research assistant

research associate

technical support

administrative assistant

senior technical support

Western University

The pay is decent, but if you are full-time / permanent, then you'll receive your paycheck at the end of each month. For those just starting out, you may need an extra part-time job to help cover basics between monthly pay deposits.
Be prepared to pay for parking; there are no exceptions.

Once you've been there a year, your salary and vacation allotment should increase at a noticeable rate each year moving forward. Most departments do allow banking vacation days, but there will be a cap (it was 20 days where I worked before). Yes, you get this paid out in a lump sum with your final paycheck when you resign.

Remote work is available but depends largely on your direct supervisor's approval. Most departments don't have high expectations of dress code; business casual or casual is fine. If you are looking for a job that supports educational goals and personal educational development, then this is a match for you. Decent office job with regular/predictable hours.

You get tuition expenses reimbursed and a textbook allowance. HR / ITS also offers a regular series of professional-development courses related to computer program usage (i.e. Excel) that your department should cover and give you paid time to attend. And depending on which department you're working for, how nosy your co-workers are, and your direct supervisor's temperament, you can get some of your course assignments completed during office hours in an average week.

The work itself, in most departments, is generally meaningless bureaucratic paper-pushing. Your job satisfaction will largely depend on who is your direct supervisor and how often you need to attend meetings with stakeholders. If you get someone who is more easy-going, then you will pray that he/she renews his/her appointment each term so that you won't get stuck with someone else in the near future. Many administrative workers move from department to department if working here long-term. It is rare to be completely happy occupying the same position for more than 5 years in a stretch (due to new term appointments/renewals, i.e. Dean, Assistant Dean, direct supervisor, department chair, etc...). Each newly-appointed Chair/Dean/President wants to make his/her mark before the term expires.

It is a unionized environment, so don't work too hard to impress. In fact, downplaying your skills is the name of the game if you wish to stay long-term. Your direct supervisor will be reprimanded and questioned by an HR representative in your faculty for giving you an exemplary annual performance review (even if it is true). Keep all opinions to yourself; individualism isn't desirable here. Merit is not rewarded; stick to status quo. Don't ask questions.

Oh but the campus is so beautiful in the month of June!

This is a great place to spend 5 to 10 years earning a paycheck while upgrading your education and padding your resume.

Follow the money trail...

1. Health - Cancers, Asthma, Toxicity and other diseases for both students and workers because of incessant construction and poor materials which off-gas and have construction dust, particularly in library, Physics building, and others.  Staff in one dept. have been in the midst of legal action for their life threatening health problems due to this.

2. Biased - Ombudsperson and other staff hired to "help" students actually help themselves to gaining personal stories and information which they pass on to higher up ie. Provost, and in turn work against the student and protect themselves from legal action. Dormitory and apartment housing on campus are also used to gain information.

3. Instructors - Do not assist the students who are struggling or in trouble for any reason.  Weeding the weak and troubled or trouble makers out is a motto of the university. Their job is more important than a students.

4. Bullies - students, instructors, staff higher ups all have a tendency to allow this on the campus...to save their jobs and their classroom "teachers pet" status. If you get rid of the bad wood, everyone is their to help you as long as the majority are helped and benefited.

5. London and in General Ontario - wannabe los angeles. Already the privatization of medical system has happened. Most Ontarian's in the small and large cities tend to be materialistic - to the point of money extinction.  Renovating basements endlessly, and putting kids into daycare as they strive for higher education and changing careers, even when they have a stable, high income and permanent position.  

6. Student run city - yes it is.  But once you go to school there, you have to work at western or other businesses. Can never leave. Not enough men and very very cliquish or group mentality.  Small town and nothing to do there. Lots of drinking...thats it.

Being a caretaker at Western is similar to the movie "ANTZ"; where you're constantly working to save your worker population from being completely wiped out. 
You're treated as completely (and expectedly) disposable, regardless of how many decades you've dedicated yourself to supporting this campus. The trades are not treated, nor paid, any better. 
We are constantly expected to do more for and with less; we are expected to be okay with a wage you cannot survive on while committing full time or more hours to the job. 
We are expected to promote and encourage the development of the university while they cannot even maintain what they have. We are expected to support doubling the first year student population while we don't have the staff nor resources to support that. We are expected to graciously host(aka work overtime and double time, be at their disposal for scheduling) the summer conferences and Summer Games while many of us are using the food bank to get by. We are expected to promote Western's "#1 in Canada in Sustainable Development" while being sure not to emphasize the that it is just the "development" part, not our practice (as most recycling on campus goes to landfill, thousands of perfectly good items are thrown out yearly, the sheer volume of food that gets thrown out from Western sanctioned events daily, the overall extreme greenwashing, etc...). 
All in all, for a secondary institution, there is not a lot of thinking that goes on. And, even less communication. The written policies are extremely different from the practice; you have very little protection as a worker. You have very little, in general. The TA's and every position between student to staff is even more precarious. 
I used to think there was hope in the world before I started working at Western, and now I realize that there is only hope for the rich (specifically those who can stomach hoarding money while majority of their community is suffering). 

Expect a frenetic energy without the satisfaction of getting things done. Lots of aimless (and long) meetings. Individual work can feel pointless because there isn't support or the strategic planning from the organization to ensure your work adds value, has buy-in and/or isn't duplicative. 

