So you’re not one of the lucky ones.
A lucky one is defined as ‘a uni student that continues to live at home and cop a free ride on the cost of everything.’ If that’s you take advantage of the opportunity whilst you can. We other poor sods have to slog away trying to juggle a uni qualification, deliver at a job so we don’t get fired and stay alive making ends meet. We do the grocery shopping, cook a meal, clean the bathroom, wash up the dishes, pay the bills, not to mention wash and iron, as our clothes don’t magically reappear in our draw like yours do.
If you think I’m envious – too right I am. In fact message to parents: charge them some board, make them do their own ironing and cook a meal one night per week, something that makes me feel better.
But a solution is always in sight – get a good uni job, any job pays the bills but you want one that is not overly taxing, doesn’t cut into uni time too much and whatever social time we workers have left.
So on the topic of jobs and career advice, here are the Top 5 Jobs you can have whilst at Uni.
- Work behind a bar – it’s night work and/or weekend work and you learn what real communication is all about.
- Roll and mark up lawn bowling greens each morning – it’s an early start, feel the fresh air in your nostrils and the improvisation can get a laugh.
- Become a blog writer – doesn’t take long and you can get 20 cents per word if you’re original and thought provoking.
- Night shift security guard 12 midnight to 7.30am – there are few customers and it’s perfect for getting reading and assignments completed.
- Stack supermarket shelves – a night time gig but the pay’s OK and you keep fit
Other matters to consider;
- It doesn’t matter if the pay is average you’re in it for the short term.
- Make sure it’s close to home, so others can drive you there and pick you up.
- Make sure its legal – anything illegal will come home to haunt you. Fewer long term employment opportunities will come your way if you have a police record.
- Get a job that interests you and can develop you, so you ultimately have some added value to offer an employer.
- At work be one of the boys/girls, not someone of higher intellect who discusses your university course. Unless the person asking is your boss and especially if they support academic achievement.
You may graduate with a degree and better looking transcript. However I will graduate with a double degree – from university and also from the “School of Life”. And it’s not a rationalisation. I used to think I understood people. Life behind the bar soon taught me otherwise. So now I can cook a meal, iron a shirt, understand a cashflow statement, know how to problem solve and appreciate some of the stuff my parents droned on about.
Oh and if you’re looking for the tomato sauce it’s on the right hand side, halfway down isle 7.....
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