What is a student’s biggest worry, other than passing their degree? Well ask most students this and I’ll bet the majority of them will say that money is their biggest worry as a student. So as a student, what do you do about this? Turn into an alcoholic… well some might I suppose, but most students will try to find part time jobs, student jobs or even summer jobs to give them that extra bit of income that they need.
So in light of these thoughts, I decided to go and investigate what it is like, how easy it is, how difficult it is for a student to get a part time job. As a young person myself I know plenty of students who have had part time jobs in Leeds, part time jobs in Cumbria, part time jobs in Newcastle and many other places, so I had plenty of research subjects to prey on.
My first port of call was to go on a night out with some of the Northumbria University student jobseekers, which basically translates as a night out where you hardly spend a penny. I’d had plenty of previous experience in this field, but when you are out with a purpose to learn things you never knew about a lifestyle that you are so used to and involved in, it felt pretty different. On my first bit of prey, I dropped into a conversation the question ‘How do you cope for money when you’re in full time education, have rent and bills to pay and more things like nights out and food?’ The response I got wasn’t what I expected, they simply said they don’t cope at times, they have their student loans and they get a weekly allowance from their parents, but it’s still not enough.
By pure coincidence, the next thing I knew I was standing at a bar on Newcastle quayside chatting to a person who was trying to recruit students to take up holiday jobs which can lead to graduate jobs. I wasn’t drunk at this time, so yes it was a real funny coincidence. This person was talking about how it’s so difficult to recruit uni students due to their already hectic schedules. I then actually introduced one of my student friends to this person and to my ultimate satisfaction, I found that less than a couple of hours into this night out, I’d already got one of my friends a part time student job.
We then proceeded to a strange little establishment that I can only best describe as, well… a strange little establishment. I never even knew this place existed, yet there I was partying on down on a dance floor with a man with a withered arm and a woman on what appeared to be a dog lead – they were doing this strange hop along dance move. It was good entertainment to be fair and it seemed to have all the students’ enthusiasm and attention, so it was all good fun. Well in this strange little establishment I started talking to the woman who to my astonishment actually was on a dog lead (fashion accessory i guess), and she was saying about her daughter who had went off to Uni in Leeds and had managed to find part time jobs in Leeds that were relevant to her course which ironically was fashion. This gave me food for thought indeed, so the night went from strength to strength and then before i knew it i was being told it was time to call it a night. So as we all slumped back home in the bright light of the early morning with professionals on their way to work looking at us as if we were some sort of unique and wild species, all I could think about was what could be done to give students a better chance of finding student jobs, holiday jobs, summer jobs, and part time jobs.
The next morning, or should I say afternoon, I went online and started searching for a service that could help with what I am trying to find. Then after a few minutes of browsing I came across a website called www.ukstudentjobs.com, whose motto was ‘Discover new jobs to fit in with your student life’ BINGO! I’d found what I was looking for, a very colourful and artistic little corner of the internet which was dedicated to helping students within the UK to find part time jobs, summer jobs and even graduate jobs. So I would suggest that if you’re a student reading this, give UKstudentjobs.com a go because not only is it an ideal service, the help and support from their support team is second to none.
By Ben Little ©
By: Daaaaavid
Posts Tagged ‘Part Time Job’
A Student’s Guide to Getting Part Time Jobs/student Jobs When at University or College
November 5th, 2009Credit Card Creep” + “universal Default” → “125%
November 1st, 2009It was one of those extra special Saturdays with a crisp coolness in the air. The sun was shining brightly through the front windshield so much so that the visor had to be lowered. Having left early from his part time job, Travis stopped at a convenience store to pick some beer and food. Three friends were meeting at his house to watch the Notre Dame versus Michigan football game. The wives were coming along later to enjoy a late cook out and to enjoy the newly installed heated spa and pool. Travis and Penny had acted on a promise they had made to themselves when they bought the home four years ago. A primary requirement, beyond the three bedrooms, two baths with a two car garage and large family room, was the need for a large lot that would allow for the construction of a big heated pool and spa. With three children and an active social life this was an important centerpiece of family activities. It was important to complete this mutual promise. It made sense of the hard work and commitment to make this happen.
