How to find a part time job

Part time would definitely make student life easy. It will pay your monthly living expenses atleast. But, you must be aware of the fact that, it must be of least priority in your list for finding way sot meet your financial ends. Order of importance would be as follows

1) Research Assistantship
2) Teaching Assistantship
3) Scholarship
4) Part Time job

In this article, I'm going to talk about part time jobs. As an International Student, you are allowed to work 20 hours per week within University Campus. Any work outside the campus, like gas stations, restaurants, hotels, motels, is considered illegal. It can lead to deportation from U.S.

One of my friend was working in an restaurant nearby the university. One of the International Student Advisor was at the restaurant for lunch, and he happened to his waiter. Couple of days later, he went to IO for some paper works, and same International Officer happened to meet him. He advised him to quit working at restaurant immediately, without any adverse action. This was few years back.

So, there is very good chance of getting deported back to India, if you were found working outside campus. But, do student take that risk? Yes, of course. But, I feel its not worth the risk to work off-campus jobs.

Requirements for Part-Time job:

If you don’t have RA/TA, start looking for part time jobs oncampus, from Day 1 you reach U.S. Because, it will help you in many ways, like

1) Part Time jobs will get you an SSN ( How to Apply for SSN )
2) That will indirectly, help to get Credit Cards, Driving License and build Credit History and Driving History.
3) Above all, will pay for your monthly expenses.

You would need...

• One Page Resume for part time jobs.
• Know where to look for jobs
• Know who is right contact person for that job
• Know few seniors who has part time job, who will give your pointers
• Be Proactive during job search

Some schools, finding part time is very difficult. Especially, when number of International Students are more in the University. Not everyone will get RA/TA. Also, number of jobs that will be available will be very less. If that’s the case, you need to be looking for all possible opportunities to find a job.

Some job will pay you like $10 per hours and some will be $6 per hour. Look for jobs in Library, Multimedia Labs, Computer Labs, Department Offices, College Cafe, Football, Basket Ball ground, Administrative departments, Registrar Office, ... I have heard that in Texas A&M @ College Station there is an RA position for feeding and observing the research animals like pig. They pay around $1200 per month.

If you attend big schools in terms of students strength ( > 35,000), more chances for you to find the part time job very easily. If there is medical school, look for jobs over there too.

I will have to talk about significance of One Page Resume in future posts. If you like this post, I would appreciate, if you can pen down few comments. Thanks!