Academic or Part-Time Job?

By Catherine Chiew Hui Ling - Thursday, 22 January 2024

Sungai Long: “Do you have a part-time job?” “Will it affect your study?” These are the most frequently asked questions that students get. According to the New Straits Times report, as the cost of living slowly rises, students' living expenses are expensive, and gradually many students have begun to do part-time jobs in order to earn more pocket money.

You make your choice

Tee Yi Phang: If you can handle it, doing part-time job is a good choice

Tee Yi Phang, is a 21 years old corporate communication student mentioned that he had a part time job for customer service and packaging when he graduated from high school. He chose free time to do it before because he’s not yet clear where it's headed, what college to attend. First and foremost, he has mentioned what students are afraid of when first doing a part-time job, which is not sure what to do and is terrified of making a mistake. 

“You have to have good communication with your bosses and colleagues to be able to handle things well,” Yi Phang says. He gives advice on what he learns in his part-time job to students who are concerned about their first time doing a part time job.

Desire fuels dreams 

Lim Lei Ting: Depends on whether you need it or not when facing short of money or parents don’t buy for you 

Lim Lei Ting, a 21 years old student from media and creative, mentioned that she had a part time job as a waitress two years ago since her desire to buy an Ipad motivated her to do a part-time job. However, the flip side is, sometimes she couldn’t handle well in both  academics and her job. She talks about how she manages her time by using the idle time to do academic work. 

“I have learned about tea-making skills during my job, and also understand about what the menu will put the ingredients inside that we did not know before.” She mentioned she had learned some skills while earning extra pocket money. 

Thus, doing a part-time job is not only to earn extra pocket money, it can also provide us with a skill. 

No MONEY No Talk

Jia Jun: We as college students, we're short on money for living, in case we have the money for it.

Jia Jun, currently a 22 years old corporate communication student mentioned he worked part time as a seller assistant to sell mandarin oranges at IFruit during Chinese New year. He had trouble crushing time between his work and his academics. What he would do is give up their entertainment such as less going out with friends or less gaming, it's all about balancing study and work time.

“As long as you balance both (study & work), your parents don't worry, and you can TRY, at least so you can look back on your current life without regrets” said by Jia Jun. He gives a suggestion that encourages students to have part time jobs if they can handle both. 

Since he is doing a part-time job near utar, he won't be looking for online recruiting, he will be more trusting of physical vacancies. Therefore, it is encouraging students who are afraid of looking for a job for the first time, to try finding jobs at a nearby campus.

Effective time management is crucial

Joshua Yap: Can do it if you have time, having a part-time job really gives you advantages.

“Don’t put too much on the plate.” said by Joshua Yap Thien Lun, is a 22 years old media and creative student. He worked part-time before at the printing shop for half a month, and now he works as a tuition teacher nearby Sungai Long tuition center. The quote he mentioned: Since he is a tuition teacher currently, he has put a lot of pressure and it affects both his academics and his job.

He mentioned that having a part time job has advantages in our future, such as gaining more experience for the future, better for his resume, revising himself to teach other people and languages and other knowledge.  

He also mentioned how he manages their time to balance their study and work by have a clear communication with boss, and need to check your schedule whether you can handle it or not rather than blinding promise for work. He advised not to put too much on the plate because it will be difficult to handle it while studying. 

Advantages of gaining experience

Chiew Sin Ran:  There's no question of whether you should or shouldn't do it, it's up to you. As a university student, doing part-time work is helpful.

Chiew Sin Ran, a 25 years old student from media and creative, mentioned that she had a part time job as an event staff while studying at university, and the purpose of doing part time is for earning extra pocket money. 

She had pressure by work for events that had been fixed while having coursework caused her not enough rest, and also hard to balance it well. She manages to ensure her courseworks is done, so she can confirm to take event jobs. 

Moreover, she mentioned that working a part-time job is helpful, it can help you to broaden our horizons, and also can gain more experience for the future. It will be better to apply for jobs.

Some of the cases had happened such as late payment of wages, she had occurred for one to two months of unpaid wages during her work, she advised that the platform for finding a job is important. You may check out Linkedin and Job street are legitimate platforms to find a job.