July 2, 2024, by Jackie Thompson

How to balance a PhD with paid work

by Chloe O’Dowd, philosophy postgraduate researcher

Image: Image by Andrea from Pixabay

In this blog, I talk about the various paid roles I have now, previous roles, and how I managed my time so that I maintain a good PhD and paid work balance.

Catering assistant

During my PhD, I have partaken in a lot of different paid roles, in order to support myself and cover my expenses. My longest-running role is as a casual catering assistant for the university’s catering department. I began this job when I started my undergraduate degree (also at the University of Nottingham), and I am still taking shifts in my third year of PhD. I have learnt so much during this time, from the intricacies of the role at hand (pot-washing, making coffee, cutlery etiquette) to more general skills such as communication and leadership.

In terms of balancing this work with my studies, I am rather lucky. Many of the catering shifts are for evening dinners, so I am able to spend the day working on my thesis and earning money in the evening. When it is the case that I am needed in the day, I sit down and make a list of tasks that I need to complete that week and adjust my schedule, potentially extending some deadlines, so that a day at work will not put me behind on my thesis.

Also, the benefit of this being a casual job means that if I am having an extremely busy time with my studies, I can reject shifts and focus solely on PhD work, although this is not something I like doing often.

Other roles

Despite spending a lot of my time working for the catering department, I have also taken other paid work, all through Unitemps. Whilst none of them explicitly link to my PhD work, they have all provided me with new skills.

PGR Inclusivity Ambassador

I currently hold the role of PGR Inclusivity Ambassador for the School of Humanities, in which my main task is to gather feedback from my peers and collate a report with my findings. This is the job that I find most easy to integrate into my studies, as it is a research-based role. It is also for a limited number of hours, so I find myself only having to dedicate a morning a fortnight to this role.

Invigilator

Another job that I am currently doing is invigilating for university exams. This is certainly one in which I must carefully plan my time, as it requires hours of time in which no other task can be completed. This is a job that has taken over and does not allow me much time for thesis week, but it is only for a few weeks at a time, so I can adjust my task list accordingly. For instance, if I am invigilating for two days a week, I will add an extra hour or two of work on the other three days.

Blogger

The final role that I want to mention is this one: career blogging. This is actually one of my favourite jobs, as it has allowed me to develop my writing skills outside of my thesis, as it is a very different style. It is also a very easy one to slot in with my PhD work, as I only need to produce (at minimum) one blog a month, so I can spend one day each month working on blogs. This allows me a little break from working on my thesis, whilst still doing something productive and earning a little bit of money.

Overall

My key tips from doing paid work while studying for a PhD are as follows:

*Manage your time well

*Become an expert at planning your tasks

*Learn how and when to say no

*Find paid jobs that can easily fit into your schedule

If you’re looking for part-time work, check out our webpage which includes a link to Unitemps. Also, watch out for our student blogger advert on Unitemps.

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