When students step on the threshold of career life from student life, one of the most customary issues they encounter is getting asked for experiences. In most cases, the education system of our country does not equip the students with adequate workplace skills, which creates a huge gap between our graduates' knowledge and the requirements of the job market. In such a situation, students who step out and get involved in part-time jobs or work alongside their studies stay ahead of the average graduate curve. Following the developed countries of the world, the trend of working part time among Bangladeshi university students is gradually rising.
Part time job opportunities are being created every day. A little bit of research and acquiring the right skills can help students prepare themselves for their career ahead and be independent. Here is a brief guide to part time job opportunities for Bangladeshi students.
Frontline work opportunities
Students who are agile and good at communication are a good fit for jobs that require direct customer interaction in jobs like salesperson, receptionist, delivery person, etc. In our country, many big restaurants welcome students as their service persons during the night shift, because usually students have classes during the daytime and are free at night. Big retail shops like Aarong, Agora, Shwapno also have a considerable number of students as their sales employees.
Technical skill-based jobs
Thanks to the advent of technology, many work opportunities have grown. Jobs like graphics designing, web developing, digital marketing, content writing, etc. have a vast ground of work. Students with particular skills can ace these jobs, increase their efficiency and develop themselves for more extensive opportunities.
Rifat Newaj Razin, a student of Daffodil International University and the brand identity designer at SammTech, has been working as a graphics designer for many organisations and now, along with some partners, started an IT firm. He said, "From my perspective, part-time job is at the same time important and compulsory for anyone who wants to acquire knowledge in a particular area or industry. All of us worked in companies or start-ups previously, and we couldn't have started an IT firm if we didn't have any previous idea about this sector."
Student tutoring
Student tutoring is one of the most prevalent jobs Bangladeshi students do. If university students have in-depth subject knowledge, they can teach school, college, or university admission-seeking students. Apart from this conventional line, if anyone has good scores in IELTS, SAT, or equivalent exams, they can even manage to get international students by tutoring online. Educational platforms like 10 Minute School are creating massive opportunities for intelligent and confidently speaking students to teach through video content.
Academic jobs
Although academic jobs are not so widespread in Bangladesh, quite a few universities offer research and teaching assistantship scopes for students who excel in their particular fields. Md Farhadul Islam, a second-year student and a research assistant at the School of Data and Sciences, Brac University, feels that his role as a research assistant is helping him by enriching his portfolio and making him go deeper into particular topics. Sharing his thoughts, he said, "Getting this role allowed me to learn first-hand, made me study extra materials outside of my ongoing courses, and helped to maintain a satisfactory CGPA which is quite important for academia jobs."
Jobs at corporate organisations
Nowadays many corporations, home and abroad, are creating different work programmes and job opportunities for students where they get a hands-on workplace experience. Noshin Nabila, a second-year student at IBA, University of Dhaka and an intern at Code 19, tells her story, "I currently work for one of the largest IT firms of Melbourne. They hire interns. This allowed me not only to develop my skill for local demographic but also polish my skills upwards to suit international clients." About seeking opportunity, she adds that unless someone actively searches for options, one will never know what he/she will find.
After all the opportunity know-hows, a big question remains, how to look for and prepare for part-time job opportunities? For this, Kowshik Ahmed Fahim, chief operating officer at Lead Gravity, provides valuable insights. From his experience, he said, "When I take interviews of university students who are in their second or third semester, I don't expect them to have prior experiences. What I try to find in them is that if they have been part of any activity other than their academics, if they have a story to tell about their life."
When asked about the current situation of part time jobs in our country, Kowshik said, "Definitely, part time jobs in our country have increased significantly. And given the pandemic situation, work from home culture has created more room for students in working alongside their education." He then provided a brief overview of the part time job market in Bangladesh. Mainly, marketing agencies offer opportunities for students; leading agencies usually prefer third or fourth-year students and medium or small agencies welcome first or second-year students and let them learn and improvise themselves within the organisation. Due to initial budget constraints, start-ups take many student employees for sales and IT positions and make scope for gathering diversified experiences. Even multinational or big corporate companies are also creating work opportunities for students.
Usually, student hirings happen internally through seniors, club groups, university groups, and social media job groups. In most cases, students do not have much to say or much to show in their CVs. But those who are active learners have a confident voice to talk about the activities they have. Even in part-time jobs or internships, the organisation will certainly help students learn, but students also need to have a learning mindset to develop themselves.
The writer is a BBA sophomore at the Institute of Business Administration (IBA), University of Dhaka.
[email protected]