As a systems engineer at a local company, Travis had not received the anticipated bonuses and pay raises that had been outlined when he hired on right out of school ten years ago. Deciding early on to stay in a smaller city where they grew up and had family with any alternative employment being somewhat limited without a major commute to the nearest active employment center 100 miles away. Penny worked as an outside pharmacy sales representative with one of the big drug companies and ran her regular route between doctor’s offices and clinics. This was the ideal job for Penny as it gave her great flexibility to spend more time with the children who were now all school age. As planned, Travis and Penny had three children in quick order to compress the parenting time into a tighter time frame. When Travis and Penny bought their home the mortgage market was very attractive and they were able to lock up a 5.75% fixed rate on a 30-year mortgage. Travis and Penny justified the expense of putting in the pool by Travis taking a part time job as a security guard at 20 hours per week to meet the payment of the new second mortgage utilized to install the pool and spa. Efforts were made to double the payments of the Home Equity Line of Credit to pay it off early and get down to one payment on the house. That rate was tied to prime and recently had been climbing and the payments were going up. Prime it seemed was going up monthly. Travis and Penny had been very responsible with credit and as a result had good credit scores in the 750 range. Now, with climbing payments on the HELOC Travis and Penny were just able to pay the minimum monthly payment. From time to time, they took advantage of credit card offers as it turns out to a big extent. In a year’s time, they had 12 credit cards with active balances. It just started to creep up on them as they were now just making the minimum payments each month. With their good credit, the credit card rates were good. Travis working the extra time on the part time job some of the bills paying duties were shared with each assuming that the bills were getting handled. In a small alcove of the kitchen was a built in desk area with small cubbyholes and pull out drawers acted as the repository for due bills and the checkbook.
As Travis pulled in the drive way with the goods from the convenience store, as was his practice before unloading, he checked the mailbox. Sure enough he had a fist full of mail. He gathered up the food and beer from the car and carried everything into the kitchen. Upon setting the groceries and such down he headed to the in-kitchen desk to deposit the mail to go over later. However, on top, was a letter from one of their credit card companies. Travis opened it and the communication indicated that they were 30 days late on the credit card payment and that they needed to call immediately to get it handled. Travis and Penny conferred and while ignoring the bagged groceries on the table, began tearing apart the desk looking in all the cubbyholes and crannies, and stuck way in the back crumpled up with another paid invoice was the original bill (now over 30 days late).
Unbeknownst to Travis and Penny, is the “Universal Default” trigger mechanism used by many credit card companies who regularly check your payment history in the bureaus. If they find a 30-day late or other derogatory information the interest rates on ALL the credit cards can be accelerated in many cases to the maximum legal limit. Thus, the sweet heart introductory rates went in some cases from 8.5% to 29.99% to varying degrees. Overnight the minimum monthly credit card payments more than doubled. They were in a real pickle now. The real estate market had pulled back recently and the full value of the pool and spa did not result in a higher appraised value. In looking at their situation, they now had a current balance $165,000 first mortgage at 5.75% with fixed principal and interest payments of $1,021.25/month with little principal pay down since origination.
The taxes and insurance added another $275/month. The second mortgage HELOC was $33,500 with current payments based on prime + at $301.41/month. Then their total monthly housing expense was $1,021.25 + $275 + $301.41 = $1,597.66/month. When they added up the credit card debt it was some $37,500 with an average of 29.99% and minimum payments of now $1,450.00/month. Their total debt was $1,581.69 + $1,450.00= $3,031.69/month. Travis and Penny were stunned. Penny called the mortgage broker who got the original 5.75% purchase money mortgage and shared their pickle and was asking for possible answers short of selling the house or going into a Chapter 13 Wage Earner Bankruptcy Plan. Bob the mortgage broker had worked out a couple of scenarios with one being to sell the house. The market-appraised price didn’t allow for much debt consolidation with the equity available. So Bob suggested either to sell the house or keep the 5.75% first mortgage in place and utilize a 125% Combined Loan To Value (CLTV) mortgage product that would allow the paying off of the HELOC (which had been going up) and payoff all the credit card debt. This would cut all the debt down to two payments one for the first and then the second mortgage. Bob cautioned them that this is not a cure all. Debt relief was being achieved by extending the term of the debt with a rate in the 14.5% range. Bob went on to explain that they were just buying time and that they had to seriously make an effort to make extra payments and get rid of the second mortgage. Although their credit score had dropped the middle score was still above 650. The 125% Combined Loan To Value had a $75,000 maximum loan limitation. Bob proposed paying off the pool loan and all the credit cards with a new loan of $74,900 with closing costs rolled in. The payment on the 125% loan for a rate of 14.5% and a 20-year term would have a payment of $958.71/month. The savings per month then would be $3,031.69/month versus $1,021.25 P&I on the first + $275 for taxes and insurance and the new payment on the 125% CLTV of $958.71/mo. for a total new housing payment of $2,254.96 for a monthly savings of $3,031.69-$2,254.96 = $776.73/month. The Debt To Income Ratio was below 45% a 125% loan program requirement. Bob cautioned them again that while they would have monthly savings the long-term costs could be higher than before so they must commit to cutting costs and stick to a tight budget. Penny committed to making three more calls per day to boost her income. They went ahead and got the relief and made a long commitment to crawl out behind the eight ball and move ahead.
