#schoolandwork

Everyone knows college, and education in general, is not cheap. A lot of college students have to hold down full time student status and a part-time job (or 2 part time jobs in some cases). Managing the time for everything is not always easy. So here are my tips for making it go a little smoother

1. “Working for money” means you need the job because you need the money. This is different from “working for experience”. If you need the money, you’ll need to work the most hours you can handle. Different jobs have different needs and some will consider part time around 10 to 15 hours a week while others will always schedule you 20 to 29 hours a week. Find out how many hours you’ll be expected to work a week and plan ahead.

2. Availability schedule. Most jobs will ask you what days you can work and what times you can work. When filling this out DO NOT only account for your class time. Include time to do homework, get ready, relax, commute, and so on. Example: If you have classes Monday, Wednesday, Friday from 10 in the morning until 4 in the afternoon. But you know it takes you an hour to get ready and get to work you WOULD NOT say you can work starting at 4pm because if your shift starts at 4pm, guess who’s going to be late? YOU. What you would say is that you can work Monday, Wednesday, and Friday starting at 5:30pm. This way you have extra time in case something comes up. 

3. Exams scheduled on days you usually work: This is bound to happen at some point while working and going to school. What you want to do is as soon as you get the class syllabus, write down the exams dates. If any of them are on a day you normally work ask for that day/time off. You want to do this way in advanced so your boss doesn’t feel like you sprung something on them. You also want to make sure to remind them as the date gets closer so they don’t forget. 

4.Not having enough time. There will be times where you fee like you don’t have enough time for anything and everything is becoming due. The best way to deal with these days is by avoiding them as much as you can by planning everything. However, sticking to plan can be hard. So if you can call in sick to work so you have the day to catch up on things you are falling behind in. 

5. Track your work quality. If you find that your work quality in school or work is decreasing substantially consider working less hours or a job that requires less thought/stress.School will stress you enough and if you can avoid it at work you will have a much easier time.