| Product: |
Jobs whilst you are a student |
| Date: |
14/03/02 (284 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Go figure it out yourself
Disadvantages: And then do the same again
I was once a student y’know. Less than ten years ago but far enough back to remember maintenance grants (albeit pretty tiny by then) and a time when tuition fees were paid for. I came out of uni debt-free which is nigh on impossible now but lets look at some ways to ease the financial pain of being a student in the 21-st century under the benign (ha!) gaze of Tony Blair’s government.
***Work on Campus***. Well, this is probably the first place to start looking. There are lots of potential jobs in the university itself. You could try the canteen. Lots of my friends worked in the kitchens in halls, serving up food, and clearing plates. Advantages: Well, you don’t have miles to travel to get to work, assuming you’re living on campus. It provides some beer money at the end of the week. You can give extra big helpings to people that you fancy and um, spit in the food of those you don’t. (I’m sure this never happens really, but y’know, it could be looked upon as a perk of the job, but only if you really don’t like the person and they’ve been really mean to you and wronged you big time in some way and nearly ruined your whole life. You decide.). Disadvantages: You probably have to wear a hat or worse, a hairnet, thus ruining any chances you had with that person you’ve just doled out huge helpings to. You have to clear up after people who think you might, just might, have spat in their tea – you think they’re going to leave their tray tidy for you? Do you now?
If you can get a job in the student union bar then you really ought to be laughing. Think about it: You’re in the bar. And you’re getting paid for it. True, it’s not very much. And you probably can’t get legless in quite the same spectacular fashion as if you were a punter. And you might have to actually do some work like pull the odd pint now and again. But it’s not difficult. You’re in a
student union bar, all anyone wants to drink is beer, its not like you’re going to get asked to make up a Martini, though it would be helpful to know what snakebite is. I worked in our student union bar in my final year and it was one of the best jobs I ever had, precisely because it didn’t feel like a job. I never worked the 11am-3pm shift because it was too early (!) and incorporated the lunchtime rush. The 3-7pm slot was a more laid back affair, with students coming in for a quick pint between lectures, and small pockets of people intent on getting drunk. Over the four hours I’d chat with everyone who came in, watch MTV in the corner and drink as much Coke as I could (because it was free, so I felt I ought to). I’d heat up pizzas for hungry punters and invariably be agony aunt to some drink-sodden, wretched fool at the bar and I’d take heart that however bad my degree/love life/ financial state was, someone else always had it a whole lot worse.
I also worked an evening shift (7-11pm) on a Wednesday night. This would be the evening when all the sport clubs, returning from various matches and fixtures, would head to the union en masse. One group of males in particular would always be there, ever so rowdy, not at all tiresome – yeah right! – with their drinking games and bawdy songs, not to mention the puking, mooning and peeing into pint glasses. Yep, it was the rugby team, bain of my life, or Wednesday nights at least. If you are a rugby player you might take offence at reading this but I say go down your pint and turn the glass upside down on your head, you sorry sod, and be off with you. This was supposed to be an op on jobs for students, and I’ve been waylaid by the uncomfortable memory of hairy backsides tumbling to the floor as the table beneath their mooning extravaganza gives way under their collective weight.
Advantages to working in the bar: You get to see your friends while you’r
e working and you’ll probably make lots of new friends too, it’s a good way of meeting people. Free drinks. (mostly of the soft variety, but the opportunity is always there to stick a double in that Coke you’re drinking…) Disadvantages: Drunken people. Especially rugby players.
The other job I had in my final year was in one of the administration offices where I had the exciting prospect of stuffing envelopes. However, I did get paid £5.25 an hour for it, in comparison to just £3 an hour in the bar. None of these jobs are likely to be advertised, you’ll have to get in quick at the start of the academic year and be prepared to ask around all the various departments, to strike lucky.
Opportunities off campus are endless of course and you know what shops and businesses are close to you and which of them take on casual staff. There are certain things to consider though. You need a job that won’t conflict with your studies. It’s all very well working long hours and making plenty of money but if your course is suffering as a result then it’s probably not worth it, especially if your social life, which should be a vital part of being a student, starts to suffer too. So be it the local supermarket or Pizza Hut, telesales or data entry in an office, it ought to be flexible to fit in with your studies. There’s another thing to consider as well. I’ve been looking at jobs just solely from the perspective of making a little extra money to put in your pocket. But, unlike me, you may not be so blinded by another night out on the town, and instead are thinking ahead to the future, and the first steps in your career, when what you have down on your CV may make all the difference. In that case you’re not fussed about my op, you’ll be looking for unpaid placements in your chosen field, hoping prospective employers will be impressed.
Whatever you choose to do, try and make it fun. Go
od luck y’all.
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