You know about Goucher Poll, right? As a Goucher student you’ve probably received a couple dozen emails from them each semester and dismissed them as spam, but I think working for Goucher Poll is a very enriching opportunity for any student at Goucher. It pays $9.25/hour and is very low maintenance. Training for the job is very minimal, and newcomers can learn everything they’ll need to know during a quick one hour and 15 minute training session. Once you actually start working the polls you’ll have multiple supervisors around you at all times that you can ask for help. You can even use your phone while you’re working, so long as you keep making poll calls. I don’t know any other job that lets you do that. Unlike most other jobs on campus, being employed with Goucher Poll doesn’t limit your ability to work additional jobs on campus. You can work a full time job on campus, as well as do some work with Goucher Poll on the side. Even if you’re working solely with Goucher Poll, the shifts are very flexible, meaning you can choose your own schedule. Each shift itself is four hours and 15 minutes long, and shifts take place from 4:45 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. on weekdays and from 12:45 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. on weekends. This means you can work only as many hours as your comfortable with, whether it’s four and a quarter hours per week or up to 20 hours per week.
I worked with Goucher Poll both last semester and this semester and it gave me more than just a paycheck. I personally have never enjoyed or been proficient at talking with people over the phone, especially strangers, but working at Goucher Poll has helped boost my public speaking skills and phone skills. After hundreds and hundreds of calls over multiple shifts, it stopped being so awkward for me to sit in an office for a few hours a week and ask random Maryland residents about their views and opinions over the phone.
I’m not the only person who got a variety of useful experience from Goucher Poll. Zahir Mammadzada is a first year student at Goucher who has been working with Goucher Poll since the beginning of his first semester back in September and worked with Goucher Poll for its February poll as well. According to Zahir, working at Goucher Poll is “very interesting because (you) get the chance to meet so many different people from around this area and learn about them.” While Zahir “prefer(s) talking with people in person” he still enjoyed meeting so many Maryland residents through his work with the poll. When asked what he would like to tell other students about Goucher Poll, Zahir told me he would recommend it to anyone on campus. “It’s easy money; I mean, you get paid to just sit there and talk to people for a couple hours. It’s great.” Goucher Poll has closed for this semester but will return next semester and I hope you consider trying it out at least once during your time at Goucher.
