Work: a way to make a living?
Many students pale at the thought of adding a job to their degree timetables but, says Helen Citron, part-time work can provide more than extra cash
I’m stressed, I’m sweaty and I’ve just spilled soup onto a businessman’s crotch. ‘Why on earth am I here?’ is a question that runs through my mind on a not infrequent basis during my shifts as a waitress at one of York’s upmarket eateries.
The answer for me and for most students who choose to get a job during term-time is, of course, primarily financial. Being a student is an expensive business and for those that receive no financial help from parents the student loan simply doesn’t suffice. I do count myself lucky; for me a job is not a strict necessity. Having one means I don’t feel anxious about dwindling funds come the end of term and keeps the bottom of my overdraft at a reassuring distance.
The general consensus seems to be that getting a job at university will be damaging both academically and socially and this can be true. Obviously each case is different. For those with heavy academic timetables, factoring work shifts into the already loaded equation of lectures, assessed work and revision can be tricky. I would argue that Arts students such as myself, who only have around six hours of teaching a week, can’t really say they don’t have time for a job. But as long as you cast off the lay-in-bed student stereotype by exercising a degree of organisation and time management then holding down a job, a degree and a social life shouldn’t be a problem. Keeping shifts limited to weekends, when the pace of university life slows, and ensuring that you are clear about when you cannot work should ensure a healthy balance.
Aside from the financial gain, my job has bought quite a few less expected benefits. Being a waitress is by no means relaxing, but it does provide something of an antidote to university life. Having to answer customers’ questions about whether the rib-eye steak comes with chips or what the soup of the day is, is strangely refreshing after a day cooped up in the library struggling through two hundred pages on some obscure Icelandic war poet. Also, as a student it’s sometimes easy to forget what it’s like to function in a group of people who are not well-educated 18- to 25-year-olds. At my work, communication with surly kitchen boys, temperamental French chefs, a slave-driving manager and fellow, equally harassed waiting staff is essential if you’re going to deliver any kind of service.
Being part of an industrious, practical, profit-making environment is stimulating in a different way to the academic rigour of university life and is good preparation for the majority of graduates who will enter the business world. Many of us hope to achieve a good final degree mark whilst working part time. If, despite the apparent difficulties inherent in maintaining a job alongside studies, we manage to do this it is surely indicative of an industrious and organised character.
It may be difficult to believe, but work can also be fun. Never have I experienced so much gossip, rumour and intrigue circulating amongst one group of people. The manager and his deputy have an amusingly tempestuous relationship and I can’t wait for the fireworks that will erupt when the owner finds out that three of his chefs are planning to defect to the restaurant next door.
Ultimately, though, there’s no denying that being a waitress – or, I imagine, a shop assistant or barmaid – is for the most part pretty tedious. I only have to face the endless demands of customers and the boredom of polishing cutlery twice a week, but for most of my colleagues it’s a full time career. It may sound cheesy but having a job has really made me appreciate what I’ve got. That it’s really important to pursue a career that is stimulating and challenging is something that doing a bog-standard job brings home like nothing else. I’m hoping that with a bit of luck and a lot of hard work, I’ll be the one sitting at the table being served in a couple of years time.
Making the most of your time at university should not include pulling pints, says Henry James Foy
Let’s get one thing straight here. Jobs are bad things. They get you up early, they’re demanding, time-consuming, stressful, infuriating. And the worst thing about jobs? As soon as you graduate, you’re going to have one. Forever.
Sure, I can hear those aspiring bungee-jumping instructors or computer-game testers shouting that jobs can be fun and yes, some jobs are more fun than others. But believe me, even Shane, who earns his living taking tourists scuba-diving off the Great Barrier Reef has mornings when he can think of nothing worse than getting in the water.
There’s the infuriating colleague who screws up even the most basic tasks, or the demanding boss who shouts for the sake of it. I haven’t even started on dealing with the public.
So coming to University is a three-year cushion of not-really-work-but-kind-of before taking the big plunge, and getting a job is simply wasting the time you have here.
For sure, many students feel the pressure of having to pay for their education. Tuition fees, accommodation charges and living costs all need financing. But why pay for it now? Put it off, live a little – there are loads of schemes and fancy finance packages out there to help. The trusty student loan is naturally the best example. That system has been designed to allow us to concentrate on enjoying university, rather than worrying about how to pay for it. You are safe in the knowledge that it only needs to be paid back after graduation, and only when you are financially secure. As a student, you’re expected to be a ‘burden on the state’. So be it. Milk the government for every last penny – that’s exactly what student loans do. The exchequer picks up the tab while you’re playing Ultimate Frisbee or joining LawSoc, and then you pay it back, when you can afford to. I wouldn’t knock it, that’s the best loan deal you’ll ever get.
As far as I see it, two things will suffer as a direct result of getting a job during your degree. The first is your educational experience, and by that I really mean the all-important grade. The second is your social life, including the number of societies you can join, the number of people you can meet and the amount of time you have to enjoy these great new friends.
Students who engage in employment during their degree take precious time away from study – and this has an adverse effect on their grades. A study in 2005 found that the chances for students working 15 hours a week of achieving a first or upper second class degree were only 62% of their non-working peers’ chances. Of those who worked, 80% said they had less time studying and preparing for assignments. So there you go; get a job, and you’re already 38% less likely to get a top degree than the chap sat next to you in lectures.
And what about all your mates? Even more importantly, what about all those great people you could be meeting? This is especially pertinent for freshers – meeting friends and developing bonds with people is crucial to enjoying university. If you’re out serving pints while the rest of your block are out drinking them, you may well find yourself drifting apart from them. Simply put, if you spend your evenings and weekends in employment, you will end up with a less enjoyable university experience than everyone else.
Our time at university is precious. It’s a time to expand horizons, stretch knowledge and get involved with things that you might never get another chance to try. So go play quidditch, run for President, learn how to pole-dance, drink your weight in snakebite, or – god forbid – learn that Poetry Anthology off by heart. You’ve got decades to pull pints or flip burgers if you really want to, but make the most of your time here first. It’s all about priorities.
The Charles
We appreciate your comments about how working can be detrimental if you are forced to work for financial reasons, but we feel there are a lot of positive aspects of working that you have overlooked.
For instance, it takes you outside of the University bubble, especially if you live on campus! It can also be a way to make new friends, not drift away from your housemates as you seem to assume. Working, especially in a pub, is really a very social thing!
And, even if there is some truth to the fact that working can affect your degree, it is also valuable experience. Many employers would be hesitant to hire a person who had no work experience at all!
And we do not have years to pull pints, with a little bit of luck, we will have proper jobs!
Well done for the social responsibility Nouse and for highlighting the issue, but a more balanced article next time please…
Sid Nightly
It wold have been beneficial to the article if you had interviewed some students who do work during term time.