Working at a part-time job as a student can be daunting. Students pursuing undergraduate or postgraduate degrees are often battling hectic schedules, so balancing a part-time gig on top of all the coursework can be intimidating. But part-time work is also an opportunity to supplement your theoretical learning with practical exposure to the world of work.
Because living in the UK can be so expensive, especially in some countries, it is common for students to explore and work part-time jobs. These can be on-campus jobs that require a high level of expertise or knowledge in a field or simple retail jobs with a customer service focus.
There are many benefits of doing a part-time job, as enumerated below:
Learn While You Earn
The best part about working while you are a student, especially fresher, is learning while you earn. You can hone your skills, make mistakes, and learn from colleagues while getting paid for your work. When earning, you also had the opportunity to hone supplementary skills like budgeting and financial management.
Explore Career Options/Sectors/Industries
We highly recommend using part-time student jobs as a testing ground for your interests, knack, and aptitude. If possible, do part-time jobs in different fields and roles throughout your student life, and this will help you assess your aptitude and personality would fit in best. When you eventually search for graduate roles, you can apply to the roles you’ve already enjoyed in the past. Additionally, having prior experience will give you an edge when interviewing potential employers.
In any case, all the different kinds of part-time jobs will impart various skills that are transferable across sectors and responsibilities.
Resume Boost For Future
As mentioned, having prior work experience is always a bonus, which is even more important if you are fresher. Any previous experience in a professional setting can be used as evidence of your skills or talent in that field or role. In general, it can add to your work portfolio, give you talking points for interviews, and give you an edge when filling out application forms. This is why UK jobs for international students are so crucial.
Skill Development
All jobs and work experience opportunities benefit from honing an individual’s job-specific and interpersonal skills. When you work with others, you learn teamwork. When you are faced with new situations in the workplace and have to find solutions for everyday issues, you hone your problem-solving skills.
Even if you have work experience in your home country, exposure to the workplace culture in the UK through a part-time gig will enhance your confidence and cultural adaptation to the country.
All these soft skills and even some hard skills are transferable skills that can come in handy for jobs in the UK for international students.
Time Management
When working as a student, you also learn the art and skill of time management. You learn to plan for events at work and important deadlines at University, abide by a schedule that teaches discipline, and strike a balance between work and studies.
This also hones your multi-tasking skills as there are bound to be times when things might get hectic on both ends.
Leadership Skills
Leadership skills are best learned through actual practice. Thus if you perform well at work and are made a team leader, you can manage a team and learn to deal with people. Leadership experience can be a great asset for your professional profile, as that shows growth potential.
References and Testimonials
One of the biggest benefits of a part-time job is that you build your work portfolio, profile, and connections tangibly. You can work on projects, assist with presentations, and use the output created in your portfolio. In many fields, portfolio and work samples are far more important than your degree.
Your manager or mentors in your jobs can help you by sharing testimonials for your work, writing you a LinkedIn recommendation, or agreeing to be your reference contact in job applications. They can vouch for your employability, and their word will hold more weight than an academic counselor saying the same things.
Networking
The best part about going to a workplace is meeting new people and networking with them. If you are working at a small organization, this can be fairly easy. If you work in a larger organization, you should also try to reach out to peers and seniors in other departments. Offer to bring them coffee and have a chat with them. Your part-time job should expose you to different roles and departments. Learning about what is out there will help you decide if a job is for you.
In short, part-time jobs as a student can open more doors to newer opportunities.
