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THE DIAMONDBACK
career guide
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The “M” circle next to Campus Drive on May 9, 2025. (Alexa Yang/The Diamondback)
Walk down Route 1 in College Park, and you’ll see countless bars, restaurants and coffee shops. Just minutes from campus, students at the University of Maryland work at these establishments both behind the scenes and behind the counter.
This university’s on-campus workplaces range from Stamp Student Union to dorms, but some students opt to get their paycheck off-campus.
Kayla Nophsker has worked as a server at The Greene Turtle since its opening last fall. Nophsker said she normally works two to three shifts a week, totaling about 16 to 20 hours.
Balancing a part-time job, academics and social activities can be tricky, but for the junior criminology and criminal justice major, it’s anything but.
“It’s pretty easy for me because I’m a really organized person and I’m good at time management,” Nophsker said. “But definitely for some other people, it’s hard when there’s an exam the next day and you’re scheduled to work the day before that.”
Campbell Stein, a senior criminology and criminal justice major, started working at RJ Bentley’s this semester as a server. A hotspot for upperclassmen, RJ Bentley’s is a staple weekend hangout.
Like Nophsker, Stein doesn’t have much trouble managing having an off-campus job and her academics.
“Now that I’m a senior, I know how to manage my time better,” Stein said. “I think they’re really good at scheduling you based off your school schedule, and we have a good balance with academics and social life, which is nice.”
The majority of Stein’s coworkers are also students at this university, which she said is one of her favorite parts of the job. Stein enjoys being able to see people she knows at the restaurant while working, especially on Friday
Off-Campus Jobs
By Amanda Sinofsky | Diversionsreporter
nights.
While the nearby off-campus bars are major destinations for student employment, the job field in College Park isn’t limited to serving or bartending.
Shop Made in Maryland, located in the College Park City Hall building, is a cafe and store that sells items made by local artisans. Phoebe Kaplan, a junior family health science major, is a barista there and works at most 10-15 hours per week.
“The management at Shop Made does such a great job with understanding that we’re all students, and they’re really flexible,” Kaplan said. “I put in my classes and my manager will never schedule me during class time and when I have my extracurriculars with my sorority and things like that.”
Kaplan also has little issue managing her time while having a part time job. While working at Shop Made in Maryland, she said she has always had a good balance between work, school and getting to see her friends.
Despite the friendly environment at The Greene Turtle, Nophsker said the hours can sometimes be a little tough. Especially on the weekends, she said she often works until 2 or 3 a.m., which is difficult when she still has homework to do after a shift. Nophsker said she has had to miss social events, such as birthday parties and hanging out with friends due to work.
Off-campus jobs provide a sense of community away from this university, but still allow for meaningful relationships with fellow students. Establishments such as The Greene Turtle, RJ Bentley’s and Shop Made in Maryland offer students the opportunity to engage with each other outside of classes and campus activities.
“My favorite part probably is all of the people I’ve met and all the connections that I’ve made,” Nophsker said. “I’m always making friends there.”
the exterior of The Greene Turtle, located in the College Park Shopping Center, on Sept. 20, 2024. (sam cohen/The Diamondback)
RJ Bentley’s on Sept. 21, 2020. (joe ryan/The Diamondback)
A Shop Made location in College Park on Dec. 7, 2023. (Sophia Slaughenhoupt/The Diamondback)
On-Campus Jobs
By Stella Garner I Tabloids editor
Looking to earn a little extra spending money outside of classes, but don’t have easy access to transportation? Luckily, the University of Maryland has departments that offer student positions in nearly every part of campus. Here are just a few jobs you can apply for without having to leave home.
Dining Services
You can cater, serve in dining halls or even in some restaurants in Stamp Student Union’s food court.
Student police aides
These aides work night shifts at the campus entrances to ensure that only students are traveling in and out of campus after working hours.
Desk receptionists
Receptionist jobs are typically available all over campus, from the Alumni Center to the engineering service desk.
Bus drivers, NITE Ride or paratransit drivers
Students who love to drive might want to consider a job servicing routes around campus for Shuttle-UM or providing transportation to peers with mobility assistance.
AV Technician
Student technicians work with events on campus to provide audio and lighting, as well as provide maintenance and troubleshooting for AV systems.
