Working Girl Chronicles: What to look for in a part time college job

I promised myself I would post today, correction, yesterday but you know how you go all out , come up with the mother of all to-do lists but you do only a third of what is on there? Currently the situation.

Without further adieu the much awaited, what to look for in a part-time college job!

First thing's first, look for something that is not time consuming. Just because you are looking for work while in college does and should not change your priorities, numero uno, being school. In the words of nearly every African parent, focus on your books. When I was considering my current position in true overthinking fashion, I googled something like, "Should you have a part-time college job" and nearly all the articles gave a major thumbs up for working while in college, but kept the amount of hours to be just above 20 hours a week. That leaves you with time for everything a college student deals with, which, it goes without saying is a lot. Ideally these are the amount of hours you should be working. How often the ideal is met is a whole other ball game especially within the Kenyan context which brings me to my next factor,

Flexible hours. Just because your potential hours are a tad on the higher side isn't a complete no-no. If you can play around with them to meet the expected threshold; coming in earlier other days than some to compensate the days you come in late, working weekends, public holidays etc. More times than not, especially when you are a student, your employer is more than happy to entertain your 'unconventional' means of meeting your working hours, at least mine is.

Not demanding. Again you are a college student first. You do not need to be carrying work home with you, you have the rest of your life to do that! Get something that begins and ends when you are through the door. The service industry is always the ultimate fix i.e waiter, waitress, host, hostess, front office, customer service, call centre assistant, you get the point.

Proximity. Especially in Nairobi, where besides being renowned for being the City in the Sun, our traffic is out of this world, you want to be living, learning and working within close proximity of all your frequented social amenities. On-campus jobs are perfect for this. The ideal, again, is not always the current situation. Proximity though, should not always be the deal breaker. After you have done some serious evaluation of the situation like, how long it would take for you to commute or drive and would it be worth it in the long run, then you make your decision.

Pay. The number one reason you are looking for a job is most probably because you have began putting aside some money to pay off student loans, contributing towards your tuition, your parent(s)'/guardian/sponsor handles tuition and the rest is all up to you or the money you are being given barely covers your 'expensive taste' and 'escapades'. You have heard enough of reppin' the broke game and you are basically purely in for the money. Remember, you need not be too picky. Just remember that experience and gratitude do not pay the bills, so the preferred payment should always be monetary if the pay was the main influence to have you on a job search.

Have a good one!