College for every young adult is one of the most crucial phases in their lives and it is nothing new that this phase can get a little overwhelming sometimes, with all the internships, society tasks, MUN’s and whatnot in the picture. It gets even tougher if and when you are working. So, exactly how much time should one devote to work, i.e. your side job whilst you are in college? This article is going to explain about How many hours to work in college?
Type of Job
The first criteria that we need to put into consideration are the kind of job you are doing. It could be anything, but every job requires different skill sets and time devotion. So, when you are choosing a job whilst you are in college, you need to be selective, unless of course, you don’t have another option, but try as much as possible to take up a job that you can potentially manage with your college and studies and which does not exhaust you as much.
For instance, a job as a Fast Food Attendant at Mc. Donalds, Burger King, Chipotle, etc. These jobs in fact have special sets of seats especially meant for college and school-going young adults, and the time schedules as well are set accordingly, so it might be a good option. Another important detail to be noted is that these jobs also give you the leisure to have at least a little time to yourself if not much, now something is obviously better than nothing.
Time to Spend
The next big question that arises is: what are the amount of time you could afford to spend on the job and the amount of time you can afford to give to your college and yourself?
To answer this, we need to realize that all of these segregations of time limits might sound extremely impossible to keep up with right now, but trust the process, it’s genuinely going to be worth it at the end of the day, all of your struggles are going to pay off.
So, to begin with, the average number of hours that you spend in college would be around eight to nine hours, ( co-curricular activities included) after which you would have to show up at your job, the job would expect you to give around four to six hours in a daily basis, which is also the average amount of time the average young adult spends in their jobs around the world.
The next most important thing is your sleep schedule, which you are expected to spend around six to seven hours on. Summing all of this up, you have around two hours left to yourself, But this approach is very rigid and radical, it does not particularly have to be this way. You can make alterations as per your fancies, here and there. This is just a rough idea of how this segregation can be done. At the end of the day, you obviously are going to and should suit yourself.
Another important thing to keep in mind is the fact that your college years are that time of your lives when you are probably able to be the most efficient and energetic through it all, so being hyper-efficient is what you can afford to do. Besides, while you are applying for job certificates and internship certificates in your resume, it not just looks impressive but also gives you an edge over the others, because it shows your recruiters how capable you’ve been at juggling these jobs with your studies and everything else in between, thus making you fairly eligible to get the job you most definitely deserve.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q1. Would I be able to manage both college and my job?
A1. Whether or not you’d be able to juggle both college and your work, is something only you can answer, no matter what anybody else tells you. Look, the point is, if you really want to achieve something, you would do anything and everything in your power to get to where you want to be and all of the sacrifices inside the lines are included within this category and nothing can stop you. If you have doubts about not being able to do both of these together, it is okay to at least once, give it a shot, if nothing, you’re for sure not going to regret not trying, and once you do, give it your best shot. Do everything you can and work hard at it, you obviously would have to face multiple situations where you’d feel like giving up, my only advice is to NOT.
Q2. What are some tips to manage my time as a college student?
A2. College could get tough if you don’t manage your time efficiently. Below are a few suggestions on how to get things done efficiently:
- Get a good night’s sleep: Don’t compromise on your sleep no matter what, make it a point to get at least six hours of sleep. This would recharge your mind and body functioning for the rest of the day. If you ever decide to skip this, you’re most definitely going to ruin your entire day.
- Plan: Plan your following day in advance. Make a to-do list if you have to, legit anything that helps, and try to follow this schedule. Constantly remind yourself that you can do it and trust the process.
- Believe in yourself: The most important and essential task is to trust yourself enough to get what you want. Don’t. Lose. Hope. You’ve got this.
Q3. Are there any benefits of working with studies in college?
A3. Working along with studying in college, as overwhelming and stressful as it may sound, does in fact have a lot of benefits in the long run. It helps you to gain some experience first of all, which is an important criterion for later on, besides that, it also helps you to learn to follow a schedule and to do most necessary things, it helps with budget control and regulations, i.e you learn where you actually need to spend your income, instead of simply wasting it on things that you don’t even need, and the best part about this all, you’re able to decide for yourself because this income is totally yours so you most definitely are going to think twice before spending it on products and practices that are unnecessary.
Also, you learn problem-solving and communication skills; Because your job is an everyday thing, you might as well have to communicate with a lot of other individuals these skills are surely going to come in handy sooner or later in life.
Q4. Are there any negative aspects that I need to keep in mind while taking up a job whilst I’m still in college?
A4. Every story does almost always have a negative side to it, which is also supposed to be presented to the audience, so yes, there are several negative aspects that you must be aware of before you decide you want to take up a side job in college.
- First, it might really get stressful initially, one: because you are new to the job and are not quite acquainted with how things work and how you’d schedule your entire day in order to run smoothly, two: because you have to manage both college and work and college assignments can be very time consuming and monotonous sometimes;
- Secondly, work and college can genuinely drain you out, big time, you’ll constantly feel like you can’t manage both these tasks together, but really this is the time you’re going to get better at your management skills;
- Third, you would really have to sacrifice a whole lot of things. You only have twenty-four hours in a day and when you are studying and working, these twenty-four hours just would not seem enough, so sacrificing most things that you might love for instance or Xbox and tv and gaming, all of that, is the only rational way you could be able to safely manage t steal a little time for yourself to rest;
- Fourth, your academic scores might drastically fluctuate or fall down, because you might not be able to manage both of these tasks always, you would have to compromise somewhere or the other, but the thing about this is, you’ll learn to prioritize what really matters at the end of the day, and that’s a skill, recruiters are actually looking for in individuals these days.
- Lastly, you would get drained and totally at that, in the end of your college or job, you’ll feel like all you really require at that point is rest, and to be honest, that is all you can have once you are done with both of these. This gives you a lesson on how you have to shuffle between home and work in the future and the complexities of life but then again, when you feel like giving up, don’t quit, learn to take a breather.
