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Casual & Part Time Employment

Careers and Employment advertises job vacancies submitted by employers. We commonly have vacancies in areas such as tutoring, retail, hospitality, telemarketing, clerical, childminding, gardening, cleaning, degree-related and on-campus work. Only current and former UNSW students and staff are eligible to use the service. All these ads are online and can be found on our JobsOnline service.

Information on Workplace Discrimination and Awards & Working Conditions is located at the end of this section.

Categories of Casual & Part-Time Positions generally advertised

It is always helpful to try to find work that is related to your degree. Working in a field related to your degree may increase your employment opportunities upon graduation. The types of work available include bookkeeping, basic accounting, research, laboratory work and marketing.

Tutoring
One-on-one tutoring is a popular form of work as the hours are flexible and the hourly rate high. Pay generally starts at $15-20/hr for high school level tutoring and $20-30/hr for tertiary level tutoring. Most demand for tutors is in mathematics and the sciences. There is occasional demand for tutors in other subjects such as economics, accounting, engineering and English as a Second Language (ESL). To gain work as a tutor, you generally need a good academic record and good communication skills.

Retail
Most retail work is on a part-time basis, which means that you must be prepared to commit to regular hours each week. A major advantage of retail work is the availability of shifts on weekends and Thursday nights. Award rates for retail work generally vary according to your age and usually include loadings for weekend work. Retail work generally requires excellent oral communication skills. Previous customer service experience is generally not essential, but is an advantage.

Hospitality
Hospitality work takes in a wide range of tasks, including serving drinks at major functions, ushering in theatres and waiting tables in restaurants. Many students find hospitality work attractive because most work is at night and on weekends, and pay rates are reasonably good. Experience in the field is often a requirement, although some smaller restaurants are willing to train inexperienced staff. Hospitality employees are generally required to be well-presented and have good communication skills.

Telemarketing and Call Centres
Many students work in this field due to the flexible hours and the reasonably high casual rates (generally $12/hr and upwards). Many telemarketing positions involve selling products or services over the phone, but other possibilities include conducting market research and taking incoming calls from clients. Most telemarketing work is at night and/or on weekends, although some companies operate during business hours as well. To be a telemarketer you need excellent oral communication skills. Customer service experience is often an advantage.

Call Centre work is a growth area and involves giving and taking information by phone. Hours are flexible and as a relatively new industry, prospects are good.

Clerical
Most clerical opportunities involve day-time work for 8-24 hours per week. The basic prerequisites for most clerical jobs is a good typing speed. Other requirements may include a knowledge of common software such as Microsoft Word and/or Excel.

Childminding
Childminding jobs are regularly available and range from watching television while a baby sleeps to living with a family and helping with household tasks. Experience is not always necessary, but you need to genuinely like children.

Gardening
Most gardening work is for private homes and involves only several hours a week work. You generally don't need to provide your own equipment. If you don't need to work for a lot of hours, gardening may be worth considering.

Cleaning
Cleaning work is regularly available both in private homes and with cleaning contractors. The hours are often very flexible. Applicants don't usually need to meet any requirements besides a willingness to work hard.

On Campus work
The main types of work available on campus are:

  • University Union - The University of New South Wales Union (the "Union") provides food, retail, catering & entertainment services to students, staff & vistors on campus. Students are employed on a casual basis during session time. All vacancies are advertised on the Union website, the Careers & Employment JobsOnline service, the Union's employment notice board in the Blockhouse reception area, and Blitz magazine. All enquiries can be directed to Human Resources on 9931 3140.

  • University Library - The University Library employs students to perform a range of tasks. Vacancies are advertised via the Careers & Employment JobsOnline service.

  • Faculties - Some academics and schools employ students as research assistants. Students interested in this work are advised to contact individual schools or departments. Some faculties advertise through Careers and Employment so check our JobsOnline service.

  • DIS-Connect - The DIS-Connect helpdesk provides IT support to students and staff using the University's IT systems, such as the UDUS dial-up internet service, and on-campus wireless network. Positions are usually advertised at the beginning of the year, and can be viewed on the Careers and Employment JobsOnline service.

  • Other positions - Most permanent part-time positions are advertised on the University's Human Resources website. Various university departments have casual positions available from time to time.

Workplace Discrimination

Both federal and state laws make discrimination illegal in relation to employment. In particular, discrimination on the following grounds is illegal:

  • Sex
  • Race, colour or ethnic background
  • Marital status
  • Disability
  • Sexuality
  • Age

If you believe that you have been discriminated against, or would like further information, contact the Anti-Discrimination Board on (02) 9268 5555.

Students working for UNSW may also contact the UNSW Equity & Diversity Unit on (02) 9385 4734.

Awards and Working Conditions

The awards system exists to protect working conditions. If you believe that you are being underpaid, or that your employer is imposing unfair working conditions, it is important that you seek advice. If you have been underpaid for a period of time, the employer may be required to pay you what is owing.

To find out whether your work is covered by an award, contact the Award Enquiries Service Centre of the Department of Industrial Relations (NSW) on 131 628.

If you are a member of a trade union, you should contact your union first.

If you feel you may be covered by a Federal award you can check with the Commonwealth Department of Employment and Workplace Relations

For information on State and Federal employment conditions, salary and wage rates WageNet provides access to wages and conditions of employment information

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Authorised by: Manager, Careers and Employment. Last Reviewed: 29/03/2004
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