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 uncommon for students to work part-time, both studying and working. However, many students admit that it is difficult to both 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 it even more suffocating, her body was drenched in sweat. It was difficult, but compared to the pressure from 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 for a friendly price of only 200,000 VND/day, while the current rental price is double that.

Many rainy days, when few people go out, it means that day is a bad day, but the goods have already been rented so we have to go out.

Khanh laughed: "It's true that paying for a rental is stressful, so I only order rentals when I know I'm going to work. I've thought about buying a suit a few times, and I've saved up some money, but I've had to use it for other things, so I haven't been able to buy it yet."

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 grade for the school year is not as expected, it is still quite good.

TO TRINH (student in District 5, HCMC)

Calculate every 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 expenses. 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 evening. 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 cart every time she goes to the market.

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

Minh Kha - a third-year student at a university in Tan Phu district (HCMC) - said that to pursue a university journey, 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 cheap dishes, seasoned a little saltier so that he could eat more rice, could keep it for a long time, and saved 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. He did marketing, design, and advertising, and was then 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 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 that 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 range from 30,000 - 50,000 VND/hour.

In addition, the center's job page also posts 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