilized more than half of their time off in the last year. There’s simply no time given the expectations and responsibilities. 

Back to the low compensation issue. I personally know of several UCF colleagues who are actively looking for new jobs due to the low compensation. Cost of living is increasing dramatically but wages are stagnant. This is of course an issue across higher education, but UCF needs to step up and pay their employees a living wage. This will help with retention of employees and keep employees motivated when times get challenging in the office. At the moment, many employees feel that we are run ragged for peanuts. 

Although my coworkers generally do their best, it seems as though it's never enough for management. Pay is not high enough for workload, most likely due to a very high turnover. Management is impersonal and manipulative. I've learned a lot from this job though, from food handling, various recipes, and techniques to handling stress and working well under pressure. The culture is somewhat dysfunctional as the day crew and night crew are complete opposites in terms of personalities and how they do things. Mid-Shifts are hectic because employees often have to pick up the slack from day crew while lunch is in full gear. Management will sometimes add in arbitrary or extraneous tasks for good employees resulting in a disparity in workload despite the fact that they are being paid the same. I would say the main perk of the job is the free 30 minute meal you get if you are scheduled for a 6 hour shift as well as the convenience of being able to walk to work after a day of classes. Additionally, shifts are exchangeable and if you need a flexible schedule where you'll need a day off here and there, you can often get a shift covered by another employee.

I worked in the Postal Services at UCF for over eight years, having learned much about computers, running the postal machines, performing administrative tasks that accompany this type of job. I sorted and delivered mail to all of the departments, following a prescribed route, picking up the outgoing mail to be processed and sent out for mailing. I learned how to process bulk mailings, UPS, library materials, thus learning the regulations for each type of mail. Periodically, I served as a courier, traveling throughout Central Florida to all of our area campuses, bringing their incoming materials for their satellite courses, and retrieving the outgoing ones to be returned to the designated department at the end of the day. I handled confidential material, payroll, and other items of top priority. While inside the mail room, I learned to perform administrative duties involving the monies in each postal machine, balancing the ascending and descending registers, and other duties related to running a mail room smoothly.

A typical work day would be filled with a variety of students from all over the world determined to produce more effective writing, become better communicators, and leave the consultation a better writer. I learned a plethora of writing center practices that have transcended into every other facet of my life because it has perfected my rapport building skills, how to communicate with those of different cultures, and how the presence of diversity is actually the thing that can create a common ground for any conversation. This workplace was one where every teacher was a student and every student a teacher, truly allowing for continuous collaboration and growth. The hardest part of the job was when you would come across a student that truly had no self confidence in their writing and sometimes you felt like you didn't help them as much as you could have, but that confidence needs to start within themselves. The most enjoyable part of the job was having clients come back to tell you how much the consultation helped, their final grade on an assignment, or the creativity I was able to bring out in them that they did not know existed.

This is a great job for students, one of the best but may not be ideal for those seeking a long term career. 

Pros:
-Flexible scheduling for students,
-Understanding supervisors,
-Working outdoors (if you enjoy being outside),
-Free bottled water,
-Driving nice state vehicles daily
-Great for those who enjoy working independently and going at their own pace.
-Nice state benefits with generous PTO and offers health insurance accepted by the campus clinic. 

Cons:
-Oftentimes dealing with frustrated or angry people
-Parking Patrollers are largely unappreciated on campus (and by most ucf departments) despite the scope of their job going beyond issuing citations.
-Mandatory OT for UCF football & all campus commencement ceremonies which involves standing up for hours at a time in the garage, directing flow of traffic.
-Training has been recently cut down from 6 months to 2 months and involves learning the phonetic alphabet, police 10 codes & over 80 different citations.
-Upper management of the dept can be misleading with performance expectations. 
-UCF as a whole has not offered any substantial increases in pay over the last two years 

While they pay is low in comparison to the private sector, UCF has great benefits and the best work/life balance you can imagine. Also, the work environment and culture is very relaxed. However, if you are looking to advance or move to a different position within the university it is ALL about who you know and who you are friends with. UCF likes to hire from within and they value experience at the university more than anything else, even if you don't have a lot of experience related to the job you are applying for. UCF is NOT a veteran friendly workplace either. The department leadership often mocked and openly admitted that they do not like to hire former military veterans even though we worked for the Department of Security. The new leadership made life miserable for the veterans that worked in the department which eventually forced them to leave. For the ones that worked in temporary OPS positions, they discontinued their positions the next fiscal year and then hired new permanent positions in their place. Oh and by the way, they made me train my "replacement" before I left.

I started working at the RWC when I changed my major from Pre-Clinical Health to Sport and Exercise Science. It fit perfectly with my new major and gave me the perfect motivation and environment to become a personal trainer. I have trained many clients and helped them achieve goals they thought were impossible. I also trained with the Biggest Loser program and my team won all of the weight loss challenges during the two semesters that I trained them. I still keep in touch with many of them.
   I also became a Shift Supervisor where my responsibilities were to supervise over the fitness attendants during their shifts. I have also been well trained to be a first response individual in the case of an emergency, whether it be physically or environmentally. 
   With personal training I was able to make my own hours and train my clients how I saw fit. I enjoyed the vast majority of my co-workers and had a great relationship with many of them.

Typical 40 hour week. Communicated with students via phone, email, and zoom. Did work with students in person since we only supported online students specifically. 
The pay is higher than several places in the area and even several cities over. But, the jump to higher pay or climbing the career ladder isn't clearly spelled out. Was a level 2 out of 4 for the role but there were no openings for level 3 and 4 was the three positions were filled. Slowly, it seems like those level 3 and 4 roles are becoming obsolete as manager roles are being created that would essentially make those roles dead weight. 
As it's a public institution, pay is visible per law. 
Case management was initially manageable but with turnover and the addition of other online programs, caseloads assigned per person is high. 

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Graduate researcher 9 salaries reported	$25,222 per year
Graduate assistant 8 salaries reported	$20,500 per year
Administrative assistant 24 salaries reported	$19.71 per hour
Career coach 27 salaries reported	$52,259 per year
Custodian 18 salaries reported	$16.89 per hour

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