Part Time Jobs

Dear reader,

Many of you have mailed me in the recent past asking me about working part-time while doing the MBA course in Glasgow. So let me discuss a little bit about that.

The full-time MBA program in Strathclyde is a very intense course. Classes start at 9AM in the morning and usually go on till 5PM. Once classes are over you would need to engage in group work in allocated teams as a large part of assessments is on team-based projects. So after classes its usually a few hours of group work preparing for presentations, solving cases or writing up assignments. Since most students in the course are bachelors and live in university halls, tasks like shopping for food and essentials, cooking, cleaning, washing etc also take up some time. Then there needs to be some time for personal study. The weekdays thus are usually very hectic.

This schedule goes on throughout the year. However there are pockets when the pressure goes down a little bit. Thats the time when many of us did part-time jobs on the weekends. The ideal time is during christmas break when the exams get over and the summer break.

The first thing you need to do when you come to Glasgow is apply for your National Insurance Number. This is mandatory to apply for any part-time job. Its a fairly easy process where you need to call a number and setup an appointment. You then need to go for a short interview on the date of appointment where the authorities check your passport and UK visa status and take photocopies of the same. In about 3 weeks a letter arrives at your address with the NI number and in a week from then you get your NI card. Every job you apply would require you to quote the national insurance number so you should ideally get it sorted first thing when you reach Glasgow. For more details on this visit: http://www.dwp.gov.uk/lifeevent/benefits/ni_number.asp

Its quite easy to find part-time jobs in Glasgow. The minimum national wage for people aged above 22 years is £5.73 per hour. Some firms offer a little more. Check this link for more info on minimum wage: http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Employment/Employees/Pay/DG_10027201

The easiest place to find part-time jobs are in high street retail stores. Glasgow is a major retail hub in UK and there are plenty of stores in the city centre especially on Buchanan Street, Argyle Street and Sauchiehall Street. The work can vary from managing till points, handling cash, taking stock of merchandize, managing warehouse logistics, handling customer queries etc. During christmas there is a large intake of 'temps' in these stores to cope up with the increase in seasonal shoppers. The roles are usually for 6-8 weeks which should suit you fine given the duration of your christmas vacation.

The other alternative is to work in contact centres like BeCogent. There are a lot of call centres for banks like Lloyds TSB and Royal Bank of Scotland. The pay is higher (approx £7.5 per hour) in the contact centres and it also offers incentives.

Before I end this post I want to share a word of caution. Please budget for all expenses you would incur in the one year before you come to Glasgow and DO NOT count on part time jobs to support you. This is mainly because the course pressure might not allow you to work or not work enough to make money that can pay your bills. Your focus should always be on the course and not part time jobs. Such jobs are good to do for a couple of months and only on weekends to get some add on cash to spend on partying or travelling across Scotland.