RecWell
Jobs with RecWell include lifeguards, group fitness instructors, climbing wall staff and member services representatives.
Production and Security Student Staff, SEE
Students working with SEE provide structure and security for events like welcome back concerts and the annual Art Attack spring show.
Resident Life
Students can be resident assistants for a specific dorm hall, staff front desks as a community assistant, or work on resident event planning as multicultural advocates.
dining services employees work in the cold room at Yahentamitsi Dining Hall on Nov. 15, 2024. (Giuseppe LoPiccolo/The Diamondback)
The side of a police car parked outside Turner Hall on Feb. 14, 2023. (Neelay Sachdeva/The Diamondback)
A community member gets off the bus outside of Regents Drive Garage on Sept. 8, 2025. (Gurnoor Sodhi/The Diamondback)
Audience members watch and wave fans at SEE’s Spring Drag Show inside Stamp Student Union on April 10, 2025. (sam cohen/The Diamondback)
The exterior of Eppley Recreation Center on April 14, 2025. (Gurnoor Sodhi/The Diamondback)
community assistant cal Pham, a sophomore studying information systems, helps students at the front desk in La Plata hall on Sept. 8, 2025. (Gurnoor Sodhi/The Diamondback)
career fair guide
By Stella Garner | Tabloids editor
What some students love and most students dread is right around the corner.
It’s almost time for the Stamp Career Fair on Sept. 17. It can be overwhelming to roam the halls alongside thousands of peers and look at hundreds of different employer tables without the proper preparation.
So here are some tips for making your time at the career fair as effective and impactful as possible.
Dress appropriately
You don’t want to show up to an employer table wearing your typical lecture sweatshirt and leggings. You also don’t need to wear a three-piece suit — especially since a lot of students don’t keep professional attire in their school wardrobes — but a good medium could be a sweater with some nice dark-wash jeans or a collared shirt and slacks.
If you have to go to the fair straight from class, it could be to your benefit to pack a change of clothes to switch into afterwards.
Bring plenty of resumes
Now this is one of the most important fair preparations — use one of the campus printers to make a few copies of your resume to hand out to employers. Generally speaking, a good resume should be:
No longer than a page
Neatly arranged, with a clear font no smaller than 10pt and headings for your job titles.
Have full, grammatically correct sentences.
List your contact information.
Don’t forget a nametag
The first thing you should do upon arriving at Stamp is check in with the registration tables to receive your nametag, which
will typically list your name and major. This is important information to see — if you’re a student in the business school, a television studio that you might not initially be interested in could have a position for you that you otherwise wouldn’t get to know about.
Maximize your time
The fair is generally segmented into the different industries and majors that students are interested in — not only by location, but also by the specific day of the fair.
Check the map online or at the registration tables to ensure that you find the area of the fair that is most appealing to you. This can save you lots of time and mindless wandering, especially when the fair gets to its busiest points.
Grab business cards
Without giving out your contact information or having a way to follow up with employers, there’s no second step towards connecting with those groups and finding a possible internship or post-graduation job. Most employers will be happy to provide you with resources to apply for open positions or reach out with further questions.
Following up with groups you are particularly interested in can often set you apart from the many other students who saw their table, so it’s always a good idea to have a business card with your name, major, email and phone number.
Students interact with booths during the career fair at Stamp Student Union on Sept. 26, 2024. (Giuseppe LoPiccolo/The Diamondback)
Interview etiquette and dress code
By Talia Macchi I Diversionsreporter
Internship interview season is here and the number one piece of advice every anxious interviewee hears is the same: be prepared. Prepare your answers, come up with questions, bring your resume and practice your body language. But when the big day of the interview comes around, many forget one very important detail — what to wear.
The outfit you choose for an interview can create a strong impression and illustrate how well you fit into the company’s environment. Each company has different expectations and criteria for an appropriate outfit, but bottom line, it’s always better to be overdressed than underdressed.
If the company is casual, wear business casual and if the company is business casual, wear something more professional. The key is to look classy. Your clothes should fit well and be wrinkle-free. You should display
competence when stepping into the interview and your outfit can break or make that. The right clothing combination can help you feel most confident, comfortable and ready for the interview.
