Hi!
I was wondering if anyone on here knows or are looking for a casual working student in the central NJ area, hunter/eq barns.
When i say “casual” I mean I cannot commit my entire life to being your working student. I own a 2 year old Oldenburg hunter prospect that eats all my money so I have to work another non-horse job part time. My availability during the week would be any time in the morning till around 2pm(depending on where you are located).Would also do some weekends all day. On a rare occasion I may need to work my other job all day or need a day off!
My experience is in the hunters and I have a hunter horse so a barn that does that would be great. I am an almost 20 yr old female with over 10 years riding experience, I can clean stalls and tack, lunge, ride, teach lessons, whatever slave work you need done lol. My only concern is that I learn from a professional in the industry and get riding time in with a trainer(as my horse is not saddle broke). I am a very competent rider and horse person, and a hard worker. A full time job opportunity eventually or just getting to add you to my resume would be great, as eventually I want my career to be in horses.
If anyone has any leads on this I would really appreciate it! And please be nice:) I can also send pictures and videos of my riding
If you want to be taken seriously, I’d edit your post to be less condescending. You do not sound like anyone I would be eager to hire.
I’m sure you mean well, so I didn’t quote it. Soften it up so it doesn’t read as though you are looking for freebies on your terms.
Definitely not looking for freebies when I say I will be WORKING. I just cannot commit to 7 days a week all day like the normal working student, I have bills to pay like the rest of you, my horses board especially.( why I am not asking for cash compensation). Didn’t realize asking for flexible schedule and understanding would be asking for freebies, I will put in as much work as I can, and the trainer will give me as much as they feel necessary. That is all.
[QUOTE=caseyn555;8326283]
Definitely not looking for freebies when I say I will be WORKING. I just cannot commit to 7 days a week all day like the normal working student, I have bills to pay like the rest of you, my horses board especially.( why I am not asking for cash compensation). Didn’t realize asking for flexible schedule and understanding would be asking for freebies, I will put in as much work as I can, and the trainer will give me as much as they feel necessary. That is all.[/QUOTE]
Then you don’t understand being a working student…
Sounds to me like you’re more or less looking for a part time grooming position. Go to school…keep working your job…live the amateur life.
[QUOTE=caseyn555;8326283]
Definitely not looking for freebies when I say I will be WORKING. I just cannot commit to 7 days a week all day like the normal working student, I have bills to pay like the rest of you, my horses board especially.( why I am not asking for cash compensation). Didn’t realize asking for flexible schedule and understanding would be asking for freebies, I will put in as much work as I can, and the trainer will give me as much as they feel necessary. That is all.[/QUOTE]
Seriously? Check the attitude.
Look for a part time barn job and pay for lessons instead with that money. There are a lot of nice, giving, and professional (well connected) people in the NJ area that come on COTH. This type of talk to posters and your original post won’t get you anywhere. :no:
OP, there’s a different tone one takes when asking for work. It’s perhaps less “honest” than you are writing. And it expects less understanding from the employer.
Look, everyone has bills to pay. You don’t need to “write it out loud” that you can’t give all of your time to the WS gig. That will, in fact, be true, of course. But that’s something you’ll work out with your employer after you have proven your value to her.
And I think you do want to commit enough time to be of use to someone. But your calling your schedule or commitment “casual” stuck out for me. There is absolutely no way that anyone hires a person to work if the employee starts out expressing the idea that anyone’s relationship to the job is “casual.” I think you mean to be honest about the hours you can work, and up-front from the beginning.
Honesty is a fine characteristic to express in this kind of request. Putting limits on what you’ll do, or justifying your limits by explaining that at least you are working for less than you deserve (the part about "hey, that’s why I’m not asking to be paid) are not.
There’s an art to applying for a job. I hope you aren’t offended. Moreover, I hope you can find someone to work for. And one more thing to keep in mind, in case you haven’t thought of it: It takes time and energy to hire and train someone. The reasons employers need to see applicants that look so eager to work is because they really do lose something when they pick the person who isn’t serious about sticking with it. And there will always be some part of a WS job that makes someone want to quit. It’s as bad for the employer when they pick the wrong employee as it is for you.
I don’t know, I didn’t see anything wrong with the post. Perhaps because our part-time employees are called “casual” employees, and perhaps because I’ve seen “casual” working students at some of the barns at which I have ridden.
It may be tough for you to find something if you cannot commit consistently to certain days (if I understood you correctly). Perhaps getting an in by freelancing as a groom on weekends so you can easily manage your schedule or doing barn work for pay so people can get to know you and then have that possibly morph into something else (or help build the network to find the type of position you would really like).
