<p>Hi, I need a bit of advice. This will be my first time working and going to school full time (16 units) at the same time, so I'm just curious to get some know-how - mostly regarding scheduling.</p>
<p>The job I'm going to begin working is at a large rental car company as a car transporter. It's part time, but the hiring manager told me to expect 25-30hrs a week. I've browsed through college confidential, and there seemed to be a sentiment that over 20hrs + full time semester hours is usually not ideal.</p>
<p>I haven't started yet, but I plan on talking to the manager about flexibility in regards to my school schedule. I forgot to ask that in the interview, lol - but we talked about school in the interview, so I'm sure he knows that I'm a student. Plus it was on my resume and application.</p>
<p>In your experience, have jobs outside of work-study type jobs been accommodating towards your schedule? In general, would they have a problem if I told them I didn't want to work more than, say, 20 hrs a week? Or just work fridays/saturdays ands sundays? Wouldn't they be saving the company money from having to pay me? So would it be a win-win then? I don't know.</p>
<p>If this is your first semester at college, I wouldn’t recommend it. I think it’s too many unknowns to have all at once with potentially irreversible consequences. If you’re a sophomore and already have an idea of how many courses you can handle and such, I’d say sure try it.</p>
<p>I worked 30+ hours a week in college, but I worked up to it somewhat and did it once I knew what I could handle. If you have no idea, I would recommend you wait to get a job or work less hours (<10 hours, if you have never had a job and have no college experience).</p>
<p>You can ask to work less than 20 hours a week, but they are allowed not to hire you. You’re not really saving them money because they would still need to hire another employee to cover the hours that you can’t work and that leads to extra time hiring and training them. Also, this other employee may want to work 20 hours a week too, and now they have to pay for a total of forty hours a week, rather than what they initially anticipated. If they need someone who can work certain hours or certain days of the week, then they’re going to hire that person.</p>
<p>Whether they’re willing to accommodate your school schedule depends on the employer. Some are very used to hire students and have the flexibility to worm around your schedule, while other employers need an employee who can come at certain times regardless of other commitments. You’d have to ask the employer.</p>
<p>If you’re a sophomore or older, then you should have a good idea of what you can handle. If you’re a freshman, I wouldn’t recommend it. It might be better if you find an on campus job that will allow you to work less hours and you know will schedule you around your class schedule. There are on campus jobs that do not require work study, if that’s an issue. Alternatuvely, you could try things like tutoring, babysitting, etc which often are less hours but may pay more. That might be better until you figure out what you can handle.</p>
<p>I regret signing up for 16 credits with my part time job. I did fine last semester without the job but I am overwhelmed with the workload this semester with the new job 10-20 hours per week. I hesitated to take 12 credits because at my school 12 costs the same as 16 and I thought I would be wasting money - but now I am starting to think my grades are going to suffer and a low gpa semester is “wasting money”. I havent blown it yet, but I am falling behind and feeling burned out. I have family obligations also (children).</p>
<p>@GlamorousGirl drop a class if it is still within drop time or cut your hours asap</p>
<p>OP, the good part of the job is that is sounds pretty stress free. The bad part is that there isn’t too much downtime to do work. Maybe have some reading on hand while you are waiting on a car to be ready. Discussion about hours should have already taken place at the time you are offered the job. It is a bit lame after the fact. Just start it and see how it goes, taking opportunity when it comes up about preferring less hours or declining optional hours as the semester gets more demanding. If it seems like it is really going to be an issue, have a meeting about cutting the hours or finding a new job. It makes no sense about the company saving money. They have a job to be done; they don’t mind paying to get necessary things done. Just try to be efficient, while safe.</p>