What part-time jobs and hours do uni students typically manage?

[Echobelly]

Obviously I know there is bar work/wait staff working stuff, but interested to know what people's kids who are uni students have done for work and how many hours they tend to do?

Oldest DC starts uni this year - we will pay for accommodation but want them to get a job for 'fun money' because for one thing we won't have much to spare after paying for accommodation, especially as they are probably going for a London uni. Also I think it will be good for them to learn money management (which they're not great at right now).

As I said, I know people will do bar working/wait staff, but DC is possibly autistic, and very sensitive/overwhelmed by loud noise and late nights, so bar staff may not be ideal. Do people manage to work as baristas, shop staff or delivery riders as well? They can ride a bike, though haven't done it for years - I think they should pick it up again over summer for both p/t work options and maybe saving travel money.

I had loads of jobs at uni. I worked at the uni shop, in the print room, I had temp jobs during holidays, I worked in a bar and as a PhD student worked Sundays in a car showroom and at a clinical trials centre (I was a scientist)

Amazing how the landscape has changed!

40 years ago everyone signed up to a tempting agency for clerical or receptionist work. Those who could type (truly!) were able to get secretarial work which paid a bit more.

(My uni didn’t allow term time work, so I often stayed there over vacations, or went back a couple of weeks early to earn money.)

It will depend on contact hours and university surely. I didn't know anyone who worked during term time at Uni in the late 80s/early 90s (I did a science degree we had lectures all morning and labs all afternoon).

DD1 is in 6th form and has a casual (zero hours) job as a lifeguard at the local leisure centre. At the moment she does one shift a week, the plan is to do as many shifts as possible over the summer then do shifts during her uni holidays. She's going to do medicine and everyone says it's too full on to do paid work during termtime and I'd rather she was concentrating on her degree. With her loan, the money we give her, her bursary and the money she is saving she should be OK.

If they have any full days clear then bank learning support or nursery staff if they like kids

I did 10.5 hours a week in a supermarket, I started this when I was 17 (during A-level). I then transferred from my home store to my uni store. You could also transfer back during uni holidays but I only did this in the first year.

She could consider call centre style work. I did telephone market research for a couple of evenings a week and at one stage worked for the university calling former students asking if they would consider donating to the university. You need to be pretty outgoing to do the latter, so not everyone is suited to it, but telephone market research was really easy and reasonably quiet compared to when I did restaurant or bar work.

I worked in a factory picking car parts out of the store to send to the assembly line, think nuts and bolts - was open 24 hours a day and they provided minibuses from campus. My brother did similar but different industry. All kinds of pt jobs exist

Neither of mine worked while at uni but they both had part time jobs before they went and they were able to pick them up again during holidays. Uni holidays are very long.

DD1 worked as a barista (Costa, then local café/patisserie), and also behind the bar at a posh hotel/golf club. Maybe 2-3 shifts per week, but mainly weekends and always daytime.

DD2 worked in a pub. She did all the unsociable hours, as her place was open until 4am, but mainly weekends.

DS worked in a café briefly, but isn't cut out for hospitality life, so moved onto call centres (runner for NHS111, and then a call handler at a car finance company, chasing debts). Again, picked up the unsociable hours that employees with families didn't want to do.

All of the jobs came about either from contacts (people they knew who already worked there) or walking up and down the High Street with a pile of CVs.

One of mine worked in the uni library, the other hasn't found anything yet (first year) but is volunteering to keep her hand in and CV ticking over. I don't think she had thought of call centre type work but she has retail and hospitality experience. She wouldn't be confident enough to tutor I don't think.

I don't remember anyone working in term time when I was a student, but it was a science degree with pretty full contact hours and there weren't as many weekend retail type jobs as there are now with no Sunday opening and not as much hospitality work, we all tended to go home and work in the holidays instead. But also you could sign on the dole in the holidays, its very different now.

I agree with all the others saying that it's really hard to find part time job as a student.
Those who've been successful typically have experience before going to university, are prepared to work all year round (so no coming "home" in the holidays) and sometimes have to work shifts that involve missing lectures/workshops/labs.

You might find it easier to focus on a summer job.