Dale Rogers
www.brokencredit.com
By: Dale Rogers
The Day I Found the Path to My Dream Full Time Job
September 18th, 2009Have you ever considered that your personality might be a factor in whether you get a full time job or not, or even whether you get a part time job or not? Well I know I hadn’t, until a friend pointed out that we all have one of these ‘personalities’. So on realising this, I decided to go out in to that enormously large universe of information that is the world wide web, on a mission to find out my true self, the true inner me, my personality as one would call it. All this in the hope that I find out what I need to know about myself to make the big step up from student life and student part time jobs, to the scary, but exciting world of being a graduate and getting my first graduate job which hopefully would lead to a great full time job.
So there I was, browsing the internet on your usual searching websites, getting nowhere, until all of a sudden as if a switch had just been flicked, exactly what I was looking for appeared before my very eyes on the screen in front of me. Yes, the answers to all my pondering thoughts about personality affecting what type of jobs in Newcastle that I will get or will not get, all within a click away. The website was Bluezonjobs.com and it offered a free psychometric personality test. As I took a deep breath and was preparing to learn about myself things that I may already know, things that may pleasantly surprise me, or things that I subconsciously already know are true, but don’t like to admit to myself.
As I was preparing to make the big click, thoughts were flooding into my mind about previous employments that I’ve had, my part time jobs in Leeds while at University, my part time jobs in Cumbria while I was a boy in a man’s world and how these all compare to my potential future job or jobs in Newcastle that I was comprehending. What if I didn’t like what this personality test told me? What if it shattered my confidence, or what if it made everything I’d achieved at University seem worthless now? Well this was something I had to do, and with the comfort of older siblings telling me that a degree is a degree and as long as you’ve got one in whatever subject, you will always find a career in any field you want. You know they say to learn about yourself you need to stare down the barrel of a gun, well this was a similar feeling, only without the possibility of being shot at the end of it all. As I stared down the barrel, or at my screen in real terms, questions began to appear on my screen that instantly made me think about myself and my prospects of full time jobs that I enjoy, because the last thing I want is a job like my part time jobs that I had while at University. Then once the final question was answered, I nervously waited for the dreaded news as my results loaded (talk about walking on egg shells)…
Sitting there in my old roughed up chair that had taken the hammerings of a conveyor belt of students in the past, possibly all going through the same frantic full time job searching on Newcastle full time job websites as me, it sudden dawned on me that even before the results, the excellent questions on this Bluezonjobs.com website had already answered a lot for me and taught me a few valuable lessons about my inner personality. Then as I sat there with my eyes scrunched shut fearing what I was going to see, the inevitable ‘ding’ sound that my laptop makes when something has finished loading echoed in my ears, and before i knew it, as if by magic the information that I’d craved for so long was there in front of me for me to see. What I seen delighted me, it was as if the Bluezonjobs.com Psychometric Profile Testing tool had drilled into my deep mind and plucked out all the things I didn’t know I already knew about myself. It gave me several relevant pieces of information, types of jobs that were relevant to what I’d been studying for at Leeds, but also types of jobs that made me feel inspired and enthusiastic about my future – This was a great feeling.
This was a real valuable learning exercise for me, and thanks to this, after working my way up through various typical graduate jobs in Newcastle and then working my way up with promotions from jobs in Cumbria, I now have a really successful career in the property business which is a job in Leeds that I love and that pays me a wage better than I could ever have imagined. Bluezonjobs.com is a website that I would thoroughly recommend as not only did this site help me with the Psychometric testing, but it was where I found my graduate jobs, and then my jobs in Newcastle and ultimately my amazing career and life that I now have. My job now really is a far cry from my previous part time jobs and student jobs.
By Ben Little ©
By: Beniano
