It’s Okay To Have a Normal Job

I know more about vomit than I would care to admit.

Working as a camp counselor over the past four years, I became adept at cleaning it up and catching it in empty chip bags as it comes out. I also learned how to deal with unkind clients, how to adjust plans on a dime, and how to work a 16 hour shift. I think everyone my age should have the exact same experience — excluding the vomit.

Harvard students should actively seek out typical college jobs, not just because they develop employable skills and serve as distinguishing traits in a competitive job market, but more importantly because they are a fundamental part of a well-rounded education.

According to the College’s frequently quoted definition, a liberal arts education should “prepare students for leading meaningful lives, with conscientious global citizenship, to enhance the greater good.” Implicit in this definition is the development of personal values and moral ideals. Yet, it feels like careerism has pushed Harvard and its students alike to treat their college education merely as one large preprofessional organization.

Grade deflation — which Harvard will pursue via the mandatory A cap starting in fall 2027 — can disincentivize students from taking classes outside of their direct area of expertise. Preprofessional clubs often take the place of service-oriented extracurriculars. While some summer internships have seen record application numbers, unemployment for 16- to 19-year-olds has seen a slow but noticeable increase since its 2023 low.

My Harvard experience so far has felt like a boot camp for future employment, giving me all the requisite hard skills to join a lab of my choosing while forcing me to take a few cursory General Education courses. This academic experience isn’t intrinsically negative, but it certainly doesn’t feel like a liberal arts education.

To align with the University’s mission, Harvard students shouldn’t just avoid standard employment opportunities but actively seek them out. A core part of Harvard’s commitment to liberal arts and sciences is a student’s ability to understand the world around them. But understanding the world is not merely writing papers and studying textbooks. It is also the ability to synthesize knowledge with real-world experiences and realities.

In fact, working alongside people whose lives differ vastly from my own has taught me more about global citizenship than any discussion section at Harvard could. In many respects, I’ve gained my worldly education largely off of Harvard’s campus, without Harvard’s help.

However, it’s easy to pass up the typical collegiate job. We have a Harvard education, Harvard connections, and Harvard opportunities. Our fortunate circumstances make it feel like there’s no need to work a low-paying job when our futures look so bright. More pressingly, our generation faces an abysmal job market with rising barriers to entry. Ignoring the opportunities we have could potentially put us one step behind our peers and disadvantage us later in life.

But working a normal, hourly paid job gives students the opportunity to develop some of the skills employers are looking for and may become important distinguishing traits as college degrees seem to lose the guarantee of stable employment they once offered. In fact, more employers look for traits like problem solving ability, teamwork, and initiative than technical skill when examining resumes.

Moreover, 86 percent of hiring managers surveyed in a 2026 poll responded that personality can outweigh a skill gap. These same managers value candidates who exhibit honesty, reliability, and adaptability. Students vying for future employment opportunities can develop these skills in labs and internships, but also by working a dinner rush or handling young children. While a Wall Street internship signals prestige (and perhaps lucky connections), employee of the month at a coffee shop demonstrates concrete dependability and commitment.

Besides, unconventional work experience serves as useful interview fodder and helps build what psychologist Meg Jay calls “identity capital” in her book “The Defining Decade.” She defines this term as an individual’s personal assets and experiences, which is “the currency we use to metaphorically purchase jobs and relationships.” Embracing identity capital can help differentiate a candidate from other job applicants.

There is hardly a better way to experience the world than to work within it. In working non-elite jobs, students gain perspective on how food gets made, how dirty items become clean again, and how hard it can feel to make twenty bucks in a federal-minimum wage state. These are important lessons that even the best college course cannot teach.

So LinkedIn warriors, lay down your lethal resumes and travel to the peaceful land of Indeed. Search shift jobs, part time, whatever fits your schedule. Work with your hands, develop a customer service voice. And maybe make a couple dollars while you’re at it — I hear some of you aren’t even paid.

Anna J. Guerrini ’29, a Crimson Editorial editor, lives in Pforzheimer House.