We all love a good Freshers’ Week at uni! You meet tons of new people and have loads of fun. But, unfortunately, you also spend a small fortune, too!
The average night out during a typical Freshers’ Week costs a whopping £42. And, once day time costs (eg hangover meals, takeaways, new clothes, travel, rent, membership fees for societies…and maybe even the odd book) are factored in too, the average fresher shells out over £400 in their first week at university.
And, of course, the spending doesn’t stop after Freshers’ Week comes to a close. Twenty per cent of first year students at university spend their FULL annual loan in the first 100 days and, even the more careful ones still eat up an average of 58 per cent of their loan in the same amount of time.
For the average first year university student, that adds up to over £3,000 spends in not much more than the first 3 months of studying towards your degree…
So, what can you do to take all of this Fresher pressure off your shoulders and make sure you aren’t completely skint before the Christmas holidays?
That’s right! You can find a part time job which won’t interfere with your university work – but which will definitely interfere with your cash flow in a positive way!
Freshers’ Week – Jobs To Claw Back Your Spends
Here are 6 of the best jobs you can do to claw back your Freshers’ Week spends….
Charity Fundraising
Okay, we know you are looking to help yourself out of the red and into the black – but why not help other less fortunate people (or animals) at the same time?
As a charity fundraiser you can earn good money for yourself after Freshers’ Week (over £10 an hour plus bonuses in some cases) and help raise money for great causes too.
The fact that charity fundraising also looks great on your CV is just one more reason to take up this sort of part time job after Freshers’ Week finishes.
Charity fundraising can either see you shaking your money maker on the street, calling door to door or manning the telephones to raise funds for all manner of good causes. Recruiters such as Wesser and Home Fundraising regularly advertise these sorts of jobs on our website and will more than likely be looking for someone in your area right now.
So why not earn some money whilst also giving something back? Find out more about Charity Fundraising jobs now.
Bar Work
Not exactly an original idea for a student job – but still one of the easiest to find. The hours are flexible, you usually have good fun – and, as well as earning a decent hourly wage, if you’re friendly and likeable then those tips can really start to add up.
If you don’t mind working in the evenings and/or at the weekends, then a typical part time bar job with good tips could see you recouping all of your Freshers’ Week outgoings in just a week or two.
Sound good? Find out more about bar work in your area and apply for vacancies.
Events Jobs
Like bar jobs, working at events is usually good fun. The range of events you can find work at in student towns and cities around the UK is vast.
Events jobs can be anything from VIP parties to big sports matches, film premieres to music gigs or from EXPOs to top summer music festivals like Glastonbury, T in the Park, Download, Wilderness, Wireless, Bestival or Latitude.
Not only do you earn good money, you get into great gigs and events for free. Okay, you’ll have to do some hard graft some of the time, but you usually get to enjoy big events such as Test Match Cricket and summer festivals too.
Just a small handful of the big event recruiters that hire students through us include JAM Staffing, RE Hospitality, LOLA Event Staffing and Esprit Group – but you can get tons more ideas about this line of work in our guide to UK Events Jobs.
Mystery Shopping Jobs
Lots of businesses need to know what consumers really think about their products and the customer service skills of their staff. And, what better way to gain such intelligence than by getting students like you to go into their shops and restaurants as a spy?
Mystery shopping jobs have had a bit of a bad name over the years, due to a few bad apples running scams. We at e4s vet all of our recruiters so that you can rest assured that you’ll only be applying for genuine mystery shopper jobs through our website.
Sometimes you’ll be paid a fee to do some secret shopping – and for other jobs you’ll just receive the products, services or meals for free. So, even if you don’t get paid all of the time as a mystery shopper, you’ll still be able to net off some of these great freebies against your fresher week expense column.
Get the full story on legitimate mystery shopping jobs now.
Brand Ambassador Jobs
Students are big business. Everyone wants a piece of them!
Top brands from every sector want more exposure at campuses all around the UK – and what could possibly be a better endorsement than getting students themselves to really big up a brand to other students?
From alcohol brands to big banks – and from health drinks to supermarket chains and mobile apps – every business wants to be at the front of the queue when students are thinking of making a purchase in their market space.
More and more companies are willing to pay willing students good money to soft sell, hard sell – or use any other persuasive methods known to man – to peddle their products and services to other students at their university.
And, as you might expect, all of these businesses would love to sign up a brand ambassador like YOU really early in the academic year to leapfrog their competitors.
If you are a friendly, persuasive character and could throw your weight behind a particular brand name then find out more about Brand Ambassador jobs now…
Laptop Jobs
And if Freshers Week has left you feeling like you never want to leave the house again, then why not earn some money from the comfort of your (communal) sofa?
If you have access to a laptop (or PC) and a decent internet connection then here are loads of ways you can earn a bit of cash to top your bank account back up without even stepping outside the front door.
It all depends on your own particular skill set, but laptop jobs can be anything from designing business cards to selling your own stock photos. You might have to start off small, but once you’ve found a niche and gained some experience and reputation, the sky’s the limit.
If you have no idea where to start earning money from home, then take a look at our blogpost about ways to make money with your laptop now.
So, are you ready to refill your piggy bank after Freshers’ Week now that we’ve given you a few ideas…?
♫ ♫ Money, get away ♫ ♫
♫ Get a good job with more pay and you’re O.K. ♫
♫ Money, it’s a gas ♫
♫ Grab that cash with both hands and make a stash ♫
♫ New car, caviar, four star daydream ♫
♫ Think I’ll buy me a football team… ♫♫
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