Picture this.
It’s 10:01pm. I’m in the pub, buying my third pint of Guinness and I’m approached by a man I probably wouldn’t have found attractive while still on the first pint. Nonetheless, he asks my name, and the killer question: “So, what do you do?”
“I work for a theatre – ” I begin.
“Oh that’s cool well I – ” He interrupts.
“…And a national charity. As well as the local Arts Centre…” The poor man is stunned. “Oh, and the university library.”
“University?”
“Yeah. I do a degree too.”
My pint arrives, and as I turn back from handing my money over to the bartender, I notice that the man has left.
Time-management
Truth is, as much as I may sound like a mad-woman with no social life and a premature-mid-life-crisis-wish, balancing a working life and university work is possible. I’m currently balancing five jobs, which I really wouldn’t recommend unless your insanity is as affirmed as mine, but the point is that it is doable, through careful planning and the mastery of one simple ‘transferable skill’ (yes, pop that one onto the CV while you’re at it!): time-management.
Change your mentality
It’s so easy as a student to slip into the “my lectures don’t start until 4 today so I’ll get up at 3:56” mentality, particularly with subjects that have few contact hours. It is tempting to stay in bed all day, and occasionally it has to be done, but in order to master the precarious balance of work and work (and play), you have to make every hour count.
If you have lectures 9-5 every weekday, you could work one evening a week and one Saturday, leaving Sundays free to relax while still having evenings in which to do university work… or go out to the nearest club/pub/house party. Lectures 10-2? Pick up an afternoon shift in a café. Fit your job to your schedule. Your actual schedule, the one in which Youtube is not dominant.
So rather than flicking through Facebook or taking quizzes on BuzzFeed (yes… I know you really wanted to know which Disney Prince[ess] is your soul mate), compile that time and put it into work. If it’s paid, no matter where it is, the benefit will be twofold. Money, and experience – two key things that are going to help you no end in your student life.
Do you have any advice for students trying to balance part-time jobs with their degree? Let us know in the comments below!
Photo: Donald Lee Pardue / Flickr
I’m a serial multi-tasker who loves having no spare time. Also an English Literature student.
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