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March 29, 2024, 08:49:35 am

Author Topic: Jobs during University  (Read 3383 times)  Share 

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ConFinCMC

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Jobs during University
« on: December 05, 2021, 09:47:20 pm »
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Hey y'all.
I was looking for advice on employment during university. I'm doing a single-semester program next year in a new town, and I was wondering if I should bother looking for work. My sister said that she worked herself hard at her job when she started a four-year course. She said that she regretted working so hard because she missed out on social events and some study time.

I want to leave myself enough time to balance school, study and social life, but I don't want to get lazy or run out of money after just a semester. If anyone has any tips on what I could do during this time, feel free to comment below and I'd love to discuss what some of you guys did and even advice on how you found jobs.

Thanks in advance!  :D
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lm21074

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Re: Jobs during University
« Reply #1 on: December 05, 2021, 11:19:20 pm »
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Hey! I'm not a uni student (yet hopefully haha), but a number of my colleagues are and from what I've heard from them, it's all relative. One started with around 35 hours a week and then ended up dropping down to five hours a week because she found it hard to balance working with studying. Another one consistently worked 20ish hours a week in a degree that didn't have a lot of contact hours and found it okay.

There are of course pros and cons to working during uni. The main one obviously being able to support yourself financially. It can also allow for more of a routine in your life, as you can plan your study time around your work, and in a way, you might be less inclined to slack off with study as you will have less unstructured time and have to fit in study with classes and work. It can give you a break from studying, doing something to take your mind off uni work. You can learn to work in teams and alone, and personally, working has made me realise the importance of discipline in getting things done, which I can apply to studying and other aspects of life. Having a job whilst at uni also can give you transferrable skills that pivot you towards your goal career(s).

I think that having a job requires you to plan your time well. Some weeks I know I went to work and came home exhausted and didn't want to study, or I wouldn't fit my study time around work very well, sometimes taking more shifts than I could balance with the workload of school.

You could always give it a go and see how you find it? Most employers should be flexible with hours, and mindful that you're a uni student and working isn't all you do.

Hope this helps you out a bit :)

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s110820

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Re: Jobs during University
« Reply #2 on: January 18, 2022, 09:35:59 am »
+2
Hey! I'm not a uni student (yet hopefully haha), but a number of my colleagues are and from what I've heard from them, it's all relative. One started with around 35 hours a week and then ended up dropping down to five hours a week because she found it hard to balance working with studying. Another one consistently worked 20ish hours a week in a degree that didn't have a lot of contact hours and found it okay.

There are of course pros and cons to working during uni. The main one obviously being able to support yourself financially. It can also allow for more of a routine in your life, as you can plan your study time around your work, and in a way, you might be less inclined to slack off with study as you will have less unstructured time and have to fit in study with classes and work. It can give you a break from studying, doing something to take your mind off uni work. You can learn to work in teams and alone, and personally, working has made me realise the importance of discipline in getting things done, which I can apply to studying and other aspects of life. Having a job whilst at uni also can give you transferrable skills that pivot you towards your goal career(s).

I think that having a job requires you to plan your time well. Some weeks I know I went to work and came home exhausted and didn't want to study, or I wouldn't fit my study time around work very well, sometimes taking more shifts than I could balance with the workload of school.

You could always give it a go and see how you find it? Most employers should be flexible with hours, and mindful that you're a uni student and working isn't all you do.

Hope this helps you out a bit :)

I definitely agree with Im21074! It's all about finding what works for you - not anyone else. Some people can manage to work 30+ hours per week and can still manage to balance uni and a social life but some of us can't and that's okay. Personally, I work 10-20 hours during the semester and reduce my hours during exams period only because I'm trying to save up for a house deposit. I'm also trying to save up as much as I can now, rather than later because I personally feel more comfortable when I have a foundation to fall back on if anything happens. But this is just what works for me and it may not work for you.

If you're only doing a single semester program, it might be beneficial to look for casual jobs rather than part-time or full-time jobs as while your hours may not be consistent each week, you are still entitled to refuse or swap shifts if you need. Casual workers are also entitled to receive superannuation contributions paid by their employers (only if they earn more than $450/month and are 18 years or older or if they are under 18 years old and work more than 30 hours per week). If you're keen on finding a casual job, trying looking at websites like Indeed or Seek which have hundreds of job listings.

Also, use the search bar function to your advantage. If you just put in "casual job" in the search, it'll pop up with hundreds (if not thousands) of results. So what I would recommend is filtering by "classification" (on Seek, there's a drop down menu with check boxes for you to filter your results based on your future field/interests and there are also sub-categories as well). Also try to make your area of search as specific as possible. If you just put in "Sydney and the surrounding suburbs" (for example), there will also be thousands of results as well so it would be best to put in the area/suburb that you're staying in for proximity. You can also choose the option of "showing jobs within..." (exact location only, 5km, 10km, 25km, 50km or 100km) if that's easier.

Hopefully that helps! If you have any other questions, feel free to private message me :)
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