Student loan already disappearing? Here’s the truth about getting a job in Durham

Many first year readers of The Durham Tab may feel in a similar position to how I felt this time last year: You have been at Durham for around a month now, Freshers’ Week was monetarily exhaustive on your bank account, and you are feeling the financial squeeze due to expensive food shops, college bar crawls, and spontaneous folded pizzas.

This, coupled with winter balls and society dinners looming in the near future (and a thirst to travel in the holidays), is putting pressure on your crippling bank account.  

Getting a job in Durham can seem like an impossible challenge: You imagine there are hundreds of students applying for the same jobs. Businesses are feeling poorer than ever with increases in national insurance and minimum wage, and you question whether anyone wants to hire students who leave every few months.

I promise there’s hope for students looking for work

Well, it really is not as dreich as it seems. The old, annoying chestnut you’re sick of hearing  (“just hand in your CV to some bars and cafes”), really could not be closer to the truth. It is exactly what many of my friends and I did and we all now have jobs.

Many students believe that sites like Indeed and LinkedIn are the best way to find work. But actually, jobs are only a face-to-face introduction away from you. Yes, I experienced some solid rejection therapy, but all it took was one Saturday afternoon and handing my CV into a dozen or so places to end up with a trial shift for the following Monday. Now I have held my job for a year.

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For students, the issue with online job advertising websites is that these companies are usually looking for staff who can work all year round, and who are permanently based in Durham. But on the flip side, there are a handful of businesses that are quieter over the holidays, and it works in their favour to hire students part-time because we are always here during term time. 

Jobs give you structure

Working as a student in a bar or café may feel daunting. You might be worried about serving your drunk friends whilst they are on a night out, that your seminar leaders will come in and ask you about the lecture you missed, or that you are going to miss out on loads as a result of holding down a part-time job. But it really is not as bad as it may seem – you meet new people who are not on your course or in your college, you integrate with non-students, and it relieves the pressure of working loads during holidays.

Most importantly though, it adds structure to your life. This newfound structure can be incredibly beneficial, and you may be struggling from a lack of it at the moment. It may seem like an extra commitment which can interfere with a summative or an internship application, but it encourages you to do these things during the “working day” as you know you have work in the evening. 

Working as a student reduces financial stress, widens your social circle, and adds structure to your life. So do not presume that getting a job in Durham is too competitive or a burden to your social or academic commitments. Jobs are really not that competitive; you just need to be proactive, print off your CV, and go to small businesses that you know are often only busy during term time. Then you can use your newfound job as a tool to provide structure to your uni life. 

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