Part-time jobs have become increasingly popular over the past few years with many students successfully combining their university studies with part-time work. Working part-time offers a great opportunity for students to earn extra money while studying. Other benefits include gaining work experience, building self-confidence, developing administrative and leadership skills, discovering new interests, and meeting new people. Part-time jobs, however, are not without risks if students take up jobs at the expense of their academic work. There is the risk of reduced academic performance due to reduced study time, missing classes, and in the worst case, dropping out. To reap the benefits of studying and working, therefore, requires some balance, effort, and discipline.
Choosing a Part-Time Job
There are ample opportunities for students to take up part-time jobs these days – on-campus, off-campus, and online. The first step is deciding on what kind of job the student wishes to take up. One good way of approaching this problem is to figure out the reasons why the student wants to take up a part-time job. Is it to make extra money or is it to gain some transferable skills or is it to network and make new friends or for some other reason? Students should also consider how much time they can spare in a week. International students on a student visa should comply with the visa rules when considering part-time work. While traditional jobs for students require work shifts, remote jobs offer increased flexibility and more autonomy besides helping in digital networking and skills development.
On-Campus Part-Time Jobs
- Campus Ambassador: This is a great on-campus opportunity for students who enjoy meeting new people and working in a team. Campus ambassadors have the responsibility of promoting the university and encouraging prospective students to enroll.
- Teaching Assistant: A teaching assistant assists professors in classroom activities and helps students overcome any academic barriers. This on-campus role provides an opportunity to advance in studies too.
- Research Assistant: Research assistants assist professors or senior researchers on research projects. While the job would depend on the department but essentially, the research assistant is expected to work on various projects, carry out research, collect data, perform experiments, and collate results.
- Library Assistant: A library assistant is a role that can be taken up at the university library or at a library nearby. The responsibilities include routine, daily library operations such as shelving books, helping visitors locate books and other reading materials, and recommending useful books.
Off-Campus Part-Time Jobs
- Restaurants/Catering: Restaurants and catering work often offers flexible hours and shifts. Duties involve waitressing, waiting tables, reservations, or at times even some cooking. The job can sometimes be tough, and physically demanding work, but a good server can make extra cash through tips. Many colleges and universities hire students to work at campus cafes.
- Retail Store: Working as retail store assistants in bookstores, pet stores, drug stores, clothing stores, technology stores – or any other will provide students the opportunity to acquire customer service and interpersonal skills on the sales floor. These jobs would require more effort as they may involve long hours of standing and a fair amount of product know-how.
- Paid Internships: Paid internships are a great employment opportunity for students as they can provide valuable experience to help them find a job in their desired field after graduation. Besides equipping interns with knowledge and skills, internships will help in growing one’s professional network.
Online Part-Time Jobs
- Social Media Manager: The role involves creating brand promotions, analysing customer engagement, and communicating with potential customers. Working as a part-time social media manager will provide exposure and develop communication skills that will help with a career in marketing after graduation.
- Freelance Writer: This is a good opportunity for students with good command over written language. A role as a freelance writer involves writing website content, blogs, product briefs, etc. This will help in enhancingthe student’s knowledge base besides enjoying the writing at one’s own pace.
- Graphic Designer: Freelance graphic designer would be a good option for students who have some proficiency in software such as Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, After Effects, Sketch, and Figma. Graphic design has applications across a wide domain and students can make use of their design and creativity skills for earning extra money.
- Virtual Assistant: A virtual assistant offers services such as data entry, schedule management, record maintenance, and answering customer questions on social media sites like Amazon and LinkedIn, etc. This is a role that gives flexibility and at the same time experience in administrative tasks.
Next steps
While you consider which part-time job is best for you, it would be advisable to prepare a resume and practice your interview skills. Look up videos regarding interview etiquette, search for resume templates and prepare for the most asked interview questions in your preferred field of work. It’s always best to come prepared, so you can not only have a better chance of getting hired but also help you develop your soft skills.
It goes without saying that having a full-time job and managing studies is challenging. At Demont, we aim to tackle that by offering flexible and affordable programs in a variety of fields like business, HR, Marketing, Computing, Finance, etc. Making the process of learning and having a part-time/full-time job much easier.
Reference
https://www.bachelorstudies.com/article/10-part-time-jobs-for-students/
https://www.coursera.org/articles/part-time-jobs-for-college-students
https://www.uopeople.edu/blog/the-best-online-part-time-jobs-for-students/
