Working while you study is a great way to develop skills and earn money to support yourself. Common part-time jobs include tutoring, working in shops/cafés/bars, assisting at events and administration roles. Many part-time jobs can be flexible, allow you to meet and network with a different group of people and often involve working with customers, a skill many graduate jobs require.
Balancing your study and part-time work
You will need to make sure that the time you spend working does not impact on your university study time. Some departments have guidelines on how much part-time work you can do so please check your handbook to ensure you are following these. If you are a student visa holder, you will also need to check how much part-time work you are allowed to do. Please visit our international student webpage for more information.
Adapting your CV for part-time work
Just as you need to create a tailored CV for internships and graduate jobs, you will need to tailor your CV for part-time jobs. Use the job advertisement or your knowledge of what the job involves to analyse what skills will be needed. Our reading job advertisements webpage can help. What parts of your experience are most relevant to the job you’re applying for? For example, if you are applying for tutoring roles, you might have a CV section titled ‘Tutoring related experience’ where you can group any experiences you’ve had training or supporting people.
Here is an example of how Elena, a MEng Electrical and Electronic Engineering has adapted her CV for part-time work. Elena is part of the Animated Inclusive Personae project and to find out more about her and meet other personae visit the AIP website.
Finding part-time work
Part-time jobs can be advertised in a variety of ways, from signs in local shops windows, to being listed on specialty part-time job websites. Here are some links to get you started however this list is not exhaustive.
- JobsLive has a casual/part-time job filter so you can search for jobs that are specifically interested in hiring Imperial students.
- LinkedIn offers a part-time job search. For tips on how to use this visit our LinkedIn webpage or attend Careers Essentials: LinkedIn session.
Part time work tabs
There is no central webpage that lists student jobs that are available at Imperial. Often roles are advertised through departments so do check your emails. Other places that often hire students are campus services, the student union and outreach. Some roles may also be listed on jobslive.
Many students tutor part-time either through an employer or on a self-employed basis. If you are a student visa holder, please check any restrictions you may have. Often you are unable to work on a self-employed basis so will need to tutor for an employer who issues you a contract. Please see our International students webpage for more information.
There are many job boards offering part-time work. Here are a few to get you started:
Recruitment agencies help companies fill their vacancies and can be a useful addition to your part-time job search. You should never pay a recruitment agency – they get paid by the organisation who is using them to find staff.
- Recruitment and Employment Confederation - a directory of accredited recruitment agencies that you can search to find agencies in a range of industries and locations
- Blue Arrow - widely used recruitment agency for flexible work
- Save the student have written a helpful guide to better understand how to use recruitment agencies the right way.
Local shops, cafes and restaurants often use signs in their windows to find part-time employees so if you are after a job that is walkable from your house, be on the look out for these.
Large retail chains such as supermarkets, pharmacies and some restaurants have centralised recruitment websites. Look on their websites directly and find the ‘jobs’ or ‘work for us’ section which is often right at the bottom of the page.