On the other hand, some of them said they sought out part-time jobs that are wholly unrelated to their intended careers, and believe that these temporary jobs is a chance for them to dip their toes into new experiences.
Part-time nursing student Hannah Soon, 22, said: “I didn’t really want to work at a hospital because I was going to be doing my attachments there anyway, so I prefer to work part-time elsewhere.”
Unlike the others interviewed by CNA TODAY, she preferred retail work and has been taking up various part-time jobs in the retail industry since she was 16, after completing her N-Level examination.
While the work hours can be long, Ms Soon said that such jobs are also easier to find and the tasks involved are relatively straightforward. She is satisfied with the remuneration offered.
Similarly, final-year university student Nur Fitri Elyana, 21, said that she is happy to work as a part-time promoter for various events because it gives her the chance to explore other jobs before she enters the workforce.
The role might not be directly linked to what the business undergraduate at SIM Global Education wants to do in future, but it will allow her to build essential people skills and other soft skills, she added.
The short-term nature of such gigs also fit into her two-month school breaks, whereas F&B or retail jobs would require at least a three-month commitment.
“Since this is my final year as a student before I start working full-time, I want to take this opportunity to explore as many fun event jobs as possible.”
RETAILERS, F&B NEED TO RAISE THEIR GAME
Mr Andrew Chan, who is vice-president of the Restaurant Association of Singapore, told CNA TODAY earlier this year that it is increasingly challenging to hire younger part-timers.
Speaking at the sidelines of Restaurant Asia 2024, a trade show for the F&B industry, he said: “It used to be where you still have a captive pool of workers who may not be so highly educated, who are okay with doing blue-collar jobs.”
He also noted that students nowadays take on a lot of extracurricular activities, which leave them with “very little opportunity” to work in part-time jobs.
In an attempt to attract part-timers, some F&B businesses told CNA earlier that they are offering benefits such as a four-day work week as an incentive. Sign-up bonuses are also a common feature for listings of part-time jobs in F&B.
Coffee chain Starbucks told CNA TODAY that more than a third of its part-timers are under the age of 21, with the majority balancing between work and school.
It said that it is able to attract a young pool of part-time workers due to its “comprehensive” benefits, which include health benefits and complimentary passes to attractions, as well as by working closely with these staff members to “create personalised work arrangements that complement their study commitments”.
Adjusting to these trends, Mr Aminurrashid from The Social Outcast said that he has changed his business model throughout the years from a casual dining restaurant to one that offers an intimate experiential dining because of a lack of part-time manpower.
He now runs his experiential restaurant with the help of just one other staff member, whereas in a casual dining setting, he estimated that he would have needed about 10 persons or more.
“If this is the rate the manpower issue is going, more F&B shops are going to drop like flies,” he reckoned.
