What happens with a part time job at uni?

Hey guys!
I'm hoping to go to Newcastle Uni this September (fingers crossed I get the grades...) and am wondering about jobs? I'm planning to try and find a part-time job in my first year to supplement my living costs. But I have a few questions

1) How difficult is it to find a job? I've heard that jobs are really limited so I don't know if I should look online before I even arrive and send my CV in ahead of my arrival?

2) Is it doable? My course has lots of contact hours but I like to be kept busy and am not bothered about the contact time. However, this is why I am going to look for part-time work rather than full-time.

3) What happens in the holidays? I'm from down south so although I could work through the holidays, it would be nice to see my family at some point :cute:

Do businesses understand this and let you take unpaid leave? Or is it advised to book it as holiday and quit over summer?

Thank you all!!

Reply 1

>Username<

19

Original post by hatcs001

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1. I wouldn't recommend going there beforehand to get a job, just get there and see what's what and then go from there. You'll probably have a university jobs fair, where jobs will be advertised ect. I'd say from experience, it's difficult to get a job and you do have to keep at it - but what's easy? Lol.

2. This depends on you. Some people will prioritise work over studying and others won't. It's difficult to tell, it definitely will be hard but then that the trade off that you'll always face.

3. Holidays are interesting. All of my friends who got a job at their university town either stayed there during summer or quit, so unles your boss is extremely nice and you get lucky... It's looking unlikely that you'll have that job for the next 3 years.

See if your university has jobs available, that's more handy as they'll be more understanding, just stuff like students cafes ect.

Hope this helps. :smile:

Reply 2

Jackieox

19

1) How difficult is it to find a job? I've heard that jobs are really limited so I don't know if I should look online before I even arrive and send my CV in ahead of my arrival?
Probably more so than normal as you're competeting with thousands of other students in the same boat, however saying that i have three jobs in my uni area so it is doable, I wouldn't advise going up there ahead of time unless you can start before term starts. Also leave it a couple of weeks and find out just how intense your course is first

2) Is it doable? My course has lots of contact hours but I like to be kept busy and am not bothered about the contact time. However, this is why I am going to look for part-time work rather than full-time.
-Make sure that you still have time to attend lectures and keep on top of your work

3) What happens in the holidays? I'm from down south so although I could work through the holidays, it would be nice to see my family at some point

Do businesses understand this and let you take unpaid leave? Or is it advised to book it as holiday and quit over summer?
-Depends on the job, I work for the Uni so they're extremely flexible as to when I want to go home, however if you sign up and get confirmed for a shift you can't just drop out last minute. Most people stay in their uni town or simply quit altogether and find a new one

Reply 3

Klix88

17

Original post by hatcs001

Hey guys!
I'm hoping to go to Newcastle Uni this September (fingers crossed I get the grades...) and am wondering about jobs? I'm planning to try and find a part-time job in my first year to supplement my living costs. But I have a few questions

1) How difficult is it to find a job? I've heard that jobs are really limited so I don't know if I should look online before I even arrive and send my CV in ahead of my arrival?

2) Is it doable? My course has lots of contact hours but I like to be kept busy and am not bothered about the contact time. However, this is why I am going to look for part-time work rather than full-time.

3) What happens in the holidays? I'm from down south so although I could work through the holidays, it would be nice to see my family at some point :cute:

Do businesses understand this and let you take unpaid leave? Or is it advised to book it as holiday and quit over summer?

Thank you all!!

Some retail chains like larger supermarkets, will let you swap between uni town and home town branches during holidays.

Reply 4

Zactopus

10

Original post by hatcs001

Hey guys!
I'm hoping to go to Newcastle Uni this September (fingers crossed I get the grades...) and am wondering about jobs? I'm planning to try and find a part-time job in my first year to supplement my living costs. But I have a few questions

1) How difficult is it to find a job? I've heard that jobs are really limited so I don't know if I should look online before I even arrive and send my CV in ahead of my arrival?

2) Is it doable? My course has lots of contact hours but I like to be kept busy and am not bothered about the contact time. However, this is why I am going to look for part-time work rather than full-time.

3) What happens in the holidays? I'm from down south so although I could work through the holidays, it would be nice to see my family at some point :cute:

Do businesses understand this and let you take unpaid leave? Or is it advised to book it as holiday and quit over summer?

Thank you all!!

Hi when i was doing my undergraduate i worked as a cleaner at my university. I did 15 hours a week from 6am-9am every morning.

1) I didn't find it too hard to get a job. I had very little work experience before hand but i was honest that I wanted the job to fund my studies and they seemed to respect that. I only applied for two jobs and got it quite quickly which is lucky because without my job I only had £10 a week to live off which despite all the challenges you see out there isn't sustainable in the long term. starting to search before you arrive will help you get ahead if the huge influx of students but I wouldn't apply too early because they will want you to start quite soon and you will need to get to the interview.

I started applying 2 weeks before freshers and had my interviews during freshers week.

2) I found it very draining but i attribute this more to the very early morning (waking up at 5am everyday) rather than the amount of work i had. actually because i woke up so early i found i had all day free to do work. most universities say not to work more than 15/16 hours and based on my experiance i would very much agree with this. either way, totally doable and the extra income makes it worth it. i went from constantly stressing about money to having enough to spare for anything i wanted really.

3) Holidays are variable and for me were very difficult. i would suggest getting a job your university advertises for students if you want to be able to go home for long periods. this is because these will usually be at university bars etc that close outside of term time so you get the same holiday as everyone else. you will always get holiday though, I used this to be able to spend a week with my parents for Christmas Easter and during the summer. My first year was awkward because as i was in halls I wasn't allowed to stay during Easter break. because of this i had to arrange some short term housing (the uni offered me another set off halls to move into for the period). for the summer i just moved into my second year housing earlier than my flat mates so that was okay. so if you arent getting a student job make sure you check the terms of your halls of residence.

There were some students at my job that would quit every year for summer and take up the job again in September, and while they would usually be employed again it wasn't a guarantee. in my personal circumstances i needed the job so i couldn't take that risk.

What happens with a part time job at uni?

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