In the third episode of The Grove Post Secondary Tips and Tricks Series, join Malcolm, Marissa and Kate as they discuss the coop experience and working part time with a full course load.
In the third episode of The Grove Post Secondary Tips and Tricks Series, join Malcolm, Marissa and Kate as they discuss the coop experience and working part time with a full course load.
Hey folks, welcome back to the Get with the growth Podcast. I'm Malcolm,
Kate:I'm Kate.
Marissa:And I'm Marisa.
Malcolm:This week we are on to our third episode of our post secondary Tips and Tricks series. Today's episode will be focused on balancing work and school life. And we'll also touch on what the coop experiences like. We will share some of our own experiences and how each of us remain successful in school while working.
Kate:So I've had tons of experience working while in school. I've done complete summer school online while working full time as well. So I'm definitely super busy. Over my first year, I didn't work at all, I just want to adjust to university easier, which I do highly recommend. But when when summer rolled around, I started working at a restaurant. This was so great, I made friends here in town, I made a lot of money, especially because tips were very good. And tips were so great because I was able to go around and spend cash without my bank account going up and down. I got great experience in a fast paced environment and time management, and overall got a lot of experience that works out into an office setting and into real life scenarios. It did hit me a little hard because sometimes I would work until 2am. So my sleep schedule was definitely a little messed up. And I'd feel pretty lazy throughout the day. Even though I'd wake up, do schoolwork be super busy, and then go to work again, overall, hopefully a manager in a university town understand students need accommodations for assignments and exam season. So don't be scared to book off time for this. And if you need a lot of time off for an assignment, you need to book it off. And don't be scared to do so. Don't go crazy with booking things off all the time. But definitely do what you need. And never let work become more important than your schoolwork, you should only be having the shifts that you really need. If you find that you're unable to keep up with your five courses in person, see if you can take one or a few online classes. It saves a lot of time not having to go to campus physically. And you're able to just stay at home and finish the work super quickly. And it can really work in your favor. going hand in hand with going to class, don't sacrifice skipping a class so you can work to shift. If you're new to a workplace, you should be having less shifts just because of how seniority is. But that can actually work in your favor. So you're actually getting used to working while you're in school. And you don't feel too overwhelmed. Delegate time further in advance, do your schoolwork and schedule better, so that you're not rushing to do something and then you're gonna lose marks if you're not reading the rubric all the way. Or you're just rushing through it and not putting in all the work that you normally would on an assignment. Another situation I had to go through was living on my own while I was working. And I had to really support myself, since my parents never gave me grocery money or anything like that. So it was such a learning curve to manage my own money. And that's definitely something that can hit you pretty hard. Another thing is just keeping up with their housework and laundry and other chores that you have to do for yourself while you're in school full time while you're working full time, part time, whatever it is.
Malcolm:start by saying for all the new Coop students who have yet to start their Coop terms. Make sure that you are applying to jobs all semester leading up to your coop. It can be super competitive job search and the more applications you get in the better. Be prepared to not get every job you apply for it is super important that you stay positive while searching for a co op position. I promise as long as you stay diligent and keep applying and going to those interviews, you will find a placement that will work for you. How was your first work term folks?
Marissa:My first work term was really great. I was at the grove as well. And I absolutely loved it. It was directly in the field of work that I wanted to do. So super great to give me the skills that I needed for possibly a future career. And I've been able to build up a lot of transferable skills that apply even just to my school life. Like Malcolm said, the job search term can be pretty overwhelming, especially for me I was being very picky, which I suggest not to do. Just apply to as much as you can even if you think that you might not be interested. There's always skills that you can build in different positions that can transfer different situations or different jobs in your life. So definitely don't be picky and like Malcolm said, apply to everything and don't feel discouraged if you're not getting any interviews, the right place for you will come.
Kate:I was a little opposite than you, Marissa, I was applying to probably everything that I saw on experience Guelph, and that actually got me stuck with a commercial real estate job in downtown Toronto. It was very unexpected, but I loved the job. It was a lot of fun. And it was just chaotic. Overall, I was commuting from Guelph to Toronto every day. So it was very draining as much as I love the job. So I became more picky with my second one, and only apply to things close to here, which is how I got with the Grove, and I'm absolutely loving it.
