A common misconception is that part-time jobs are a waste of time. People think that making a cup of coffee, waiting tables, ringing up clothes or serving as a secretary are not worth the few hours a day for minimum wage.
On the contrary, part-time jobs are extremely worth it and make you stand out amongst your peers as you apply for jobs after college. After all, would you rather hire the applicant that merely passed all of her classes or the applicant who passed all of her classes while holding down a job?
Here are seven reasons why your part-time “waste of time” job is actually well worth it.
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1. Part-time jobs strengthen your skill-set
Boost your skill-set by gaining experience in various types of jobs. Arm yourself with a wide variety of skills that you can use in your future full-time work, and discuss these skills in interviews and on your resume.
Try to find some unique job opportunities to make your resume stand out, such as social media coordinating, campus marketing, computer jobs and jobs with your campus career services center. These types of jobs will teach you some unique skills in technology, sales, marketing, strategy, customer service, problem-solving and more.
Victoria Robertson, fourth year English major at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, said that she worked various part-time jobs throughout her college career.
“I worked as a sales associate, a shampoo girl, a hostess at a restaurant, catering at my school and now I am a proctor at my school,” Robertson said.
Robertson said that she gained some valuable experience from these different part-time jobs.
“Through these jobs, I have gained experience in customer service, the ability to work with a team and as an individual, as well as the ability to work under pressure,” she said.
Photo via Flazingo Photos on flickr.com
2. Part-time jobs bulk up your resume with work experience
Regardless of your job, working is working; a work environment is something best learned through experience. Imagine your first day at a full-time job without ever working before. Would you know what to do? How to act? Chances are you would feel pretty lost.
Nothing is more important in getting a full-time job than having some previous work experience.
According to the Daily Mail Online, a lot of college students leave school “with little or no real experience of the workplace, which leaves them totally unprepared for working life.” These students “have no work experience at all” which proves a “huge deficit” to them.
Perhaps some of your professors, friends or parents tell you to focus on your academics because the most important thing about college is to graduate. However, an even bigger part of college needs to include you learning how to be an employee and understanding what the work force is like before you are thrown out into the world to fend for yourself.
Robertson made an intelligent point about working part-time.
“Rather than sitting at home in school (college or high school), I was out working and continuing to gain experience in the workforce,” she said.
If you have the time to binge watch Netflix, go to your school’s football games and stay up all night with your friends throughout the week , you have time to work.
3. Part-time jobs teach you discipline in multi-tasking and life balancing
Holding down a job, academics and after school activities requires discipline and skills in multi-tasking and time balancing. When you are an adult balancing your full-time job, new living expenses and maybe a family, the life skills you gain from part-time jobs will not go unnoticed or unappreciated.
This was something that Francine Fluetsch, third year creative writing major at UC Santa Cruz, learned from her work in retail.
“You learn how to multitask a lot, which will definitely help with future jobs,” Fluetsch said.
In terms of life balancing, Fluetsch said that when you realize you have too much on your plate, you learn how to deal with this as well.
“When you get into a situation when you can’t get everything done, you pick what you think is the most important and go from there,” she said. “Keeping calm and doing your best is all you can do in the moment.”
When I worked part-time as a student manager at The Ohio State University coffee shops, I found that my abilities to multi-task and balance my life skyrocketed; there is something about the urgency you feel to get everything done that can help to set your unorganized life on track.
4. Part-time jobs can help you decide if you’re on the right career path
Rather than assume you are going to like your future career field, get a part-time job in something similar to see if you are on the right path.
For example, if you want to be a veterinarian in the future, try to snag a job as a receptionist or assistant at a vet’s office. This way, you can get a feel for that sort of environment to see if you would want to work in such an atmosphere down the road.
Likewise, you could try to score a job shadowing a professional in your field of interest.
5. Part-time jobs create avenues for networking
Meet people outside of school and your social circle with a part-time job. Connect with professionals in a work environment who may serve as future job references or mentors.
Leverage your position as an employee and make connections with your supervisors, managers and co-workers.
Photo via thetaxhaven on flicker.com
6. Part-time jobs add value to your life
There is nothing like clocking out of an extremely long, tough shift and knowing you killed it. Don’t underestimate the power of a little hard work; I think you will find it is extremely rewarding to know that you made someone’s day or met your sales goal.
Fluetsch said that the customers who appreciate her help make working in retail worth it.
“Whether I could help them pick out the perfect gift or an outfit that really flattered them, having them be grateful for my help made me feel like I was making a difference, however small that might be,” she said.
Feeling that she accomplishes something makes her job worth it to Robertson.
7. Part-time jobs supply a source of income
Books, rent, food, clothes, tuition, going-out cash: the list of what you need to pay for while in college goes on and on, and why continue to borrow money from your parents when you can earn your own money?
“Really what made the part-time jobs worth it was knowing I have a source of income,” Robertson said.
A steady source of income makes your college years a whole lot easier and more enjoyable.
Also, do you really want to go out into the “real world” with zero cash to your name? Save up your hard-earned cash to pay for your student loans, rent your first apartment or house, go on a trip after graduation, etc.
What makes your part-time job worth it? Leave your thoughts and comments for us below.
