There’s a pretty big notion that working in retail or hospitality sucks and for the majority partaking in this grind, it’s painting some true colours. Working a part-time job and studying at the same time can be exhausting, patience draining, time consuming and frustrating.

There are however, some surprising perks to working these jobs while finishing your degree. Here are five pros of working a part-time job while at uni.

#1 Building Patience

Yes, I did just say that working in retail or hospo can be patience draining and for anybody that works in the field that does not need explaining. Customers can be lovely, but they can also be the spawn of Satan.

But here’s the thing, like anything you practice on the reg, it improves over time. There are days where my patience feels about two centimetres tall but in the long haul, it’s getting some meat to it. Day in, day out serving people who have faces you just want to hit can be pretty good in building your resilience and patience.

#2 People skills

One of the most important skills (if not the most important skill) for any career path is getting along with people. Not just people who appeal to your interests and manner, but all people. Working in retail/hospo is the perfect gateway to learning and practicing this with interaction with co-workers and customers.

Customers will display themselves as an array of all humanity has to offer and you’ll have to deal with them all. Learn to do that, and you learn the most important skill of all. People skills.

#3 Fundamental Customer Service

This is a game changer for any job seeker to have on their resume. As mentioned above, people skills are critical to any career, and customer service will get you a long way when being considered for any role. Being able to serve the people is what the #businesslyf is all about.

#4 Understanding The Fundamentals Of Business

Ergh, right? Right. But it’s a pretty great perk to working the hospo/retail hustle while at uni. You learn the fundamentals of business, the exchange of value, the importance of quality, all that stuff bosses just lappppp up.

Whether you want to enter the corporate world or not, understanding the essence of business is a great advantage to navigating through life.

#5 Take A Break From Uni

Uni can be overwhelming and it’s nice to take a break from the workload. It’s good to switch your brain onto something different throughout the semester and what better way to do that than by earning some dollars.

It’s pretty hard to be stressing over an assignment due in two days when someone is complaining their extra hot latte that you literally boiled the milk for still isn’t not hot enough.

#6 Disproving The Misconception The Millennials Expect Everything To Be Handed To Them

It’s a common misconception that millennials expect everything simply handed to them. Get a degree, get handed a job right? Wrong. We work bloody hard.

We’re willing to put in the hard yards, slave through shitty jobs (and not shitty jobs – I don’t know, maybe you like serving assholes lattes), and earn our rewards.

Because we’ve had a taste of the work life, even though it’s just retail/hospo, we understand that dollar bills are given in return for labour, and that money, like all things, are not just simply handed to us.

(Lead image: Brooke Cagle / Unsplash)