Now that another year of University has begun, we’re all returning – or arriving – somewhere where our parent’s pockets are not going to be full enough (let alone readily available). For those fortunate few, University loans don’t seem as bad, but the majority of us take out a loan at the beginning of our university careers, looking forward to a little less than a lifetime of debt and repayments.
Yes, we accept this debt when we choose uni, and yes, it isn’t as dreadful as I make it out to be. However there are little things that you can do to help lessen the load of a repayment at the end of your degree. The best thing you can do, especially as here at Manchester (as in the rest of the UK) our first year of uni doesn’t count towards our degree, is to WORK! So whether you’re just arriving at Manchester or you’re going into the next year, working is an easy way to earn some much-needed cash.
With so much time on our hands;
- Getting a part-time job at a bar or a restaurant is perfect for those with experience.
- Employment at a clothes shop (eg Topshop) in town would be brilliant, especially if you were doing a fashion or textiles degree!
- Making sure your CV is up to date and accurate is important; you don’t want to get caught in a lie halfway through an interview! (The Manchester Careers service can help you out with your CV, and there are plenty of articles online with advice on templates and what you need to include).
Choosing your job based on your degree is obviously not always going to be possible, and in the first year of uni I’d advise you to pretty much take what you get, get paid and start saving up! It’s completely up to you where you spend your money; however, saving it is definitely one of the better ideas you’re ever going to have. But I won’t judge if you want to go and spend it on that dress you’ve been dying for ever since you saw it in town, or on a few nights out (I know I’m definitely tempted to!).
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A few things that can speed things along would be to:
- Get out there and ask around – this can definitely help your chances of getting a job. A harmless question about whether someone is hiring when you go out for dinner with the girls isn’t the end of the world!
- Make sure the job you apply for is something you are comfortable with. You need to remember that you are at University to study and so the job, no matter how fun, should really come second to your work (and social life!).
- And for those who are coming back to Uni, the threat of the end draws ever closer, and so getting a job may be a good idea. You’ll have less free time than the first years but if you manage your time well it can be done. You’ll definitely notice an improvement from the Sainsbury’s ‘basics’ range to ‘taste the difference’, if that’s what you want to spend it on!
So here’s a list of a few places you can go to start your search; many of them are super easy!
- Job Vacancies on MyManchester and at The Manchester Careers service (both online and at uni) – FIND year-round advice and advertisements for placements, part-time, graduate, and full-time jobs.
- Manchester Student Jobs on Facebook, make the most of all the hours we spend on there! – FIND recently offered employment.
- Company Facebook Pages – Only some post adverts on their Facebook pages, but if you’re interested in a certain restaurant or bar (eg 256 in Fallowfield or Vodka Revs up in town), check out their pages for application forms. It doesn’t hurt to message them asking when their next recruitment period is!
- The Student Union – FIND jobs available at the Union (although they usually advertise and fill job vacancies at the start of the new academic year, so you’ll need to be organised to apply for these).
- studentjob.co.uk and studentbeans.com, as always, offer an easy way to search for jobs with any specific requirements that you may have.
It may sound desperately boring when all you want to do is have fun, but a job can not only help you finance your degree and social life at uni, but can also introduce you to a whole new crowd of people and friends (and possibly those cute guys who you never seem to see at uni…). So get out there, advertise yourself, and enjoy the process of finding a job. It will be tiring, but sooner or later you WILL succeed, and I promise you, it’ll definitely be worth it!
(Photo credits to topuniversities.com, londonlovesbusiness.com, debt consolidation loans UK)