As a new academic, I’ve had one common question from my undergraduate (UG) and postgraduate (PG) students in my current role. In my roles as a personal tutor, module tutor or course coordinator, I seem to be getting the same question over and over again in the last 11 months. My students’ burning questions usually sound something like these:
“Dr Elaine, I want to work part-time. Do you have any job suggestions for me?’
“Dr Elaine, do you know if I can teach part-time or apply to be a research assistant?”
“Dr Elaine, where can I find part-time jobs on campus?”
It is not surprising that full-time students have an interest to work part-time. Most of the time, their main reasons are either to gain work experience or earn some extra income. I usually try to find out by asking my students their reasons for seeking part-time employment and get them to reflect on what kind of roles would suit their skills, lifestyle and time management. I also refer them to the Careers Unit on campus.
Thinking back to the time I was a UG and PG student in the UK, I did work part-time and there were many factors which influenced the decisions I made about signing up for part-time employment on and off campus. I’m sharing my 2 cents worth here of the factors to consider while applying for and doing part-time jobs in case it helps anyone out there who is considering to work part-time while studying full time in university.
While reflecting on my own work experience as a UG student, I was living with a British host family in a small seaside town in West Sussex in the UK. I had classes on weekdays and focused only on my studies in the Autumn term when I first arrived in the UK. Over time, I noticed all my classmates were working part-time mostly as care workers in Care Homes for the elderly. They were working night shifts and came for classes in the morning.
I was intrigued to work too and started enquiring about part-time jobs. Unfortunately, jobs at McDonalds were all taken up and there were hardly any jobs on campus. After registering at the Job Centre in town and at a Job Agency, I realized there were limited jobs I could do as I only wanted to work on the weekends. I was also told by the lady at the job agency, they could not guarantee jobs on the morning of every weekend and I had to get to the job agency by 6.00 am on Saturday and Sunday and the first 15 to 20 people there would get a role for the day. I started working in Spring term and did the three roles below on a weekly basis. I only knew what role I would get every morning when a van picked us up at the job agency to take us to a factory or a nursery.
UG
1. Picker Packer – Tomato Factory, Littlehampton, West Sussex, UK
2. Factory worker – Lorlin Electronics, Worthing, West Sussex, UK
3. Nursery worker – Fleurie Nursery, Eastergate, West Sussex, UK
One of the factors which I considered as a UG student with no prior working experience to look for part-time work was time management. As I had classes on weekdays and I did not want to compromise on my sleep at night, I decided I could only work on weekends. My day heading to work and getting home took about 13 hours, from 6.00 am to 7.00 pm. I was really exhausted by the time I got home at night, so I had to work on my assignments on weekday nights.
One important lesson I learned during the jobs I did as a UG student was that sometimes people have no choice on the roles that were available. As I had no prior work experience during my O levels and matriculation days, I had to accept the roles which were available.
It was rather tough to work as a factory worker. My 1st role was as a tomato packer. My task included sorting the tomatoes on a conveyor belt, packing the tomatoes in clear packaging and then stacking the crates with packs of tomatoes in them. This role required me to stand for over 10 hours a day with a short tea break and lunch break in between. In addition, the factory was cold as the tomatoes had to be kept fresh. Nevertheless, I learned many skills in this role and learned about how tomatoes are graded, packed and sold. I also value having work experience in a blue-collar job.
In my 2nd job, I made rotary switches, key lock switches and dimmer switches. I remember getting cuts on my fingers for the first few weeks in this role as the tools to fix the switches were rather sharp and I was not very careful when I was learning how to fix them. Once I became good at it, I could do a few hundred a day. It was a rather mechanical task and required concentration. All the other factory workers in my team were elderly ladies and they were very happy to have a UG student joining them in the factory. One important factor which was key on this job was working as part of a collaborative team and teamwork was important. Each small team made one part of a component for the switch and all the components made by different teams were needed to make one switch.
When I returned to the UK later on as a PhD student, I already had some work experience as an educator and I decided to have a strategy while looking for part-time work. I decided that there were a few key factors I wanted to focus on in the jobs I would take on and they had to be related to skills in tutoring, teaching, writing, leadership and management. Thus, I was selective of the roles I applied for and was successful in completing the 14 roles as seen below in the 4 years I was a PhD student. During each time/ duration/ term, I was doing 3 to 4 jobs at a time.
PHD
1. Postgraduate (PG) Blogger – University of Warwick
2. PG Ambassador – University of Warwick
3. Orientation Helper (PG Team) – University of Warwick
4. PG Calling Campaign Ambassador - University of Warwick
5. Student Progression Ambassador – University of Warwick
6. Workshop Facilitator – CES, University of Warwick
7. Teaching Assistant – CES, University of Warwick
8. Examination Invigilator – University of Warwick
9. PGR Professional Development Panel Member – Graduate School, University of Warwick
10. IGGY PG Mentor & Moderator – University of Warwick
11. PhD Tutor – The Brilliant Club
12. Advanced Skills Tutor, The Brilliant Club
13. Part – time Research Intern – CUREE
14. Foreign Language Tutor – Defence Academy of the UK
One important factor I did not compromise on while working part time as a PG student was completing all my writing and research on time before I met my PhD supervisor every fortnight. I also managed to stay focused and worked at the library daily till 12am or 2am.
By the 2nd year of my PhD studies, I realised I could cope with the workload of my research and part-time work. Thus, I signed up for two more postgraduate programmes at the university and managed to complete them during the duration of my PhD studies.
Reflecting back on my PhD studies and part-time work, I realized three key factors which helped me to finish my research 6 months before my course end date and be able to work part-time was to stay focused on my research, remained motivated to succeed and managed my time well. In addition, I had the full support of my PhD supervisor in my research work, taking on the PG Award and PG Cert programmes as well as the part-time roles I undertook.
To anyone reading this blog post who is keen to work part-time while studying full-time, one main criteria would be to get the support of your personal tutor or supervisor to apply for part-time jobs. In addition, it is crucial to have good time management to balance the workload of your studies, research, managing your life as a student as well as managing your time well. I wish you all the best in your studies/ research as well as gaining new skills in any part-time work.
One of the course handbooks I published while teaching for The Brilliant Club.
I lived in a Military Base for 5 months in my role as a Foreign Language Tutor at the Defence Academy of the UK. I managed to go home every weekend while in this role.
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