painter

peintre

marketer

door to door sales representative

painter/laborer

Student Works

Student Works is an incredibly unique opportunity for individuals looking to learn about the entrepreneurial side of business. It teaches you valuable soft skills such as problem solving, coordinating projects, interpersonal skills, time management,  etc. as well as many hard business skills such as budgeting, marketing, recruiting, and sales. All of these are applicable to pretty much any career you choose to pursue afterwards and even in your overall life. I won't sugarcoat and claim it is all easy though - it is a lot of work and definitely requires a high level of commitment in order to get as much out of it as you can. You will definitely have bad days, but you will also have great days, and in the end you will look back and appreciate both and how much you were able to learn from it. 

The cool part about it is you truly do get out what you put in. If you want to come in here and give it your absolute all, sacrifice more personal time and nights out, you can definitely make a ton of money and receive a lot of value out of the experience. If you'd prefer to have a more relaxed summer and put less time into the business, of course you will make less, but you also have way more time. It is your choice, and that is one of the things I love most about this job - the flexibility. 

The royalty paid is more than fair in my opinion. When you consider the fact that they take care of the vast majority of the administration portions of a business (running payrolls to ensure employees are being paid properly and taxes done right, business licensing, marketing materials and clothing, GST returns, accounting statements, etc.), along with providing a proven name and reputation, tried and tested systems, and amazing support via you DM who is basically your own personal business coach who specializes in paint specifically and is available to you 7 days a week, they actually provide one heck of a deal considering the average operator actually only ends up paying around 20% of their business revenues - which they teach us to factor into the price in our estimates anyway considering it is  essentially your business overhead expenses. 

It's also really cool to see how many resources the company is willing to spill into making things so much easier for us. Recently they developed an in house software that minimizes mistakes makes doing estimates and scheduling jobs ridiculously easy - no paper or calculator required anymore! It is definitely a very growth oriented company, and that is why I have been with the company for several years now. I highly recommend this opportunity to anybody that comes across it. 

This was easily the hardest job I've ever had, but also by far the most rewarding, both in terms of experience and compensation. Probably the biggest thing one can gain as an operator at this company is the training and experience. I learned a ton about sales, marketing, HR management, customer satisfaction, and how to run a profitable business. Around half of this comes from the training they provide you, and the other half just comes from being put in situations outside your comfort zone where you grow from the challenges put in front of you. 

They do a good job of setting expectations that this will be the hardest summer of your life, but its important to keep in mind that it will only be profitable and worthwhile if you push yourself. Lots of the burnout/turnover comes from 1 of 2 places: a) people who expect the top performer profitability without putting in the work, or b) those who don't do well in self-disciplined (semi-unstructured) jobs. They make it very clear: you will be taught and trained on how to do things, but they won't hold your hand the whole way. The goal is for you to run your own business. 

The hardest part of the job is the beginning months of the preseason, where you will have to go marketing and do estimates (sales) without any compensation. You only start making money when you produce jobs (May). Conversely, the best part of the job is when you reach July/August, where, if everything is going according to plan, you have competent crews at this point, things are running semi or fully autonomously, and you get to enjoy the second half of your summer while taking home your well-earned profit. 

The company atmosphere was perfect for me; generally speaking a group of very hardworking people, but ones that know how to kickback and have a good time as well. "Work Hard Play Hard"

All in all it was a super positive experience, the only thing keeping it from being 5 stars being that it has a high attrition rate, but usually its people quitting because they can't / aren't willing to stay committed to the necessary work. Obviously the attrition rate didn't affect me directly as I did 2 full years, but I still feel as though its something to work on. Another note: Student Works only 'fires' people when they literally aren't doing anything.

It is sold to you as this amazing experience (and the parties and get togethers are), but unless you're in the 25th percentile and blessed with an amazing location, chances are you will be in the 75th percentile where you're better off doing a full time job if you want to get paid more. If you're looking for long term, (2-4 years) then definitely pick studentworks. It is very demanding but the systems they have are key. It's not ground breaking though, so do your due diligence and research. If you create a solid business plan stick with it, because studentworks will take 31.4%+tax of your revenue. And it can be tight margins if you make a mistake. If you're absolutely perfect, you will be making 30-40% profit but you won't be. So expect an average of 15-24% profit while you give the company 30% for your work and get charged for absolutely everything, training, start up costs, parties, t shirts, payroll, the website they use to track everything, business cards, fliers, leads from people calling in etc. On the average you going to be paying about 6-10k on these extra fees plus your 31% royalty. It would be okay if they made this clear from the beginning, but they don't. They provide you with cover sheets and accounting statements, but Goodluck trying to get a breakdown or be actually shown this. You only realize once your 30-40k profit on the tracker website is 20 thousand dollars more than your cover sheet breakdown and you read through everything. You sort of feel deceived. You can make money, but you're honestly better off putting in your time into creating your own business plan, studentworks only offers the environment of other students going through the same thing. Oh, they really try selling you on their liability insurance and WSIB Coverage. $5million dollars in liability insurance is only 1k per YEAR, and wsib insurance is only $75 a month on average (which you pay anyway, god forbid studentworks helps with your costs). So if paying $30-90k in royalties worth somebody keeping you accountable and weekly call sessions, zoom trainings where you don't really get much info besides motivational speech, and parties is worth it, then go into the program, you meet amazing people. But an extra 30k this year would've made a huge difference.

