Part-Time Jobs- Is it possible?

Hello all!

Are you a new student at KTH? or perhaps someone wondering about the possibility of earning while you study? Please go on reading the blog post.

Recently, I have been getting a lot of questions regarding part-time jobs, summer jobs, thesis, and work prospects after graduation. So, I thought I would write a detailed post about what my friends and I do to earn some money while still studying.

Part-Time Jobs

Sweden is a very expensive place to live in. The rent, travel, and food together will for sure cost you about 4000-7000 SEK depending on how you spend. You can read about my monthly expenses in here. Having an opportunity to work part-time while studying will definitely be useful at least to spend on travels or food and can ease the tension on your budget a great deal . Finding a part-time job isn’t a very difficult thing and it mostly depends on your skills and preferences. I am listing down few possibilities in here, hope you find it useful.

Research Assistantship/ Teaching Assistantship

RA and TA are the most common part-time jobs on campus, especially in the US. Well, it is not very common here but the most convenient one for sure. You can definitely work as a teaching assistant for a professor or research assistant in the Lab because they pay pretty well, they can actually cover your rent. Also, the work isn’t very difficult as they align with your stream. It probably will make life more interesting. At least that’s what I feel from my experience working as an RA in the lab. You can read a bit more about my RA work profile in my LinkedIn if you’re very interested 🙂

The opportunities are certainly many and wide. You will usually get to know about the requirements from the teaching assistants, professors and sometimes friends. But getting selected into one could be highly competitive, often times they have a very specific requirement. And, only if you fit in that requirement or show genuine interest to spend extra time to learn it, will they take you in. Since the competition is pretty high from other international students, this can be quite difficult to get in unless you really fulfill their requirement. When I have found an RA job for myself, am sure you can find as well. Networking is the key to know about openings while getting selected depends on your skillset.

International Relations Office

Being a student blogger, a student ambassador, Instagram and Facebook page curator are few of the many jobs that one can be offered by the International Relations Office. Usually, openings for these positions are posted on the KTH website. You will not receive any email asking you to apply. You will have to keep looking for it on the website and apply promptly on time. The selection process will be based on your motivation and your performance in the interview. Sometimes, your school will have to recommend you as well. So, different positions may have different processes and you can read about them in the job description. They pay quite well to at least take care of your monthly food expense. Again, they are all quite competitive as one would expect them to be 🙂

Foodora/ Saravanaa Bhavan/ Espresso House/Pubs

Apart from the jobs on the campus, there are other jobs that one can do in their spare-time and make more money than the campus jobs actually. Most of these jobs don’t require you to know Swedish. English will just be enough. Well, Few might demand basic Swedish language, which you can learn in your first period and then start working. Or, you can also start learning already using apps like Duolingo, Babbel, Memrise etc. They are pretty good to get you started. I have many friends who work in Foodora, which is basically a food delivery job and it pays pretty well. A fun job to go around the city on your bike during the summer and get paid for it! You can also be a customer attendant at restaurants. Since Saravanaa Bhavan started quite recently here, I have a lot of my friends who work part-time at the restaurant for a good pay and get free Indian food as well.  Being a DJ in a pub or bartender are also few available options for the skilled ones.

Part-time software programmer/ consultant

If you are good at software programming, getting a part-time job can be quite easy. They pay on an hourly basis and you have the luxury of working from home while attending weekly meetings either at the office or on Skype. These are quite convenient. They don’t demand Swedish language. You have absolute flexible timing and comfort. But finding these are not very easy, you must broaden your network and tell your contacts that you’re looking for one.  One good tip is to always keep your profile updated on LinkedIn. Nothing works like networking in Sweden and this should be your mantra if you want to find a job, be it part-time or full-time. Networking!

Study buddy/ Babysitting/ participating in research experiments

There are also other fun jobs that don’t really take much of your mind and time. Like tutoring a kid during the weekends or babysitting. These are quite simple and is often on a case by case assignment basis. There are many websites like this one, where you can sign up and they will notify you if you fit in any requirement, you get paid if you take it up. There are often some simple jobs like helping parents in dropping the kids at school in the mornings and that half an hour time with little lovely children can pay you quite a sum as well. Apart from these, researchers often conduct experiments that require volunteers who get paid or get a cinema ticket for taking part. Two weeks back, I was in an economics related research that paid me 500 SEK for playing a game for one hour with my other friends. Quite a fun way to make some money to spend your weekend without feeling guilty, if you know what I mean 😉

Summer Jobs

Summers are the best time to work and you can make as much as 120 SEK per hour.So, you will work for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week for 6 to 8 weeks. Now, you do the math. That’s a quite a sum! Also, the experience and the industry contacts! Armada is the place to start with for your summer jobs. You can read about Armada here. Most of my friends have already found summer jobs, including myself :). The key is to apply early and NETWORKING, of course!

Final Word of Caution

One thing to always remember is that you are here to study at the moment. Making money can always be done after finishing the programme. So, don’t get into very demanding jobs and make sure you don’t lose your concentration on your studies cause of the part-time jobs. It is important to have a balance. I would recommend getting an on-campus job as they are not very demanding and one at the Lab can motivate you a great deal to further your studies and career, plus it is safer. Choose your part-time at your own discretion because the university has nothing to do if it is not offered by the university. So, don’t get into any trouble. As such the resident visa for student doesn’t have any restriction on part-time jobs but do give you maximum time for academics.

I hope this blog helped you! Good luck!

If you have any questions, I request you to post it here in the comment section because I often happen to miss the chats in my social media accounts. Thank you for understanding 🙂