My dd was a barista but it’s not a quiet job. The coffee machines give off lots of steam and noise (she had the cracked, dry hands to prove it) plus she had to spend a lot of time cleaning mess (like the loos) which might be difficult if your son has sensory issues. It was a cafe that allows dogs inside.

My son had a job in retail which involved moving heavy stuff around which suited him perfectly. He also worked nights at a supermarket which suited him well as no customers. He also did the early shift in the bakery at a supermarket. He cooked the doughnuts and stuff like that.

Thinking of nieces, nephews, children of friends etc:

• plays in function bands
• barrista
• deliveroo rider
• lifeguard
• barwork in student union (which is what I did)
• garden centre
• retail

Both my DC had bar jobs at uni until the last term of final year.

Physics is a very time heavy course. Plus complicated concepts that take time . My autistic DC would really struggle to work in term time.
He does babysitting/tutoring in the holidays and in the summer gets a job if he can.

(A tempting agency? That’s definitely not what I wrote. Possibly temping agencies don’t even exist nowadays.)

So many if these posts written in the past tense. The few referring to current students all saying the same - really struggling to find a job.

The part time/temp job market changed after COVID, but in the last year things have got really bad. Increases in NI, minimum wage etc have ruined it.

Don't rely on new students being able to get term time jobs for additional income.

I generally speak to my tutor group about outside interests, jobs and aspirations. I've seen a few in recent years who don't want a job but none who have had no luck finding one. Some only work in the holidays though.

Yes totally agree. Don't listen to those telling you that it's really easy to find a job - unless they are current students.

My DD is 20 and her experience and that of her friends and their peers across multiple universities is that they are all struggling to find jobs. The ones being successful have often transferred sixth form jobs, are commuting home for "home" job, or having to be extremely flexible in hours worked (across holidays, and university time).

In OP's case, I suggest it would be worth looking for a job to start at the beginning of the summer, as that will be the time that current students are leaving.

Yes DD applied for 60+ jobs before getting one, most she didnt even get a reply from.
She got some work at a festival last summer that im not even sure worked out at minimum wage.
Shes in a city with 2 unis so there will be a lot of competition for any pt jobs.

Agree with this too, my DD says the only one of her 1st year friends who has managed to find a job is having to miss some of his lectures to do it. It's easier for those that have cars, otherwise you have to factor in getting to the job and back too. But it is a really difficult job market for young people at the moment, for full time as well as part time jobs.

Mine did 12 hours a week in a department store...more hours in holidays

@Echobelly Yes, online tutoring is a good call. I think school parent WhatsApp groups can be a way of getting clients (two of my dc are three school years apart, and when the first one went to uni there were a few messages (from other parents with the same age gap dc) on the parents WhatsApp chat for the younger dc advertising older siblings as online tutors, as the younger dcs were all just starting year 11). Also there are a lot of online tuition agencies they can register with. Word of mouth works well as well.

Obviously they need to know their subject inside out, and need to be a good communicator, but it pays well and can be flexible re: times / days etc.

Ds is in his first year and making the most of the opportunities there. He’s very much an all or nothing sort of person so he’s quite happy to work full on hours at his supermarket job at home in the holidays. I think this works better for him than juggling work and study at uni. Dd (year 4) on the other hand has always made the most of her holidays so she prefers to work part time at uni (latest job was at Nando’s, 12 hours a week) and part time at her warehouse zero hours job in the holidays.

My son did 10-12 (I'm not sure!) hours a week for Primark through Uni. Two weekend morning shifts: Saturdays starting 6am, Sundays at 7am. It wouldn't have been his first choice, but it was quite hard to find jobs in a fairly small Northern city with lots of students. I'm quite impressed he stuck it out tbh! He went out on Wednesday nights instead of the weekend. I think 10-12 hours was fairly standard.

The main problem was that he got limited holidays, and even those he didn't always get when he requested them. It made it quite difficult for him to come home. I'm afraid he did very occasionally need to call in "sick".

My daughter was at Oxbridge and would have found working a significant amount during term time too difficult to fit in. She did a lot of work in the vacations instead. Hospitality, mostly for an agency doing events.