We surveyed students across the CampusConnect community, asking everything you want to know about part-time jobs. The results are in, and now we’re giving you the lowdown on what we found out…

First, let’s look at some key statistics:  

Just over half of you have a part-time job. This is slightly lower than the national average for students across the UK, as Save The Student Money Survey found in 2021 that 66% of students had part-time jobs.  Perhaps this is because our community is largely made up of postgraduate students, whose opinions are shared later in this article. 

The top 3 reasons cited for having a part-time job were: 

• Financial stability for rent, studies and leisure

• To better understand the culture of the host country

• To reduce pressure on parents to contribute

“To manage living expenses on my own and pay back my education loan. I thought it was time to turn the tables: my turn to provide the comfort of living life that my parents provided me.”

However, reasons for not having a part-time job also stood out. The principal reasons being:  

• Work placement already included in course

• A busy course schedule making it hard to balance work 

• Being unable to find one

When it comes to the sectors that students work in, hospitality was the most popular, with 32% of you working in restaurants, bars or cafés. Next up was healthcare, making up 16% of roles. The hospitality and healthcare sectors are popular among students as they often offer flexible contracts that don’t require specific qualifications. Other areas included retail, manufacturing, marketing, teaching/tutoring and administration. 

“I walked from shop to shop to drop my CV and waited for calls to get an interview.”

So where do students find their jobs? Among those who responded, the answers were as follows: 

There are plenty of websites where students can find part-time jobs. Some popular ones include Save The Student, E4S and Student Job. Your university careers service will also be able to help you with your search, so make sure to pay them a visit or book an online appointment. 

Interestingly, nobody cited ‘learning new skills’ as one of the reasons why they initially sought a part-time job. Perhaps it’s only upon doing the job that students realised just how many skills they’d learn! The list was plentiful, showing how beneficial these roles are in boosting students’ employability. Students told us they had gained soft skills such as: 

• Teamwork

• Communication

• Time management and workload management

• Customer service

• Confidence

• Leadership

• Networking

• Active listening

• Punctuality

• Responsibility

And even some more specific, hard skills including:

• Healthcare support

• Administration 

• Teaching 

The great thing is, these can also help out with current studies! 

“Communication skills such as presenting, ensuring understanding, and managing group situations; academic skills such as academic language and procedural skills; and organizational skills such as time management and record keeping skills. I have been able to apply all of these skills to my studies in some way; whether I am working in the clinic or the classroom!”

Finally, we asked students whether they would advise others to get a part-time job. The result was a resounding ‘yes’, with reasons including to gain skills, earn money and boost your CV. There were a few words of caution though, mostly from postgraduate students. One Master’s student advised: “If they think they can manage it, absolutely. When I was in my undergrad, I worked the whole time and made it work. Being a grad student it's harder to find time, plus with a work placement as part of the program, it made sense for me to wait.” Another concluded: “I believe that part-time work can help build out your skills portfolio and give you a necessary experience boost when entering the employment world. However, I think that part-time work is only beneficial in as far as it can be managed in conjunction with one's studies.” 

And that’s a wrap! Thank you to all of the students who responded to the survey and shared your valuable knowledge, tips and experience with the CampusConnect community. If you’ve got an insightful part-time job experience to share, we’d love to hear from you!

Contact our Content Team: lauren@campusconnect.ie / ruby@campusconnect.ie