My manager set up a job for us about 2 hours out of town. It was a house, and would take 4 days to complete, so we would be staying there ("camping") for the duration it would take to finish. My manager promised to accommodate us while we were there with a place to sleep and supper. We had to pack our own food which was not compensated by them. The "accommodation" they gave us was a tent trailer with numerous holes, and a single pack of frozen hotdogs for supper. I was the only female and had to share the small space with two other male workers— highly inappropriate. We all knew it was unfair and wrong but stuck it out for the first day.

It was humid and very hot, and the mosquitoes were especially terrible at this particular job due to the trees and bushes surrounding the entire house. I felt sick by the end of the first day and expressed that it didn't seem worth it to my manager. They gave us a pay raise for the job, but by the end of the next day I was too sick to stay and had to go home. Another worker had gone home by this point so it wasn't just me. I told my manager and kept them updated, even said I would go out again if I was feeling better, but never heard back from them. I couldn't go back due to sickness/nausea from the mosquito bites and humid weather and was unwell for the following couple of days.

I didn't hear from them until the following Monday where they requested to meet with me, so I did, and when I got there my manager was obviously mad at me. They told me they had no more work for me and that my next pay cheque would be my last. They lied about having no work for me to do, because I was still in touch with my crew partner who had met them earlier and had been given flyers to deliver. My manager fired me without notice or good reason. Up until that point I worked hard and finished everything they gave us to do, despite the many times when the working conditions were unsafe. 

I would not recommend this job to another student; the workload is hard but tolerable under the proper conditions, but you won't be paid enough and may end up being let go without warning.

Running my first business with Student Works Painting is one of the most intense yet rewarding experiences I could have taken on as a student. 
What you learn throughout the summer is more than any classroom could teach. You learn how to manage time, lead a team, build customer relationships, sell under pressure, handle stress, and take full responsibility when things go sideways. You become the person everyone relies on. From a management perspective, you wear many hats: you're the boss, the motivator, the problem solver, and sometimes even the painter. Leading a crew teaches you how to communicate clearly, set expectations, and deal with difficult conversations head-on. You quickly discover that leadership isn’t about being perfect, it’s about being accountable.
The workplace culture is fast-paced, driven, and competitive, while also being extremely supportive. You're surrounded by other student entrepreneurs who are also pushing themselves every day. Your business coach is your lifeline, there to coach you but also to challenge you. It’s high pressure, but you’re never doing it alone and you will discover a better version of yourself in the process.
The hardest part of the job is definitely balancing everything. Managing client expectations, keeping your painters happy, hitting your sales goals, and maintaining quality. You’re forced to grow up fast and develop thick skin, however this give you a major head start in the business world compared to your peers.
But the most enjoyable part? Watching your business grow, knowing you literally build it from the ground up. It's the moments like signing your first big contract, seeing a client thrilled with their home transformation, or hitting a revenue milestone you once thought was impossible that make the long hours worth it. 


Why is it shady?

- You are told not to talk about the budgeted time for a project or any problems that arise near the clients.

- Training was not paid and took place for a few days where me and another person had to paint the house of the supervisor for free. The training didn't end when we showed the sufficient skills for the job, but when the area we started was finished completely.

- The zing term: "result based environment" is used, this does not mean you get to beat the allotted time and earn 30$/hr as you might be baited with; it means that the managers can set any budget and complain when you take more time.

If you read this and still chooses to ignore this review and you end up having training time set up. Check if the training is paid and ask how much time will you be training. If you are not paid and the time depends on your learning speed: run. This is not a legal advice but it might be the company tries to not pay for your training by putting it outside normal work times. So if your training is setup for 5 PM or so, your going to be scammed.

The last paragraph is ways that I see to check if your specific supervisor will be good or bad. If your supervisor pays for training then your good to go... probably. Remember to see if they ask for your SIN number and a void check first, if they don't they might not pay you, as they have no way of doing it yet.

If you know the supervisor in person, ask your self: "how did they get to that position?". If your answer is "probably their parent got them in because they are pretty irresponsible" then you know they won't be so good.

You will probably get an inexperienced manager, this means they will usually be afraid of losing any money if you take a realistic amount of time to finish the project, causing to either cut your hours or rush you to make mistakes you will have to clean for free outside of work hours.

