Summer jobs

I would like to talk about summer jobs in general and about my experiences as well. To
begin with, why does a student choose to take on a job in the summer instead of just
relaxing or going out with friends? Well, the main reasons are, for example, lack of money,
boredom or the parent’s encouragement, therefore working in the summer is quite common
for students in Hungary.
The tasks at these workplaces really differ from each other, but they usually don’t
require any special qualifications. You can work, for example, in fast food restaurants, in an
office, in a factory, you can hand out leaflets or help in the family business. You have to be as
quick as possible and this can be very boring but demanding at the same time. Another
disadvantage is that sometimes companies employ students to do the tasks that nobody
wants to do. In the worst case scenario, students become cheap labour force and their
employer takes advantage of the situation and exploits them.
In spite of this, there are several advantages of taking up a student job. If students
work, they spend their time in a meaningful way. We almost always benefit from work, we
have a certain routine to keep to and duties to carry out, thus we learn responsibility,
discipline and adaptation. It’s especially good if you can work in the field of industry you’re
interested in and you can gain first-hand working experience. In addidion, we earn money,
so that we apreciate it better and never underestimate the amount of money we get from
our parents as pocket money, for instance. After getting our first payment we can do
whatever we want with it and spend it on things we’ve longed for for a long time.
Personally, I worked at a warehouse of a factory, here, in Székesfehérvár for five
weeks. On the first week I had to pack boxes, do the filing or just copy documents, but on
the second week I got promoted. It didn’t mean that I was given money, I just had to take a
little bit more responsibility for the work I had done. My duty was to collect different
components and spare parts with which conveyor belt workers would work further. Most of
the time I had to gather small twists and gears, but unfortunately sometimes I was
commissioned to bring boxes full of heavy iron stuffs back and forth. Moreover, we had to
do things very quickly and there was a lot of tension on us, especially on Fridays.
Furthermore, it was exceedingly demanding to wake up early in the morning, since it was a
six-to-two job. However, I was offered to work there in full time, I obviously didn’t accept it,
because I want to study now and go on to higher education in the future. Now it's a good
way of earning some money, but I felt that I wouldn’t be happy, it I worked there.
But don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t that bad to work there. I got on really well with my
colleagues, my boss had also a very good sense of humour and the working atmosphere was
superb. So all in all, it was worth it and it was good to gain some work experience for the first
time in my life.