As students settle into their daily routines and start to look for jobs, the Department of Public Safety is on the lookout for new student employees.

Doug Houghton, program manager for DPS, said the department employs between 130 and 140 students during the school year.

The department has a wide variety of job openings available to students who want to work in law enforcement or just want an interesting job on campus.

Houghton’s son, Doug, freshman in pre-computer science, is a student dispatcher with DPS.

“The people here are really good,” the younger Houghton said. “The job’s exciting; it’s always moving. They are willing to work with me to make my schedule work with their schedule.”

Both Houghtons said working for DPS gives a student the opportunity to get to know all the aspects of the campus and the people who run it.

The elder Houghton said the department primarily is concerned with hiring student officers in the law-enforcement division of the department.

“Their primary job duties are patrolling campus, locking and unlocking doors after hours and providing security at games and events,” he said.

The student law-enforcement officers take on a variety of tasks that take them all over campus.

“On top of that, the pay’s pretty competitive,” Doug Houghton Sr. said.

Student officers in the law enforcement division start out at $6.50 an hour during a six-month trial period. After the training period, wages are raised to $7 an hour.

He said most of the hours available are in two shifts – from 8 p.m. to midnight, and midnight to 5 a.m. Other jobs during days and weekends also need to be filled.

The elder Houghton said the parking division employs students to work days, nights and weekends, and there are many office jobs that may fit into students’ schedules.

There also is a small group of student dispatchers who are highly trained and receive higher pay, he said. The department may be looking to fill specific shifts for those positions soon.

Doug Houghton Sr. said the department looks for certain qualities in employees.

“This is a law-enforcement agency, so we want to make sure we have students with a good deal of honesty and responsibility,” he said.

He said student officers must have no previous convictions and need a valid driver’s license.

The younger Houghton recommends being organized and capable of doing more than one task at a time.

More information can be found on the ISU Web site. To reach DPS, call 294-4428 for the law-enforcement division and 294-3388 for the parking division.

Both parking and law enforcement offices are located in the Armory.