[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/Huang_Lee.jpg” caption=”Emily Huang and Jessica Lee work as student callers. Photo by Susan Bubak.”]The next time you hear the phone ring, you might find yourself talking to Emily Huang or Jessica Lee. The student callers have raised more than $70,000 for McMaster this year.

In addition to flexible hours and a friendly work environment, the students say they enjoy giving back to McMaster by fundraising for initiatives that benefit students directly, such as bursaries.

“Doing something that helps your fellow students makes it worthwhile,” says Lee, who has raised the most money so far this year, with $45,653 in donations from 512 pledges.

“When they say yes [to a donation], I makes you feel really good,” says Huang, who raised $27,705 this year from 342 pledges. “The alumni are extremely nice. They're very generous.”

Both students say they enjoy talking to alumni.

“When their degree is the same as mine, it's interesting to see where they're going in life,” says Huang, a fourth-year economics student. She adds that she sometimes spends up to 30 minutes speaking with alumni who enjoy talking about their experiences at McMaster, or who now have children attending the University.

Lee, a fourth-year psychology student, says she learned about a “variety of career paths” by speaking with psychology grads who work in different fields.

Huang and Lee have been working at the call centre at McMaster's Downtown Centre for the past year and a half. Both students became supervisors this year. Between 50 and 60 students work at the call centre during the school year. They work from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m., and they each make about 100 calls per shift.

Working in a call centre requires excellent communication skills, which Huang and Lee have both mastered, along with leadership and teamwork skills.

“It's a great job for a people person,” says Lee.

The student job profile is a weekly series about students working on campus.