[Singh42]

I'm hoping to study at Aston University this year people and the best option for me is to find a job in the bullring which is quite close to the university and has many shops. I went on to the bull ring website and the minimum number of hours where jobs were promoting their part time vacancies had 20 hours per week. Surely this is too much to juggle with a social life and academic?
If anyone is from around the Birmingham area and know of any places where they offer simply evening work or night shifts here and there which sort of cater for the university student rather than a typical person.

[smellslikemarmite]

Well why don't you call them and find out if they can offer you less hours? There are probably other people in the same situation as you, so you could effectively job-share.

[Captain Biggles]

20hrs per week is certainly a bit much to manage. I've heard students being recommended to do a maximum of about 12hrs per week.

[Lu-x]

I'd just look for some bar work or somethin

[Singh42]

Originally Posted by Lu-x

I'd just look for some bar work or somethin

Yea, i was thinking that. How do you go about applying though? Just hand out CV's? I'm guessing you can't really apply online for bar work.

[Lu-x]

Originally Posted by Singh42

Yea, i was thinking that. How do you go about applying though? Just hand out CV's? I'm guessing you can't really apply online for bar work.

Look in the Birmingham Mail (I think) on a thursday/phone around to see if there are any vacancies. Some will want experience, others may not.

[hannah_dru]

Ignore the Bullring website, it doesn't list them all and usually only does the full time hours. My past 2 jobs have been in there and I did between 8-10 hours a week and managed fine. I wouldn't go for evening work in case you have evenings with late lectures but it depends on your timetable.

[Singh42]

Originally Posted by hannah_dru

Ignore the Bullring website, it doesn't list them all and usually only does the full time hours. My past 2 jobs have been in there and I did between 8-10 hours a week and managed fine. I wouldn't go for evening work in case you have evenings with late lectures but it depends on your timetable.

Oh cool. So you recommend i just hand in CV's out every where? And possibly place a covering letter stating the hours i desire?

[Jemma1389]

Ha how weird I was thinking the same thing also as the OP and am going to Aston uni. I went round handing out CVs a few weeks ago and didn't hear back from one place! Hopefully I can transfer the job I start on Saturday at an Odeon cinema in Manchester...

Let me know how you get on!

[gillipies]

When you get to Aston check out the Job Shop in the Guild, they have many and varied part time jobs on offer which have been vetted so that they are completely suitable for students (ie not more than 15hours per week etc).

Both of my part time jobs are working for the uni. I'm a student ambassador (open days, campus tours, promoting FE at schools around the west midlands) which is really good fun, I've met more people in the last year doing that than I've met anywhere else (because I don't live on campus) and have done lots of work through the summer with it too.

I'm also a note taker for the disability and additional needs unit where I take notes for other students in lectures who, for whatever reason can't do it themselves.

Both are well paid jobs and flexible around your timetable and social lives. I'd throughly recommend both.

I gave up a long time ago looking for retail work, I lost count of the number of CVs I gave out just to be offered one interview at Woolies for a temp xmas job!

[gemmasays]

try the job center websites job search, you can search by your desired line of work and you can also add in a postcode of where your university is, or where you are staying and it will list jobs in your area (depending on how far you listed you would be willing to travel). sometimes they have phone numbers which you can phone and sometimes there will be e-mail addresses where you can send cover letters and your cv to them to apply.

gumtree is also quite good for jobs sometimes, usually they have e-mails listed instead of phone numbers. otherwise you could try online applications for stores like currys, b&q, sainsburys etc.

I don't think 20 hours is too much work, it really depends on what you need and how much money you need to earn to help you out throughout your studies.

[Dill]

Originally Posted by Singh42

I'm hoping to study at Aston University this year people and the best option for me is to find a job in the bullring which is quite close to the university and has many shops. I went on to the bull ring website and the minimum number of hours where jobs were promoting their part time vacancies had 20 hours per week. Surely this is too much to juggle with a social life and academic?
If anyone is from around the Birmingham area and know of any places where they offer simply evening work or night shifts here and there which sort of cater for the university student rather than a typical person.

I wouldn't bother looking on that website, shops often don't advertise all their vacancies online. I think it would be a better idea to just spend an afternoon handing out as many CVs as possible to shops/bars/cafes/wherever else you want to work. Attach a cover letter to it, stating how many hours you're looking to work.

[hannah_dru]

Originally Posted by Singh42

Oh cool. So you recommend i just hand in CV's out every where? And possibly place a covering letter stating the hours i desire?

Yeah that's what I did. Took me 2 days cos there's so many shops. You'll only need a covering letter if they actually ask you. I've only just done my first one now.

[NobodyElseWill]

But it depends on lectures and studying, to me I work/study Monday to Friday with small lunch breaks and I watch the odd programme on tv and i squeeze my contracted hours in when I can fit them. So @ weekends I can relax and unwind and catch up with friends, celeb gossip and tv. I even study on my lunch hour @ work so that I am not just sitting down doing sod all, to me that fifteen minutes or thirty mins is precious. I even make use my digi box and record programmes so i don't worry or get too distracted and I also make use of Iplayer, 4od, etc and channel 4+1 etc. Also get a digi box that records and automatically records the following week!