It’s hard to be a student. You never have any money, you see. Well, you do. But somehow that never seems to last you for your first year. So what do you do? Eat the ice from your freezer for sustenance? Raid Cathays’ bin bags on a Tuesday nights?
No. You get a job. At the start of the year it’s an unappealing idea; everything’s hectic and it seems like your life is comprised entirely of lectures, nights out and sleep. And you don’t want to work. You’re doing work in your lectures, so why do any in your free time?
Despite your moral objections to work, it can be very useful. It doesn’t have to be terrible, either. Around half of all students have a part-time job, and they can’t all be terrible. Obviously some subjects lend themselves to work better than others – medics, for example, don’t really have the time with all their lectures and that.
So what are your options? It can seem daunting – how do you get a job that will happily take you on as a student, actually pay you, and understand when you’re busy as hell? Jobs & Money is here to help!.
1. Jobshop
On the bottom floor of the Students’ Union is the Jobshop. It should be your first stop for getting jobs as a student. If you sign up with them, they’ll let you know when temporary jobs become available. All the jobs pay at least £5.52 an hour, and you can just work when you need to. The work’s quite often tedious but there’s no obligation – I signed up last year and did just two days checking exam papers. Very dull, but it earned me around £80. You can even see some vacancies under this article!
2. Bar work
If you’re looking for something a bit more permanent, there’s always bar work. Most places in the city centre request experience, so if you’ve not done it at home then you’re probably counted out. But you can always try the Union bars, which recruit occasionally throughout the year and provide you with all the training you need. The best bit about working in a bar is that not only do you not go out on nights you work (and so don’t spend all your money in Metros), but also you get paid. You get paid for not going out – save and spend money in one go.
3. Flyering
Does it annoy you when you’re happily wandering around Cardiff and are accosted by people thrusting leaflets into your ungrateful hands? Yes? Oh. Er, well have you ever considering being one of those people? It’s usually reasonable pay (several bars pay their ‘promotions team’, as they’re grandly called, more than their bar staff), and if you can get over your dislike of marching towards targets and throwing paper at them, it can be a good option. There’s quite often a range of times you can work (and almost all flyering spots are in the centre of Cardiff), so you can pick and choose to suit you. Bars, gyms, and clubs all need people to flyer, so try asking them. Nicely.
4. Busking
For the musically-minded among you, you can always take to the streets and peddle your instrumental wares. You might need to apply to the council for a licence, but I don’t know much about that. And the pay is very variable. But it’s fun, I guess? And you get to play Wonderwall all day, so, er, that’s nice.
5. Stripping
Okay, I can’t really advocate this. I will get in trouble. And I don’t actually know any strip clubs in Cardiff, so it might not be a viable option anyway. It does pay well, apparently. But it’s immoral and will make Jesus sad, so you shouldn’t really do it.
6. Shops
A bit more traditional than some of the other potential money-making schemes perhaps, but it’s always worth stalking the streets of Cardiff centre to hand in your CV to any shops. Even if they’re not hiring, many places will keep you on record and let you know of any vacancies. The only problem here can be that if your hours are limited, you might be of limited use to them so they may not hire you. But who knows?
Right, that’s it. Of course, you can always live off your overdraft and not work, but that’s up to you. You’ll probably regret it eventually, though. No, really. You will. You’ll see.
