The importance of part-time work to UK university students

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to examine the skills requirements of UK graduate jobs and to compare them to those for part-time jobs typically undertaken by UK university students in order to identify similarities and/or differences between them. A content analysis of 100 graduate jobs and 100 part-time jobs was used as the basis of comparison. The person skills criteria were initially noted for graduate jobs and were then compared to the skills required for the part-time jobs. Quantitative analysis was carried out to determine the relationship between the two sets of skills criteria. Twenty-seven criteria were identified in the graduate jobs. It was found that there was a close relationship between the criteria specified in graduate positions and those for part-time jobs. This highlights the importance of part-time working for university students to gain vital skills to support their graduate job applications. By demonstrating connections between the two types of jobs, this study will hopefully contribute to convincing graduate employers of university students’ work-readiness.