When I started working part-time as a student in Edinburgh. The concept of part-time was brand new to me. Being from a country that has the idea of work as something to become right after college or university (preferably a white collar job with stable income), part-time jobs are meant for people who are financially unstable. The deeply rooted sense of working outside my comfort zone was something I wanted to explore, and I found that working part-time in hospitality gave me so many experiences that I otherwise would have missed had I just been focused on being a student.
I wish more and more students understood how part-time jobs really help you with hands-on skills. For me, I appreciated the hospitality industry a lot more, really took in many varieties of roles, and never felt lesser than, while also understanding that I come from a privilege where I get to choose it temporarily and not that I have to do it out of necessity. But doing a job meant extra income, which I later got to use to fund my solo trips and buy items I otherwise wouldn’t have spent my parents’ money on, and I appreciated how money can be handled and utilized while earning it.
Only when you work, pay your bills and rent, cook your meals, do your household chores, and organize your finances (and more miscellaneous tasks) does one realize how much they have grown up in the process of taking care of themselves.