I am not/was not a student there, but I know many people who have ridden at Centenary. That seems to be a good network to get exposure as I’ve seen many alumni posting for temp help. Perhaps that might be a place to get some names?
Also…would you need boarding at this location? Would you be willing to work and potentially pay to keep your horse there? I ask because with your part time need, I don’t see you being able to make up the cost of keeping the horse there as well as the other “perks” of being a working student. (I use perks loosely, you really are just a glorified slave in most cases:) )
[QUOTE=comingback;8326371]
I don’t know, I didn’t see anything wrong with the post. Perhaps because our part-time employees are called “casual” employees, and perhaps because I’ve seen “casual” working students at some of the barns at which I have ridden.[/QUOTE]
I don’t think calling it casual (IMO) is the problem.
She wrote this:
[QUOTE=caseyn555;8325790]Hi!
I was wondering if anyone on here knows or are looking for a casual working student in the central NJ area, hunter/eq barns.
When i say “casual” I mean I cannot commit my entire life to being your working student. I own a 2 year old Oldenburg hunter prospect that eats all my money so I have to work another non-horse job part time. My availability during the week would be any time in the morning till around 2pm(depending on where you are located).Would also do some weekends all day. On a rare occasion I may need to work my other job all day or need a day off!
My experience is in the hunters and I have a hunter horse so a barn that does that would be great. I am an almost 20 yr old female with over 10 years riding experience, I can clean stalls and tack, lunge, ride, teach lessons, whatever slave work you need done lol. My only concern is that I learn from a professional in the industry and get riding time in with a trainer(as my horse is not saddle broke). I am a very competent rider and horse person, and a hard worker. A full time job opportunity eventually or just getting to add you to my resume would be great, as eventually I want my career to be in horses.
If anyone has any leads on this I would really appreciate it! And please be nice:) I can also send pictures and videos of my riding[/QUOTE]
When it could have easily been wrote more inviting like:
Hello! I’m a young adult looking for a part time, morning shift working student or barn position. I unfortunately have another job, but I would love to be in a professional barn environment. I have 10 years experience in the hunter/jumper world, and I am knowledgeable about barn management, grooming, etc. I would be happy to provide references, video, and pictures of my riding. I can work some weekends! I will happily exchange work for ride time rather than compensation.
^^ loosely, quickly written.
So, instead of rethinking her wording, OP then strikes (what I read as) an attitude with another poster that said her ISO wording wasn’t good.
There are a lot of barns in central New Jersey - one that I road at had a college student who would come “casually” help out and got a lot of ride time. The barn wasn’t even really looking, she just emailed the address on the website, asked if they could use some help. Assuming you are a competent horse person, I think a lot of barns would love some free help!
I don’t know of any specific suggestions for barns, but you might try going to some horse shows meeting some local trainers and seeing if someone could use some help. Or giving a call or sending an email to some farms - worse they could say is no. You might also check yard and groom and craigslist - they often have postings for part time work or working students.
Good luck!
I guess I didn’t realize the word “casual” was such a huge deal. I am basically looking for part time morning work where I would commit to 5 days a week at least. I was just looking to see if anyone was interested in some free labor, while giving me some of there training time(not a ton!) while my horse grows. And the possibility of a full time position in the future if they were looking to hire. I want the experience. I appreciate all the helpful input but I was not looking to be so critiqued for my word choice, If you or someone you know is interested in what I’m offering- great! If not that’s okay too!
I am not at all trying to be rude, but I did not think I am came across as asking for freebies. Thanks to all that understood what I meant 
Ironically I do know someone looking for morning help in trade for ride time. PM me if you want more details.
Also, just to clear up a few things. I will not be needing to board my horse at the facility, my horse is staying where she is. And the reason I am not looking to just pay for lessons is because I want experience in all aspects of the business, I want to get a feel for everything. The riding is only a small portion of what I am looking for, I want a mentor and a professional to guide me. In next year or so I would love to find a full time position in a barn, that’s why I want to build my resume and make connections. I’m sure you all know how hard it is to make money in the nj horse industry while still being able to afford one, I am trying to be smart about this. Maybe I’ll find something and maybe I won’t, just wanted to see if anyone on here was looking.
OP–if you’re on Facebook, there are a number of groups like ‘Central NJ Horse Group’ and others where barn owners from the area often post requests for barn help. Most of these lists primarily post horses for sale and tack for sale but I have seen a number of requests in the past from barns looking for part-time help.
If you’re Facebook ‘friends’ with barns in the Central Jersey area, I also often see advertisements for working student positions in my feed.
