Should you start a part-time job during your undergrad?

For students, just as the ever-dreaded admission season draws to an end and undergraduate life begins, a new bunch of quandaries pop up. Seeing batchmates working part-time at different organisations, excelling at extracurriculars or starting their own business on top of academics may lead to you questioning whether you should also try out for a part-time job. Read on to find out if starting a part-time job during your undergraduate is truly worth it.

A myriad of benefits

Aside from the obvious advantages of expanding your social and professional network and gaining work experience, part-time jobs also help you learn about different industries and understand which ones you can see yourself working in in the future. Working part-time boosts your self-efficacy, which means it can enhance your confidence in your own capabilities. It is also great for learning soft skills that you may not learn from your classes, such as learning to navigate office politics and understanding workplace culture. Having a part-time job while being a full-time undergraduate student compels you to learn how to prioritise when you have multiple deliverables on your plate and thus, improves your time management skills. 

"Working part-time begets a sense of responsibility and accountability in you," says Sadia Nusrat Siddique, Manager, Regulatory & Corporate Affairs, bKash Limited. "In university, there are often many opportunities to work as a team where few people do most of the work while the rest can get away with being free riders. However, this is not acceptable in an office setting. I would say the biggest pro of working while you are a student is the taste of professionalism you get. You get to experience what professional teamwork and collaboration actually is like, in a place where you will be accountable for delivering your work within tight deadlines."

Part-time jobs also help you polish your existing skills while building new ones. "You understand the importance of practical learning and may start harbouring a growth mindset," says Ashraful Shabab, HRBP-Customer Development & DFF and Wellbeing Lead, Unilever Bangladesh Limited. "Part-time jobs also help you understand what you are good at and how to play according to your strengths. Since they are also usually a good source of income, you can learn how to manage your personal finances too."

Ashraful believes that part-time jobs help students attain better chances of landing desired full-time jobs later on, as the resume is made more attractive to employers looking to hire people. "Employers may look for someone with particular extracurricular activities (ECAs) for a specific role because historically speaking, people with those ECAs have performed really well in that role or function," Ashraful adds.

"Lessons like punctuality, professional courtesy, working in cross-functional teams, stakeholder management etc. help you gain perspective," says Sadia. According to her, interviewers looking to hire candidates are usually interested in knowing what the candidate knows about the world. If the candidate can properly convey what they have learnt from part-time experiences, they are likely to be impressed. They would be able to trust that the candidate is responsible as they have been for other organisations in the past.

Working part-time roles can be especially helpful if you want full-time opportunities in the same organisation in the future. "You can make connections who will vouch for you and give you a head start over other candidates. Even if you worked at a different organisation previously, it will add layers to your resume and give recruiters more perspective to help them connect your past experiences to the possibility of success in future," says Syeda Adiba Arif, HR Executive - Marketing at British American Tobacco Bangladesh. "Sometimes you may even be connected to your future employer through an internship at a different company," she adds. "For example, if you are working for an advertising agency, you may be spotted by one of your key accounts as a good resource and eventually called for recruitment."

Possible downsides

As you are still an undergraduate student, it may be difficult to juggle studying with work and other aspects of your life. Some roles are especially time-consuming, and the hectic work pressure may hamper your academic performance, even leading to burnout. 

Part-time work for students can sometimes be exploitative too, resulting in a bad experience, inadequate learning or poor remuneration. Sadia says, "It is important for your first work experience to be a good one. If your first ever job experience is unpleasant, it may leave a negative impression of work life for you. There's no guarantee about what your line manager may be like, and so you might end up in an unprofessional environment." 

There are other possible disadvantages too. "If one becomes too focused on a certain skill that helped them get part-time work or gigs, neglects to learn other common business administration skills such as negotiation or communication skills, and discards growing on a multidimensional level, working part-time may end up adversely affecting that individual," comments Ashraful. Thus, adopting a myopic view of skill acquirement may do more harm than good.

How to choose the right part-time job

It is important to choose a part-time role that is in line with your future aspirations. If you want to work in communications, you may consider working as a copywriter. If you want to work in education, a part-time teaching job at a local educational institution may intrigue you. A role that is complementary to your degree can help you apply the theoretical knowledge you have learned from your classes and solidify your practical knowledge in your field. 

Working just for the sake of working somewhere, especially when the work does not interest you nor is in line with your aspired-for career, may result in demotivation. "Poor performance during an internship can rather harm your chances of getting a full-time job in that organisation later on," says Syeda. She believes that a candidate should choose a company that they would like to explore as a full-time opportunity in the future in order to build connections. "Choose a role that does use your current skillsets but will also broaden your horizons to build new skills," she adds. 

The location and schedule of work are also important as you do have to make time for your classes, rest, social life and household chores. Working hybrid or remote jobs (such as content writing or graphic designing) may help you save time and energy. Choosing a workplace that is very distant from both your home and university may result in a lot of time wasted on commutes. The work schedule should also not clash with your university classes or exams and leave you some time to catch up on academics at home.

It is also usually wiser to go for paid roles as opposed to unpaid internships unless the unpaid opportunity is very rare or valuable. Working in an unpaid role may mean you have to pick up a second job that pays or a tutoring gig, both of which mean additional stress and pressure on your already-packed schedule. Additionally, the work should encourage you to use your problem-solving skills, express creativity and explore. As Ashraful points out, "Part-time jobs that are mostly operational may pay you but not help you grow as a person. Jobs that allow you to be creative and strategise will aid in your development."

Finally, if you know anyone who currently works at that organisation, be it a university senior or a friend, inquire about how the office culture is. This will help you understand if the work environment is one you will likely flourish in. 

As an undergraduate student, it is your time to explore different opportunities and interests to identify your strengths and weaknesses and realise what you may be able to capitalise on and where you can see yourself working a few years down the line. No matter what industry you choose to work part-time in, what is important is to put yourself out there and learn.