Work is a four-letter word. Nobody really wants to do it. That is one reason why you are off to university now and not to an office. If nothing else, it is a refuge from the world of work. Or it was.

“More students are working than ever before,” says Gemma Tumelty, president of the National Union of Students (NUS). “Top-up fees, spiralling rents and growing living costs are forcing students away from their studies into part or even full-time work.”

In the past decade, the number of full-time students who work has risen by 54 per cent, from 406,880 in 1996 to 630,718 in 2006. Student numbers are also rising but you don’t need a maths degree to see it is disproportionate.

Tumelty says: “Many of those new to higher education come from poorer backgrounds; they are doing the longest hours.” Working students average 14 hours a week, according to an NUS report All Work and Low Pay. One in five tops 20 hours, according to the Royal Bank of Scotland.

That is a lot of work. So, beyond cash, what are the benefits? And what sort of job should you do? Most students do a “McJob”. Tumelty adds: “We recognise the value of work experience but students are concentrated in the low-pay, long-hours sectors, mainly hospitality and retail, where they often experience exploitation.”

I got my first McJob days into my first term studying journalism at Edinburgh’s Napier University. I lasted a month in the job and a year on the degree. As a night attendant at a petrol station, I was to serve through a hatch and stock-take in quiet moments.

There were no such moments, especially not on weekends when a particular joy was vomit in the hatch. The sole perk was eating out-of-date Dunkin’ Donuts. Soon I got fat and started missing lectures to sleep. Exhausted, I was making mistakes at work. Finally, after accidentally starting a fire, I too was fired.

I then applied for a job at McDonald’s. Now I am proud that it turned me down. Then I was mortified. While drowning my sorrows in a nearby bar, I was offered a job. Serendipity. Now you do not have to rely on chance to find you work. Most student unions run a job shop for reliable employees seeking reputable employers. Then there is the web. Try www.e4s.co.uk, www.justjobs4students.co.uk and www.activate.co.uk.

Tumelty worked as a waitress throughout her psychology degree at Liverpool John Moores University. She says: “Smile sweetly and you get tips, there is food about and the hours beat bar work. It definitely helped to develop my teamwork skills. I worked about 20 hours a week.” She got a 2:1. “As your loans run out you need to work more when you should be revising. I missed lectures for extra shifts and often felt knackered. I just missed a first, but who knows . . .”

The NUS report says nearly 40 per cent of working students felt having a job gave them less time to study and a quarter missed lectures to work. Yet employers say work experience is the key to getting a graduate job.

Karen Scarborough, director of Place Me First, a one-stop shop for students seeking placements, says: “More than 60 per cent of students who take up placement opportunities are later offered full-time employment. Students create a detailed profile which we match to the exact needs of employers. It gives companies a chance to check out a potential future employee while students try out the company, the industry and the role.”

Scarborough set up the company when her son struggled to find a placement in Paris. “Placements, from one week to a year, are now a part of so many courses but universities can’t help everyone. My son finally found one but then needed help sorting out accommodation and settling in.”

Place Me First promises to go beyond sites such as www.placement-uk.com by creating a community — a placement “Facebook”. Companies so far include Waitrose, JP Morgan and Bhs. I left Napier University for Lancaster and a degree in English literature and sociology. I got a bar job and tried to get experience in journalism. I had no strings to pull.

Tumelty says: “Because placements are usually unpaid, they are taken by the wealthy.” Scarborough disagrees: “Our placements over a month are paid. Our site gives everyone the same access.” Only you can achieve the right work-study balance. Whatever you end up doing, it is over before you know it. Today you are serving fries, tomorrow working for a blue chip.

www.nusonline.org.uk

www.placemefirst.com

www.placement-uk.com

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