List could go on and on but: 

Learning tons of skills including...sales, management, leadership, recruiting, cashflow management, profitability, discipline, goal setting, etc.

Tons and tons of great relationships. The culture is truly unmatched. You'll meet tons of amazing people that really align with the way you think. Having a great community that keeps you accountable is really what gives this program value. It makes it 100x easier to run a business with all their systems and support. 

Everyone cares to see you win. If it's your district manager or other operators, they are always making sure that you're going down the right path in the business or your personal life.  The whole program is very invested in you. 

This program is basically like taking your MBA. You get REAL hands on experience that you can't get in any undergrad. Also, there is tons of upside potential for earning. I don't know of any other opportunity where you can earn 6 figures+ within 8 months - starting from a place with little prior skill.

This program is most definitely not a place for everyone. If you go into this thinking it will be a breeze, it won't be. You will be sacrificing a lot of your 'university experience' to go run this business. That said, it is crazy rewarding. You really have to go all in on this program if you want to get everything out of it you're hoping. If you are looking for something that is an 'easy summer job'. You're in the wrong place. The bad reviews or reddit posts are all from the operators that didn't put in the effort and expected everything to be handed to them.

Have a good relationship with your District Manager. They always know more than you do. All top operators have really good relationships with their district managers.


Through this program, I have learned how to sell a product, manage properly, and recruit effectively. My first year was one of the toughest experiences I have ever gone through and I came out of that year a changed person. I did, of course, return for my second year with significantly higher goals than the previous year and much more confidence. Learning how to run a business through Student Works will prepare you for any professional career more than maybe any other job could. I have gained invaluable experience, knowledge, and friendships through this program and I would not be the same without it. The network of immediate operators in the program and the extended network of amazingly successful alumni will both push you and pull you to becoming the best person that you can be. Because of what this program has done for them, you will find that this whole network is more than willing to volunteer their own time to help others in the program. Additionally, it will likely be one of the most fun summers of your life: Student Works' motto is "Work Hard, Play Hard". 

There are of course negatives to the program, as there are in any positions, but to be completely honest if you are the right person for the position, they aren't negatives, it's actually something you'll be drawn to. These negatives are: you will work harder than you EVER have before, things will go wrong that will likely stress you out, and there is no guarantee of success, you have to work for it. 

Ultimately, I would not be the same person without going through this program and my belief as to what is possible for my life would be a fraction of what it is today. If the negatives don't scare you and instead pull you forward, I would HIGHLY recommend this position.

Working as a Student Works operator has been one of the most rewarding and transformative experiences of my student life. Running my own business at such a young age has given me a hands-on crash course in entrepreneurship that no classroom could ever replicate.

From day one, I was challenged to step outside my comfort zone. The level of resilience I’ve developed—whether it's handling rejection, managing stressful deadlines, or pushing through long days—has changed how I approach every aspect of life. I’ve learned how to lead a team, manage client relationships, handle budgeting, and make critical decisions under pressure. These are real-world management skills that will serve me for the rest of my career.

What really sets Student Works apart from other student job opportunities is the depth of responsibility and growth it offers. While many student jobs are passive or repetitive, this role puts you in charge. You're running a business, managing people, and directly seeing the impact of your efforts. It’s not easy—but that’s exactly why it’s so valuable.

The environment within Student Works is also something special. You're surrounded by like-minded, driven individuals who are all trying to grow and succeed. The support from the head office and the mentorship from experienced leaders is incredible. You’re never alone, even when the challenges get tough.

If you’re a student who wants more than just a paycheck, if you want experience, growth, and the chance to truly prove what you're capable of, Student Works is an opportunity you shouldn't pass up.

I was an operator for the company in my first year of university and I regret ever applying.  The companies reputation within my area was abysmal, every client who had previously interacted with the company had an terrible experience.  In dozens of cases clients reported being forced to pay even though the job wasn't completed, hadn't been informed about the service warranty (I was the first person to have told them), had paint on their furniture and floor, and an paint job that was chipping within a week (I'm assuming that previous operators hadn't primed their walls, despite charging them for the primer).  I was called an a**hole by these clients for simply being associated with the company, and from my conversations with management I understand how this lack of professionalism seeped to its operators.  I had brought these problems to the attention of numerous individuals within the company and received nothing but excuses and was even told that either the clients or myself were full of "bulls**t".  I continued to voice my concerns until they had enough and fired me.  At which point they threatened to make me pay the $2,000 quitters fee, stating that it was my "incompetence" that got me fired.  This was in spite of the fact that I was booking jobs, even being #19 ranked painting operator within the company. It was an lengthy back and forth but eventually they dropped it and gave the paint jobs I booked to someone else.  

If your an student considering whether or not to apply to Student Works I have the answer for you, don't.  The brand will be a detriment to the success of your business due to their below amateurish work and sketchy business practices.  If you want to operate your own business than just start your own by paying the provincial registration fee (which isn't even $100).

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