For many students seeking a part-time job, the hospitality industry is a natural first point of call. It is generally fairly easy to find jobs as waiters or bar-people without any prior experience, and the busiest times for venues – evenings and weekends – align well with university schedules. I spent most of the two and a half years before enrolling at UCL working in a gastropub on a contractually part-time basis, although I generally worked 48+ hours a week. I spent the first six months of working there absolutely hating it; every time I left after a shift I swore to myself that I would hand in my notice – my colleagues were too different to me and my standard social circles, I was too out of my comfort zone and I didn’t have the physical or emotional stamina to cope well with the long hours. However, owing to needing money and being too lazy to find another job, I did not – something I am so pleased about now. Given that most students will have started university directly from school, and the coronavirus crisis will have made finding a summer job more difficult, for many this could be the first time they are looking for a job.
My advice can of course only be reflective of my own experience, and is therefore not objective, but I thought it might be useful to some people who are considering applying for jobs in this industry to set out the things I wish I’d known before I became a waitress.
1. Pay and hours
The hospitality industry is notoriously underpaid! It is almost unilaterally accepted by full-time hospitality workers that they will work beyond their contracted hours on a regular basis and are unlikely to be paid for it. However, if you are applying for a part-time role, as most students would be, you will probably be paid hourly, and therefore you don’t need to worry about not being paid for your time.
In your interview, it is important to be clear about how many hours a week you want to be given, and it is sensible to politely enquire as to how consistent your weekly hours will be; it is not uncommon for understaffed restaurants to pressure part-timers into accepting more hours than they want, or, conversely, to cut back their hours drastically during quieter spells.
Whilst this is always going to be unavoidable to a certain extent, it would be a good idea to get an impression of how prevalent of an issue for you this might be. If you have no experience, you will be unlikely to secure a job paying much over minimum wage (or London living wage). However, working somewhere with a good tips policy – ideally that all tips are divided equally between those working on a particular shift – can increase earning potential significantly. Many London restaurants will add a mandatory service charge onto the bill, but working somewhere “nice” will mean customers will more frequently tip above this and again increase how much you are able to earn.
2. Training
The easiest way to pick up the skills required to work well in the hospitality industry is to get stuck in and learn on the job. With this being said, it is a good idea to establish at interview how their training process works; being left alone to struggle your way through can be stressful for some people and therefore either a structured training system or at least some supervision can be massively helpful. If you are studying for a degree, you should not be needlessly stressed about a part-time job!
3. The people
The reason I loved my job so much was doubtlessly because of the team. The range of people you will meet will be vast and very different to the social circles you mix with in a university setting. Working in this sort of environment has a tendency to bring people out of their shells; it is commonly misunderstood that this is the product of speaking to customers, when it is usually due to exposure to your colleagues and the confidence this brings. Shy? Work in hospitality – it is essentially the cure.
4. Coronavirus
Right now is a very unstable time for the hospitality industry; my advice would still be to apply for jobs within it. Any employer hiring at the moment is confident in the longevity of their business. It is also worth noting that, for the most part, it is not as covid-dangerous as one might think. It is not in the interests of any restaurant owner for one of their employees to catch the coronavirus and thus you can be reassured that you are unlikely to be asked to take any risks in this regard. Furthermore, due to the inherent pace of the industry you are probably not going to spend long enough around any one group of customers to contract the virus from them.
I personally think it is a great idea to pursue a job whilst at university. This is not because a potential future employer advertising a graduate-level job will see a stint as a waiter as making you inherently more employable than other applicants – although demonstrating the ability to balance a job with studying is certainly notable. Instead, the skills you will inevitably develop in an employment scenario will build your confidence and improve the way you present yourself at a more important interview post-graduation. Furthermore, it is a great way to meet new people! More importantly perhaps, it is a great way to meet a more diverse range of people; university very much restricts you to meeting people within a limited age range with largely similar backgrounds to yourself. It can be a great opportunity to experience and participate in the ‘real world’ and escape the bubble of university.