August 12, 2014, by Beth Dawson
Filling your CV and your wallet: popular part-time positions
With 59% of students working during their studies*, having a part-time job at university is becoming increasingly common.
If you’re going to be looking for a part-time job for September and onward, whether it’s to fund your studies or gain work experience, we’ve compiled a few things you may want to consider about some of the most popular student jobs. For all of the following jobs, we recommend that you don’t work for more than 16 hours a week during term time, as your studies may suffer as a result.
Going behind the bar
In a city with a bustling nightlife like Nottingham, there’ll be many bar staff opportunities available and some clubs take on staff when students return in September to meet increased demand.
Bar work can be very flexible, which means you can organise your shifts around your study and extracurricular commitments. If you choose to work in one of Nottingham’s busy clubs, you’ll have a great example of being able to deliver good customer service under pressure and will develop an enviable set of communication skills. Being till trained will also open up doors for other hospitality and retail positions.
Working into the early hours of the morning is common. So before you start a bar job, ask your employer if there are arrangements to help you get back home safely, for example they may subsidise taxi fare. You’ll also need to consider that there may be some nights you can’t work, as you won’t want to miss early morning lecturers as a result of being too tired after a late shift.
Perfecting your sales patter
In a retail environment, you’ll be handling money and delivering customer service, which are transferrable skills that could be used in a variety of fields. During busy periods, such as the Christmas holidays, you may be able to secure extra hours to boost your bank balance if you have a low workload over the vacation period. One element of these positions that you may appreciate if you’re a shopaholic is the staff discounts that multiple establishments offer.
Due to more and more companies using online forms, going round Nottingham city centre with 20 print outs of your CV won’t produce much success. You’ll need to put a good deal of time aside to write a tailored online application, if you want top tips for this kind of application read our A-Z of online applications.
Representing The University of Nottingham
A student ambassador is a really flexible position that you can fit around your commitments. You’ll also be able to work on campus at a wide range of events, such as open days and school visits, and you won’t have to search on various jobs boards to find opportunities as many are advertised through our on-campus recruitment agency, Unitemps.
As a student ambassador you’ll be working as and when you’re needed, this means that you may want to investigate similar part-time temporary jobs that you can help to subsidise you income if you’re looking to raise funds.
Providing service with a smile
You’ll most likely be working during the day, which may make it easy to balance with your extracurricular, study and social commitments if you’re busy in the evenings. The expansions of various cafe chains means that there are multiple places you can apply to, including on-campus outlets.
However, many places may want staff who have experience working in these environments. If you haven’t had any experience in hospitality before you may want to consider getting involved with voluntary cafes that are based in Nottingham such as The Crocus Café.
You may also want to consider…
- Working in a call centre
- Taking on a part-time administration or receptionist position, there may even be opportunities on campus.
- Tutoring A-Level and GCSE students.
- Looking for part-time work that is related to the field you want to go into, for example if you want to go into journalism, you may want to seek out proof-reading positions.
If you want to find out more about gaining work experience and financing your studies, visit our part-time work and sources of vacancies webpages. You can also book an appointment with a member of our team to discuss finding part-time work and how you can secure a position that contributes to your career ambitions.
*’One in seven students have full-time jobs during degree course‘, The Independent, Monday 11 August 2014
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