Malcolm:Yeah, so everyone's experience leading up to their first Co Op experience will be very different. But I promise as long as you stay diligent, like we said, you'll find something that works out. When you do finally find your co op placement. When you go from full time school to a co op term, it can be a big adjustment. A big positive I found from working full time was the fact that after you are done your work day you get to go home and have no stressful tests or exams to study for. If you choose, you may decide to do a class on the side. But it's a lot different than having a full five course course load. So it can be very, very relaxing at the end of the day when you don't have to worry about your exams. With a full time job being much different than being in school, it is very important to make sure that you maintain the same wellness practices we've talked about in the past episodes. Although you may have less work at the end of the day, it is very easy to work too hard or go through a burnout at some point. Whether you work a full day or have a full day of classes, it is important that in either either case, you take time to relax and do the things you enjoy.
Marissa:So I'm just going to extend a little bit on what Kate was saying earlier, because I have been working and doing school since high school. So I definitely know how overwhelming it can be. But I will say the transition from working in high school to working in university is quite different and it does become quite a bit harder. It definitely helps you learn time management outside of work, you really need to prioritize time for your schoolwork and assignments. And work can honestly sometimes be a really nice break from school. It allows you to kind of focus on something else and not think about school for that period of time. I know money can be a really big thing while you're in university, especially when you're just learning to support yourself. But you have to make sure that you aren't sacrificing your school or your mental health to squeeze in every extra shift you can. If your manager is flexible, maybe you could see about planning out a work schedule so you can work the same days every week, then you know when you have time to work on school, and when you're going to be in work every single week. And you could also try fitting your schoolwork or studying throughout your day. So you're not just cramming it all in the morning or all at night after a long shift when you're really tired. So you could bring cue cards with you and kind of read them over throughout the day, you can listen to any lecture materials on your drive to work, maybe you can read a little bit of your textbook while you're on your break. Also, remember that it is super, super important to prioritize your personal time and self care. Pay attention to your stress levels and stay conscious of feelings of burnout. Whether that's just in work or in school, it is very overwhelming to do both at once. And don't feel discouraged. If you feel like you're struggling and one or the other. That is totally normal. There is some downsides to working and being in school. That can be very hard and overwhelming. I know from experience that during really stressful times my performance and one of them definitely slips. But like I said, Don't be hard on yourself, you're dealing with a lot. Just kind of give yourself some grace during these times. And you definitely don't have as much free time as your friends who may not be working and doing school, you aren't always going to be able to go out or make plans. But maybe this is when you can see if you can plan in advance with your friends to make sure that you have times when you're free that you can all do something together. And I'd say the last tricky part about working and doing school is that you definitely do have a little bit less time to do schoolwork. So that's why you just kind of have to really prioritize your time and make sure that you're setting apart time to do schoolwork outside of work.
Kate:To sum of all my points, I just want to say it's super important to focus on schoolwork, overwork and prioritize your schoolwork more than anything. And Marissa How is it for you living with your parents and living at home while you were working?
Marissa:I will say living at home did make it a little easier for me because I didn't have to kind of worry about fully supporting myself. I didn't have to worry about buying groceries. So finances kind of weren't on my mind as much as they were for UK. So it definitely kind of gave me a nice break in that sense. But it still definitely was really busy with school and work. But yeah I definitely didn't have to worry too much as much as you did about supporting myself. And I did have a little bit extra money to kind of spend on shopping and fun things. But yeah, it was pretty good for me. So Kate and I have talked quite a bit about our experiences with working and being in school. So what about you, Malcolm, how has your experience been?
Malcolm:I already talked about my co op experience. So outside of co op. But in my first two years of school, I spent a fair amount of time volunteering for jobs I only ever had like paying jobs during the summer, I have yet to do like a paid job during an actual semester with a full course load. But I was pretty regularly having two or three volunteering shifts per week at the at Hope House and tiny homes, which is a soup kitchen in my hometown in Waterloo. But I found that, honestly, the best advice I can give was just getting a good night's sleep. Making sure when you get back from work, sometimes you might feel like you want to stay up late and enjoy the time that you have to yourself. But it's super important that you go to bed at a reasonable hour, and get a good night's rest. Please, just maintaining wellness drinking proper amounts of water eating proper amounts of food, I just have found that I am always way more successful when I'm maintaining my wellness.
