Busy student life studying and working in Saigon

Living away from home in the city, many students have to find part-time jobs to support themselves and pursue their studies - Photo: CONG TRIEU

It is not unusual for students to work part-time, both studying and working. However, many admit that it is difficult to study well and work effectively to support their dream of studying, if not to say they are under great pressure.

Go to school during the day and work on the streets at night

The first time I met Ngoc Khanh - a second-year student at a university in Go Vap District (HCMC) - she was wearing a thick stuffed animal costume. Khanh waited at the door and then walked into a restaurant on Pham Van Dong Street, inviting customers to buy candy bars. Since the day he set foot in the city to study, Khanh has been involved in the mascot acting profession.

The job seemed easy at first but was extremely difficult, especially when Khanh weighed 42kg. The bear costume Khanh wore was quite heavy, wearing it for a long time made her feel stuffy, her body was drenched in sweat. It was difficult, but compared to the pressure of all kinds of money, such as tuition, rent and food every day, it was nothing.

Khanh's family is poor, his parents are often sick. Khanh has two younger siblings who are still in school, so he has to take care of almost all the expenses for food, accommodation and studying in the city by himself.

The animal costume Khanh is wearing is also being rented out at a friendly price of only 200,000 VND/day, while the current rental price is double.

Many rainy days, few people go out, so it's considered a bad day, but the goods have already been rented so we have to go out.

Khanh laughed: "It's true that paying for rental clothes is stressful, so I only order rental clothes when I'm sure I'm going to work. I've thought about buying a set of clothes a few times, and I've saved up some money, but I've had to do something else and need it, so I still haven't been able to buy it."

So for the past two years, Khanh's daily schedule has been the same. During the day, Khanh studies diligently at school from morning to afternoon. When night falls, she takes off her school uniform and transforms into a "bear".

For the past two years, I have barely known what a coffee shop or a milk tea shop is. When I have free time, I study to make up for the time I had to work hard. Although my final grades for the school year are not as expected, they are still in the good range.

TO TRINH (student in District 5, Ho Chi Minh City)

Calculate each meal, study and work at the same time

Her mother passed away when To Trinh was 10 years old, her father left and cut off contact, the student studying at a school in District 5 (HCMC) had to struggle to manage her studies and living. Life was very hard, but many people always saw Trinh smiling.

The girl considers herself quite lucky to still be studying well. If she does her housework well, Trinh can make ends meet with a salary of about 7 million VND/month.

The second year of school is almost packed, Trinh has to carefully calculate both studying and working from morning to afternoon. Therefore, eating and drinking must be done meticulously to make it as convenient as possible, many days only ensuring enough to get through the meal. Foods that can be kept for a long time, are convenient and ready to eat, especially the more time-saving the better such as instant noodles, bread, sausages, and ham are the items that are always in the girl's shopping basket every time she goes to the market.

For a long time, a full meal with a full menu was quite a luxury for To Trinh. Because not only studying at school, but also spending a lot of time studying and researching on her own. Therefore, just arranging time reasonably to handle daily tasks for Trinh was a challenge.

Minh Kha - a third-year student at a university in Tan Phu district (HCMC) - said that to pursue a university career, not only having a part-time job but also calculating every meal is necessary.

To save money, Kha went to the market to cook for himself. Usually, he only cooked a few vegetables, the kind that could be stir-fried or boiled so that the broth could be used to make soup. He only dared to choose the cheaper ones for the meat dishes, seasoning them a little saltier so that he could eat more rice, and they could be kept for a long time and save food.

Minh Kha said he couldn't remember all the jobs he had done. He only remembered handing out flyers, serving at a coffee shop, and parking at a bar... in his first year. In his second year, with some knowledge of his major, Kha chose part-time jobs that were a little less strenuous. At that time, he did marketing, design, and advertising, and was assigned to be a project manager for a small media company for more than six months.

Currently a third-year student, Minh Kha's marketing skills have also improved a lot, so even though he hasn't graduated yet, he has already started working and has a decent salary at a travel company. "Until now, I still maintain the habit of cooking for myself, because eating out is not enough to fill me up, cooking for myself is more delicious and more economical" - Kha said.

More than 3,000 jobs waiting for students

Deputy Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Student Support Center Le Nguyen Nam said the center is receiving and introducing more than 3,000 jobs from nearly 200 businesses and companies for students. Most of them are seasonal jobs such as restaurant service, housework, tutoring, sales, customer service staff, business specialists... Salaries also fluctuate between 30,000 - 50,000 VND/hour.

In addition, the center's job page also posted a number of jobs that are in need of recruitment, such as sales specialists with a salary of 12 million VND or more, market research and development with a salary of about 8 - 12 million VND. Jobs with a salary of less than 10 million VND include waiters, restaurant waiters, call quality control staff, file editors, etc.

Students looking for seasonal or part-time jobs can follow information on the fanpage: https://sac.vn/viec_lam/ or website: https://www.facebook.com/sac.vieclam.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/doi-sinh-vien-tat-ta-vua-hoc-vua-lam-o-sai-gon-20240615000034124.htm