The young at work this summer

CHENNAI: After the pandemic-induced lull of almost 3 years, the part-time job market for students who have completed Class 12 and those in college is expected to flourish this year with several companies willing to provide short term employment during the summer holidays.

During every summer in the State, many students hailing from lower income families take part-time gigs that not only help their parents but also allow them earn a quick buck and gain experience before their institutions reopens.

Earn money, gain skills

The COVID-19 lockdown, and the couple of years post that, has taken a toll on students, as the unorganised sector, which provides most of the part-time employment to students, could not provide jobs citing financial loss.

Experts opined that having a part-time job helps students learn skills they might not have the opportunity to learn in school or college. Also, they wish to earn their money for personal expenses, rather than depending on parents or guardians.

With Class 12 board exams over in a couple of weeks, students are gearing up to go for part time jobs for about 4 months starting from May since they’d be admitted to colleges only in September. Similarly, college students too will take up short part-time jobs during summer holidays.

Part-time offers

“A decade ago, part time employment was tedious because it was more of physical work. Now, most part-time jobs are online, and students are interested in doing it to earn money,” said P Vaishnavi, an online job recruiter.

Some of the popular part-time jobs among students are online jobs including personal tutors, data entry, digital marketing and online survey. “Students must have a desktop or laptop with internet connection. These jobs do not require any investment. Working hours are flexible and decent pay too,” she said.

Home tutoring is the latest to the list of popular online jobs students who have passed Class 12. Accordingly, many websites need the assistance of personal tutors to help students comprehend a certain topic or subject.

However, TN Siru Thozhil Federation secretary S Muthurajan said that students from lower income families depend on the unorganised sector especially textile shops, restaurants, browsing centres, job typing units, mobile phone stores and electrical shops. “Normally, working in these places helps them earn between Rs 3,000 and Rs 5,000 during summer vacation. They might get more now since these were the rates in 2019,” he said.

N Magesh Kumar, a food delivery representative, said that he received many enquiries about part-time food delivery jobs. “All you need is a two-wheeler with a valid driving licence for this job. You can easily make between Rs 15,000 and Rs 20,000 per month, provided you work throughout the week from 7 am to 10 pm,” he said.

S Nagendran, an employee at SIPCOT Industrial Estate in Guindy, said that unlike the previous generation, students these days do not take up jobs with hardware. “There are more part-time job opportunities available in MSMEs in the city,” he said.

Students’ preference

G Premkumar, a Class 12 student in Pammal, said: “As I am now typing well, I’d prefer a data entry job. My elder brother also did it in 2018. He earned Rs 300 per day. The salary is calculated by the number of words/numeric that you’ve entered.”

Premkumar has begun getting opportunities from companies and consultancies in need for data entry operators. “I’ll work till I get admission to college. The money I’ve earned from this job will be used to purchase new clothes for college use,” he said.

S Nataraj, a first-year college student in the city, is more than willing to take on any part-time online job as long as it has flexible timing. “Most online jobs were operated by websites belonging to foreigners. Therefore, we should be careful in choosing an online job so that salary will be disbursed on time,” he pointed out.

However, B Shankar, another college student said he’d prefer to work as a food-delivery agent. “Though it’s a lot of hard work, the salary would be better than the one we get from online work. I have a two-wheeler and I could do this easily,” he stated.

Work experience

K Ramakumar, a student counsellor in the city, said that a part-time job enables students to pick up many life lessons and hone their skills that cannot be done in educational institutions.

“When you start earning, you’ll gain a better understanding of how to handle money and become smart about navigating financial aspects at a young age,” he said. “If you work in a company, you learn about teamwork, customer service, leadership, communication, problem-solving, marketing and other qualities that would help them secure a job after graduation.”

Labour law

Children (under 14 years) can help his/her family or family enterprises in a non-hazardous occupation/enterprise, after his school hours or during vacations. Similarly, a child can work as an artist in an audio-visual entertainment industry, advertisement, films, television serials or any such other entertainment or sports activities, except the circus.

In both cases, the law requires that permission is subject to such conditions and safety measures, as may be prescribed and provided that such work does not affect the school education of the child. This will be applicable for part-time jobs as well.

Students who complete Class 12 will be all set to go for part time jobs for about 4 months starting from May since they’d be admitted to colleges only in September