As a student in the United Kingdom, you can work upto 20 hours per week and full-time during holidays, if you are on a study abroad programme in a recognized university. The National Minimum wage for a student aged between 16 to 20 is £5.3 per hour, and for 21 or above is £6.7 per hour.
What kind of student jobs can you do in the UK?
There are various part time options available depending on what suits you and what you get hold of:
- At a cafe, restaurant, back office, store, malls, supermarkets, gas stations, etc.
- Social Media Jobs: Companies pay students to create and manage their social media profiles. If you know how to have the skills to do digital marketing, you can get paid a lot of money here.
- Freelance Jobs: If you have a skill, you can share it on Youtube or make a course online
- Tutoring: You need to pre-apply for this. If there is a research opportunity, you can work with a professor as their assistant.
How to find jobs in the UK?
Students have multiple available resources for them to help look for part time or full time jobs.
Most universities have career centres that help you get jobs. Other resources include looking for jobs online using websites like LinkedIn, StudentJob, Employment 4 Students, etc. You can also go and apply in person if there are vacancies.
Keep in mind that you must be polite and professional in all your communications (via email or phone). Also, if the application happens in rounds or stages, then politely follow-up if you haven’t heard from them in a while.
What are my employment rights as a student working in the UK?
- You are entitled to the National Minimum Wage.
- You must get paid as an intern even if the same company has offered you a future full-time position.
- You are entitled to equal pay rates, sick-leaves, maternity, paternity and other holidays by the company.
- You are entitled to training and development events, and career breaks.
- Monetary benefits are to be given on pro-rata basis. For example: If a full-time employee gets 1000 pounds bonus, part-time must get 500 pounds.
- You are not entitled to overtime pay unlike full-time workers.
- One can justify not having your health insurance because you are part-time.
- Interns may not entitled to payment in case of unpaid student internships, school work experience placements (under 16 years of age) and volunteer work.
- If the intern just has to shadow another employee, they may not get paid.
- One can report to Employee Tribunal if treated unfairly.
What are the average salaries after completing my graduation?
|
Job Title |
Average Annual Salary |
|
Data Scientist |
£35,000 |
|
Project Manager (IT) |
£42,000 |
|
Physician/General Doctor |
£51,000 |
|
Psychologist |
£31,000 |
How long can I stay and find work in the UK after my Graduation ends?
As per the UK government's recent announcement, international students at graduate or undergraduate level starting courses in the year 2020-21 would be given a two year work visa post their graduation to work or look for work in the UK. You can work full-time after your graduation. Refer to our article about student visa to know more about the visa.
