Hospitality waitstaff (and cleaning, dishwashing): 2015
I needed money since I knew that I'll be moving out soon so I spoke to the manager at a cafe/restaurant (more like a cafe during the day and restaurant at night) and got a job there. It was really good experience, learning how to work with other people (who were really great) in a very busy environment. The money and food was decent as well. I still volunteer once a week at a social enterprise cafe, in case I want a waitstaff job on the holidays or something (not to mention that it is an awesome place).
Debating adjudicator: 2016-present
I mainly went into this because the hours are very flexible (I still work quite a lot of nights because I signed up for them but I don't get called up randomly in uni or when I'm doing something else unlike a lot of jobs), it was easy to get into (just a written test although in some states you have to do an oral as well) and the money is good (even if I work for one hour instead of two, I get paid for the entire night). Although it is fairly easy to get into (I passed the test with half a year of debating experience), you do get observed by senior adjudicators when you start out as well getting feedback from students throughout the year. It's not a difficult job, once I developed a metric for deciding debates which made explaining the outcome in a somewhat less subjective manner much easier. To some extent you get out what you put in, there are plenty of people who haven't touch anything debating related since high school and wing their adjudications, while there are others that try to give constructive feedback. In my opinion, it's pretty rewarding to be able to pass on your knowledge (especially when I learnt to debate quite recently in uni) to younger debaters. When teachers, students and parents thank you and compliment your adjudication, it makes up for the small minority of angry/somewhat rude teachers and unappreciative (those that would probably be happier/give you higher ratings if you put half the effort in and gave a 2-3 minute adjudication instead). I don't love this job because I've been doing it regularly for quite a while so it has lost a bit of its spark, but it obviously develops public speaking skills, performing under high scrutiny/accountability, being able to explain yourself, analysing arguments, being able to help kids develop some useful skills and meeting a lot of people.
Debating coach: 2016
I got this job after doing a doing a bit of schools judging and a bit of coaching at the uni. Its rewarding in the sense that you get to see the students' growth and explain concepts and develop skills in a far more in-depth manner than I do for school's judging. I only did it for a year because working at a predominantly anglo boys private school as a woman of colour can be challenging at times. I am still open to debating coaching on a regular basis, as I still do occasional sessions at various schools.
Editorial intern: 2017-present
I contributed a bit to this publication through letters to the editor and comments, managed to get in touch the editor and got an internship, researching, fact-checking, writing, pitching and a bit of editing. I feel like I'm learning way more than I'm contributing even though I'm being paid decent money.
I open to working in a regular (fixed hours) job again while I still can (until postgrads), especially now that I have very little schools debating stuff at this time of the year, writing or paid research/lab assistant roles are particularly appealing, although I don't mind retail or hospitality either.
EDIT: In case anyone is interested, needs/wants experience, passed the Maccas phase (if you didn't work during high school and find that most retail/hospo jobs are unwilling to employ non-high school students without experience), the social non-for-profit cafe (Kinfolk Cafe) I volunteer at in the city is really good with this things. You get thrown into the role quickly (you get one training session, there are also barista volunteer shifts now as well), it's a very busy cafe so it will give you good experience, everyone is really nice, the food is great, the manager is really good at giving references (even after a very few shifts, they know that many people need a job. They have been successful in helping homeless people, migrants, former prisoners, people with disabilities amongst many other people find employment in hospitality.
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