Student Employment

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Looking for part-time work or a summer job to complement your education? King’s students have numerous paths to seek paid practical experience.

Current Listings

The Student Employment Board lists opportunities below that are exclusively available to King’s students.

Research Student Aide - Books by Heart

About Books by Heart

Books by Heart is a public humanities research project that will explore the potential of story (reading) and book culture to affect patient outcomes in a hospital setting. Books by Heart is a partnership between Nova Scotia Health, the University of King’s College, and the Atlantic Publishers Marketing Association. The research is a collaboration between King’s and Nova Scotia Health, with the QEII Health Sciences Centre executing the medical study under the leadership of Principal Investigator Dr. Gabrielle Horne.

Opportunity

As a research student aide for Books by Heart, you will play a crucial role in assisting with the implementation and research efforts within the cardiac ward at the QEII hospital. You will work closely with hospital staff and patients to conduct surveys, collect data, and engage with patients in a meaningful way as they participate in the reading program. Tasks will include but are not limited to:

Patient Interaction: Engaging with patients, their families and healthcare professionals to introduce the program, explain its benefits, and coordinate participation.

Data Collection: Assisting in the collection of mental health surveys through REDCAP and following up with patients during and after their stays. Calling patients to administer post-discharge surveys.

Documentation: Keeping a detailed and organized record of patient interactions, participation, and research related findings.

Adaptive Problem-Solving: Being a personable and adaptable team member who can think quickly on their feet in dynamic and sometimes stressful situations.

Employment Details:

Successful candidates will be hired as employees of Nova Scotia Health.
Because of the nature of the work and NSH protocols, during the final stages of the hiring process, successful candidates will be required to provide proof of standard vaccinations, COVID vaccination, and TB test. Hospital employees are also encouraged to receive an annual flu shot when those are available. Employees must also obtain a criminal record check with vulnerable sector search.

Contracts will be issued for the fall term, with opportunity to renew for the winter term, subject to student’s availability (we need to cover certain shifts) and performance. Research student aides will work approximately 5 hours per week at an hourly wage of $16.70 + 4% in lieu of benefits.

We are anticipating a start date in September 2025 to allow for the hiring process and hospital onboarding procedures.

Qualifications

  • Currently enrolled as a student at the University of King’s College
  • Strong communication and interpersonal skills to interact with patients, hospital staff, and fellow researchers. The ability to make strangers want to have a conversation with you and hospital staff feel positively about having you on the ward.
  • Ability to cope being around sensitive and at times stressful situations with composure, professionalism, and maturity.
  • Impeccable work attendance. Applicants must have the ability to maintain an uninterrupted work schedule, as consistent attendance is fundamental to achieving our research goals.
  • Able to work independently and problem-solve in a busy environment.
  • This opportunity is ideal for individuals who have an interest in pursuing a career within the healthcare world (medicine, allied professions, health policy, research, research policy, healthcare innovation, etc). It is certainly open to others. We are looking for the best candidates.

The research being done with Books By Heart is an amazing opportunity to gain experience in a healthcare setting, contributing to cutting edge research within the intersection of the humanities and healthcare. It will allow you to further develop interpersonal skills through patient interaction and collaboration with healthcare professionals and gain insight into how research is conducted in a hospital setting.

How to Apply

To apply for the position of Student Research Assistant for Books By Heart, please submit the following documents via email to Nicole.Ponto@nshealth.ca by July 15th at 11:59 pm.

Please submit

  • Resume
  • Cover Letter
    • Please include information on the following:
      • your personal motivations to be an RA on this study
      • How have you demonstrated your readiness to work on a hospital ward (maturity, professionalism, resilience)
      • Can you strike up a conversation with a stranger and make them want to talk with you? How have you demonstrated this?
  • Two references (name, phone number, email, and relationship/context). We will not contact references until after an interview and will let you know before contacting them. However, to speed up processing time, we ask that you include this information with your application.

We look forward to receiving your application and welcoming dedicated and personable students to our research team.

We appreciate all applications; however, only shortlisted candidates will be contacted for an interview.

I think working while affiliated with the university is special and places a great responsibility on the student to make use of their time in the most productive ways possible.

Trisha Malik
Trisha Malik

Exhibition Content Developer, Discovery Centre, through a King's Undergraduate Fellowship in Public Humanities

Employment Programs

King’s students have the opportunity to work in almost every area of university life, and even beyond the university through facilitated internships and fellowships. Typical jobs include peer mentor, fundraising campaign caller, residence junior don, reporter for the communications team, fitness centre attendant and athletics photographer, just to name a few.

Student Assistantship Program

If you are looking for an opportunity to work as an assistant to a professor, look for the Student Assistantship Program (SAP) listings at the beginning of fall, winter, and summer term. Successful candidates will be paired with a faculty supervisor to work on a project such as academic research, publication preparation, new course development, journalistic projects, academic and cultural events, outreach, or archival work. These positions are light on hours—just 30h completed over a term, usually according to the student’s preference—so they offer the opportunity to gain career-building academic experience and skills, while making a minimal impact on study time.

Student-run businesses

Students have the opportunity to work on campus at one of three student-owned and operated businesses: the King’s Co-op Bookstore, the Wardroom (student lounge) and the Galley (coffee shop). Ask at these locations about openings.

External opportunities

King’s also coordinates several funded summer internships and part-time work experiences at external organizations and businesses that will offer students the opportunity to experience for themselves the value of their liberal arts education.

Paid fellowships

The King’s Undergraduate Fellowships in Public Humanities is an opportunity to do an experiential learning internship at an organization or business that brings the humanities to bear on the world.

The Scotia Scholars Award, funded by the Nova Scotia Department of Health and Wellness, is a funded opportunity for two undergraduate students at King’s to be the principal investigator on their own research study in the area of health research.

Student Workbook

King’s encourages all student employees to use this workbook as a template for planning, documenting, and reflecting on their work experience. The goal of this document is to help elevate all student work experiences to work-integrated learning, so that students can maximize their personal and professional growth while supported by their university.