Not a good place to learn; the use of technology, the management styles, the processes are outdated. Overall, you're not going to learn best practices here - from professional writing, to scheduling, to event planning, they are not leading in the way they do things. 

Management does not have the skills that you would expect for someone at their level. They are trying hard, for sure, but a lot of first-time management mistakes are made even by long-time managers. 

Unfortunately, there is a lack of awareness of how under-developed the organization is compared with those in other sectors. The prevailing belief is the organization is superior to others simply because it is an academic institution with excellent faculty. Individuals act to stay in their comfort zone or to protect their personal interests, instead of doing the work and having the conversations that will benefit the institution and the communities it serves. 

Do you currently know someone who works at Western in any sort of position of power? Good for you, you'll succeed more here than anyone who has put in time and commitment to the job. Management does nothing to help you succeed in the job, you are "encouraged" to bring concerns forward, but are completely disregarded when you do so. They don't take accountability to any of their mistakes or short-comings and will always find a way to pin the problems on you. They groom their own people to the detriment on the standards. Look at it as if you're working at Walmart, just with a pretty sticker over the business. 

Basically comes down to if you have the odd good coworker or customer, you're lucky. 

The only positive reviews are those who do nothing but somehow still got promoted to a higher position. They will then mock and micromanage their employees work even though they never actually did the work themselves. You're always going to be the problem. 

Lesson learned, don't work hard, don't go "above and beyond" because there is zero benefit of doing so. In-fact, those are the only ones to move up. 

Side note: Don't rely union support.

Conclusion - don't come to Western unless you're a student. 

Working part-time at Western University Food Services is a generally positive experience, especially for students looking to earn extra income while studying. The job offers flexible scheduling, which is ideal for balancing academic commitments. Managers are usually understanding when it comes to school-related conflicts, and most shifts are manageable in length. The work environment is fast-paced, particularly during peak hours, but this helps shifts go by quickly and keeps the job engaging.

Tasks vary depending on the location — from food prep and cashier duties to cleaning and stocking — but training is typically provided and easy to follow. Coworkers are often fellow students, creating a friendly and supportive team atmosphere. Pay is competitive for a student job, and some positions offer meal discounts or perks.

On the downside, the work can sometimes be physically demanding and repetitive, especially during busy periods. Communication from management can occasionally be inconsistent, and advancement opportunities are limited for part-time roles. However, for what it is — a student-oriented part-time job — Western University Food Services delivers a solid experience. It's a good way to gain customer service skills, build a work ethic, and earn money without straying far from campus.






My experience at Western University is a bit different than a typical day of work at a regular job as I go to school and work for the same organization. I am currently a Residence Advisor at Western where I am responsible for building a community for a floor of 26 first year students. I have to plan programs such as movie nights, study sessions, dinners as well as posters that cater to the average college students' needs. I also have to be on duty at least 5 times a month for the building at night where I deal with any emergencies or situations that may occur in the building. My co-workers are upper year students just like myself who have a passion for influencing the lives of others and enjoy giving back to the Western community.
The most enjoyable part of my job this year was watching the students on my floor grow into strong, responsible and well-motivated leaders over the past eight months. I enjoyed being able to see their gradual change and adaptability to university life while being there for them in any way possible.

I worked here for over a decade and was always proud of working at Western. However, in the past 3 years, the workplace culture has taken a nosedive. Western used to be known for its incredible employee retention, but now employees are leaving en masse and recruiting new employees has become next to impossible. The reason? Senior leadership/ HR has become incredibly inflexible and adversarial. Accommodation requests are flatly denied, hybrid or remote work is impossible to attain, information and reasoning behind decisions are kept secret now, communication is nonexistent and there are countless empty promises. It used to feel like Western valued their employees, and now it feels like they just view employees as robots that they're trying to extract the most labour from instead of as a whole person. It's been really demoralizing to witness and experience, and I hope that with significant change in senior leadership, the workplace culture at Western will improve again too. The employees deserve so much better than they have received over the last few years.

As an Orientation Volunteer my job is to make sure that first year university students have an easy transition into university life. I live in residence with the first year students and serve a mentorship role. There are 34 Orientation Volunteers in the building as well as 20 paid staff members. I am there to help the first year students if they are having academic problems, social problems, or any question they may have. My role is to be their friend, so that they will always have someone to support them in their new environment. A typical day would include checking on the students, asking how there days were, I may have a meeting with the other volunteers in the building, and I am pretty much there 24/7 in case any problems arise. The hardest part of the job is balancing my school work as well as spending time with the students. There will be times in the middle of the night where a student needs help and it is my job to be there. I love the people I work with as well as the students I am responsible for. The people make it all worth it.

My experience at Western University is terrible of my whole career.  I was appointed as postdoctoral associate and I have two supervisors. I have very bad experience of working under two supervisors as both were trying me to do work under them separately and also I was supposed to teach three courses annually. They doubted my skills most of the time, I felt humiliated initially as I joined them from well settled job for better career in Canada but my experience with them was very bad. The senior employees in department are not supportive and shown don't care attitude as I requested them to extend my stay at Western University. I moved to Canada with family and relocation is very much difficult for me in this situation but after making requests to my both supervisors they paid no attention on my suffering and not to help me out in this difficult time of my career.
I would not suggest to pursue postdoctoral position under two supervisors as its nearly impossible to satisfy them.

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