How to balance university with working part-time as a student

Juggling your university work and a part-time job can be a challenge. It takes a little bit of thought and careful planning for you to set yourself up for success without burning out.

To help you achieve that all-important balance, here’s our top advice for students working part-time while at uni.

Working while at uni isn’t optional for a lot of students. Many people need to turn to part-time jobs to help cover their basic living costs at some point during university.

The silver lining? Balancing your studies with a job doesn’t just make financial sense – it can benefit you in your future career, too.

First of all, having a part-time job is a chance to develop skills not taught in your degree. As well as technical knowledge that can prove useful later on, you’ll learn how to work well with other people in a professional setting. Communication is a must-have skill to succeed in any industry.

Working while you’re studying at university also gives you valuable stuff to include on your CV and to talk about in job interviews. Even if you don’t think your part-time job really matches your chosen career, employers are still likely to consider work experience of any kind as a selling point. It shows that you understand your basic responsibilities as an employee and that you have handy transferable skills.

One final bonus? You’ll be able to list your boss or supervisor as a professional referee in the future. Quality references are application gold dust.

If you need a job urgently or aren’t sure what sort of role you want, you might feel like your best option is to apply to everything you find and keep your fingers crossed. However, there are things you need to consider if you want to achieve a balance between work and study.

First off, you need a role with a high enough wage to make it worthwhile. Make sure you look at different job listings so you have a benchmark for the sort of hourly pay you should expect. You can also create a spreadsheet of your living costs to give you a better idea of how much you need to earn.

Next, you need a role that’s flexible enough that you can slot it around your university commitments, including contact hours, studying and hobbies. Your workplace also needs to be close enough that your journey won’t be too expensive or time-consuming – constantly running late is not a good look!

Lastly, think about skills. Is there anything you’re particularly good at that could help you fetch a higher wage? Alternatively, what could a potential job teach you that you could use later on in your career?

Don't feel like you're qualified enough to get a job? Read our advice on securing a role with minimal past experience.

For students in part-time employment, effective time management is super important.

The first step is to have a reliable way of logging all of your commitments in one place. Set up a Google Calendar or similar application and record all your lectures, coursework deadlines and work shifts. You’ll be able to tell at a glance what you need to do and when, which will help you avoid double-booking.

It’s a good idea to schedule designated study sessions and note down what module or assignment you plan to work on during each one. That way, your uni work won’t get squeezed out and you won’t find yourself starting work on an essay the night before the deadline.

Use reminders on your phone to give yourself lots of advanced warning that you need to be somewhere. If you’ve forgotten about a shift, it’s not all that helpful to have your phone remind you at the exact moment you’re meant to be clocking in!

There’s no getting away from the fact that working while studying demands a lot from you. That’s why it’s so important to take care of yourself.

Consider pacing yourself by working more during university holidays or reading weeks. That means you’ll have more breathing room during term time.

You should also prioritise sleep and eating well. It can be tempting to skimp on both when you’re juggling a hectic to-do list. However, if you skip your downtime, you’re not going to have the energy you need to get everything done. Think of your capacity like a phone battery – give yourself enough time to recharge before you go and spend more energy.

Lastly, make sure you factor in relaxing activities and time with friends. Not being able to unwind is a direct road to burnout, particularly if you’re rushing around by yourself without a regular support network.

Part-time work can make you an appealing prospect to employers. But how do you tell them about it in a way that’s relevant to the role you’re applying for?

On your CV, you should list the name of each employer, your job title and the dates you worked there. You can also include a few sentences or bullet points about your role, and this is a chance to demonstrate what you learned.

• Dealt with difficult customers working at a busy bar or café? On your CV, you can frame it as "experience managing demanding stakeholders in pressurised situations."
• If you provided tutoring, that means you "successfully upskilled others" and "improved your communication skills by simplifying complex concepts."
• If you found your part-time job difficult or demotivating, you can reframe it as "building resilience."

You should also focus on soft skills, also known as transferable skills. These are things like communication, time management and adaptability.

As for job interviews, you should talk about times on the job where you stepped up or learned something. Maybe you helped your team through a busy shift at the restaurant or helped to solve a difficult problem a customer was having? Interviewers will often want you to share lived experiences of situations, so it helps to have examples ready to go.

These transferable skills and experiences might take some time and thought to pin down, but they will be there. Whatever part-time job you find yourself doing, your hard work balancing uni and employment is sure to pay off.