Marissa:Yeah, I definitely agree. I think sleep is a really big part of it. Especially with school. I know a lot of people may like to pull all nighters to get in some extra study time. But I don't suggest doing that it is so important to get your sleep and at the end of the day, you're going to be so tired, when you're doing that schoolwork, you're probably not going to be remembering a whole lot of it. So just make sure you're really making time for your wellness, like Malcolm said,
Malcolm:Yeah, So Kate, you mentioned that you often have work until like two o'clock at night? How did you find ways to be able to get a good night's rest while maintaining that schedule?
Kate:Yeah, so if I got home at around 2am, I typically just get home shower, because I always have some sort of gunk on me. And then I really do take maybe half an hour just to go on my phone and relax. But I definitely try to go to bed pretty early. And I actually only had one semester while I was working part time and then school full time. So I was able to manage my schedule pretty well, so that I didn't have a lot of 8am classes, and I had a couple of days off from school. So I was really able to focus on work on certain days, and then focus on school some other days. And luckily, my shifts were not that long. So I wasn't working eight hours, and then also trying to finish an assignment the same day. So
Malcolm:we're coming close to the end of our episode. But I just wanted to quickly reiterate the point that whether you're searching for a job for Coop or searching for a part time job during the school year or during the summer, it's just so important that you remain positive and keep trying your best and applying to as many positions as you can. As everyone knows, my friends and I are always talking about this nowadays, it's a difficult world out there to find a job. There are so many places that are that are full, and it's hard to find a place that's hiring that is looking for your experience levels. But as long as you just keep looking, I swear if you keep looking on experience Guelph on Indeed, there's a huge amount of options out there for you to find places to apply to jobs. But yeah,
Marissa:yeah, just to add on to that, Malcolm, I think it gets especially difficult in coop because the job search terms are usually during academic semesters, so you're full time in school. So you also have that added stress of looking for a job scheduling interviews, maybe changing up your resume, which can also be pretty time consuming. So I think it's just also comes back to kind of prioritizing, make sure you're not getting too overwhelmed. Like Malcolm said, don't be too discouraged, it will come. I know it can also be stressful because you're working within a time period. But everything will work out in the end. Just hang in there.
Kate:Another thing that's a huge responsibility is your co op work term report. Everyone's work term report is different according to your program. I know me and Marissa, we're both in psychology, ours is super long. And also the work to report is over your co op actual work term. Over the two weeks you've off and then into the next semester. And then you have your job search right after. So it's definitely a huge responsibility. How were either of your work term reports
Malcolm:I'm fortunate I'm in the Bachelor of Commerce. So my co op. We are very fortunate to have that our paper is only minimum eight pages. So it's a lot easier than then you folks. But I found that I started mine fairly early into the semester so that I and I started jotting down things I was seeing at work that would be relevant for my paper. I think that that's the best advice I can give for anyone. Because I feel like if you wait until the very last moment, you're going to be struggling to find things to add to the super long paper you have to write, especially for people like Kate and Marissa who have a much longer paper, I just highly recommend that you're starting to build up the ideas and prompts that you're going to have in your in your essay before before you get to writing it.
Marissa:Yeah, I agree. And I wouldn't discredit yourself, Malcolm, I'm sure he was just so difficult. I think the hardest part for me was definitely finding a topic. Because there's so many different things you could write about. But once you find your topic, I feel like it flows a lot easier. And like Malcolm said, I suggest not leaving it to the last minute, I did that a little bit and it definitely kind of came back to bite me. So yeah, just make sure you give yourself a lot of time kind of jot down notes. So you have kind of like an outline of what you're going to write about. And it's definitely a lot easier for you in the end.
Malcolm:So we're coming close to the end here.
Marissa:Yeah, Ihope you guys enjoyed this episode and some of these tips can be helpful for you. Thank you everyone for tuning into this week's episode. And don't forget to check out our social media to stay up to date with what's going on at each hub. You can follow us at the growth hubs on Instagram or check out our website at the growth hubs.ca. You can also check out our Twitter and Facebook both at the growth hubs. As always, be kind to your mind and we'll see you next time.
Malcolm:Bye