Basics are best when looking for that feelgood outfit. The typical dress pants, button up or blouse and loafers is a strong starting point. Many industries, such as law and finance, still favor suits and ties, but corporate dress codes across fields are becoming more relaxed and welcoming to a larger variety of styles. Business casual has become more popular, with many workplaces aiming to prioritize a comfortable and flexible ambience. This includes skirts, sweaters and jeans, if they’re dressed up correctly. Lifestyle sneakers have also been very popular in the workplace. From working in sales to sports, wearing chinos, slacks and button downs is
appropriate. And yes, you can often forget about the tie. We don’t need to be going all Chuck Bass on them.
With remote interviews becoming more popular, the “waist up” style of dressing is also an option. If you have an interview sitting face to face with the computer, it’s unlikely you’ll have to stand up during it, so throw on the sweatpants and slippers with your dress top. The more comfortable you feel in your clothes, the more comfortable you’ll feel during the interview.
Companies want you to be yourself during the interview, so it’s important to be authentic while maintaining proper dress. Your goal is to literally dress to impress. Subtle personal touches can make you memorable, such as a statement necklace or patterned tie. Just don’t overdo it and make your style reflect the professional image you are aiming to portray.
Students attend the Fall Career Internship Fair in the Colony Ballroom of the Stamp Student Union on Sept. 30, 2022. (Frances O’Connor/The Diamondback)
How a new UMD career boutique helps students dress for success
By Bella DeCrescenzo I Staff writer
A new resource at the University of Maryland’s business school will help business students dress for jobs and unwind between interviews.
University community members gathered on Tuesday afternoon for the launch of a new boutique and wellness room in Van Munching Hall. The spaces, called the Enterprise Mobility Foundation Career Boutique and Wellness Room, will provide students with free professional clothing and a space to relax before and after job interviews.
The university’s business, society and entrepreneurship Scholars program and the business school’s career services office worked together to develop the boutique, according to Kimberly Rice DeGross, the head of the office and assistant dean of strategic relations.
“Having something that really elevates people’s style without being a financial burden is a great way to help give back to our community of both scholars and business students,” said sophomore Alana Charny, a student in the Scholars program.
The boutique features clothing donated by
university alumni and leaders in the Scholars program, according to Charny, who is also enrolled in the letters and science program. The Enterprise Mobility Foundation provided funding for the boutique and wellness room, which includes relaxing sounds and activities to help students and faculty decompress.
The idea for the project began about four years ago, according to business professor Oliver Schlake, who is also the Scholars program director. After receiving funding, students in the program put together a business plan for the boutique last spring as their capstone project, he said.
Students will operate the boutique for about four hours a week, according to Schlake. At the boutique, students can pick out and try on professional clothing that can be rented for one semester. The boutique will also offer appointments and walk-ins. In addition to managing the day-to-day operations of the boutique, students will run an Instagram account and post tutorials for students on topics such as how to tie a tie and professional makeup.
Although the boutique was launched from donations from the Enterprise Mobility Foundation, students and faculty are striving to make the boutique self-sustaining in one and a half years, Schlake said.
To advance the initiative, students in the Scholars program can develop their own ideas to improve the boutique and its operations as part of their personal capstone projects during their second year in the program, Degross said.
“We hope that this becomes an entrepreneurial hub for real life business … We can experiment on a real scale,” Schlake said. “People talk a lot about experiential learning. This is not experiential, this is experimental learning.”
Schlake said that since the Scholars program is composed of mixed majors, students will be able to bring a variety of ideas to the boutique. Computer science students have already begun drafting a capstone project incorporating barcode reading into store software, he added.
The boutique also gives students the opportunity to collaborate with different brands to bring in merchandise and develop relationships with employers, Schlake said.
Jim Strack, the vice president and general manager of the Enterprise Mobility Foundation, emphasized the importance of the foundation’s partnership with the university in bringing newly graduated students onto their team.
Schlake is looking forward to future expansions of the boutique that might include employing more students, expanding open hours and interacting with programs in and outside of the business school.
He hopes to expand the boutique campuswide to provide more students with the confidence and opportunities that professional clothing can provide.
Director of the business, society and entrepreneurship Scholars program, Oliver Schlake, speaks at the opening ceremony for the career boutique and wellness room at the business school on Sept. 9, 2025. (GURNOOR SODHI/The Diamondback)
