Part Time Jobs For Students Are A Great Idea! Here’s Why

Part time jobs for students are still something of a rarity here in India, and even looked down upon by many parents. Here’s why a part time job or an internship is actually a great idea!

Education, and especially academic education, is considered the highlight of children’s’ lives in our country. Evidently, parents wish that their kids can study without any distractions coming their way. However, some parents believe in earning real life experiences for their offspring too – in the form of part time jobs. In most cases though, when students tell their parents about their desire to do a part time job, the results are extremely negative as parents immediately disapprove of this topic.

A child is always asked, “Bade hokar kya banoge?” (What do you want to be when you grow up?) The most appropriate responses include, “Doctor”, “Teacher” or “Engineer” a.k.a stereotypical responses. However, if a kid deviates from these, then it is taken as a joke. Growing up from being a child on the path to being an adult, the teen finds something that she wants to take up as a career.However in college, that adult realizes that a simple degree is not enough to secure a job. So, they start looking for internships and part time jobs to gain experience. This ought to be encouraged. When I applied for an internship, my parents approved of it instead of discouraging me.

Your free time activities will get reduced and you may well have to spend hours at your workplace while trying to study at the same time. Moreover, parents are also worried that their naive kid might get taken advantage of by their bosses as these workers are not aware of their rights. Also in our country, a college student with a part time job is like a strange phenomenon – students earning their own money are actually looked down upon unlike in other countries, where such part time jobs during college are the norm. Here, parents show them to their children as an example of why “somebody should not study this course or you will end up like them”. Such kinds of actions are incredibly dehumanizing and can lower an individual’s self esteem.

As a young person myself, parents, I suggest that it would be better for your kids to experience professional life here and make mistakes while in college rather than you still paying for your kids when they are 30 just because you consider that these ‘menial’ tasks are beneath them. To add more, part time jobs (and even some internships) pay a student a decent amount for their work.

This way, while gathering skills and experience, a student can also accumulate funds for their education or other ventures. As a college student who has an internship, I can say that I have learned much about professional behaviour and my skillset has also improved by leaps and bounds.

So, was this enough to convince you to start looking for a part time job, college people? Leave your thoughts in the comment section below!

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