A r esearch report on THE PROS AND CONS OF HAVING PART TIME JOBS FOR – ITP FRESHMEN

Banking Academy of Vietnam
International School of Business

A Research Report
On
THE PROS AND CONS OF HAVING PART – TIME JOBS FOR
ITP FRESHMEN
Teacher: Nguyen Huong Tram Anh
Student: Vu Phuong Thao
Class: Cityu7C
Course: Project

Hanoi, 19/7/2019


The pros and cons of having part – time jobs for ITP freshmen

A primary research
on
The pros and cons of having part – time jobs for ITP freshmen
by
Vu Phuong Thao _ CA7097
Class: Cityu7C
Lecturer: Nguyen Huong Tram Anh
Course: Project
Mark:

Hanoi, 19/7/2019


The pros and cons of having part – time jobs for ITP freshmen

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP
Students’ name: Vu Phuong Thao
Class: Cityu7C
Student Number: CA7097
Subject: Project
Lecturer: Nguyen Huong Tram Anh
Name of research paper:
A STUDY ON THE PROS AND CONS OF HAVING PART – TIME JOBS
FOR ITP FRESHMEN
Declaration
I declare that the work attached is entirely my own, and that I have given due
acknowledge as required by International School of Business (ISB).
I understand that the work submitted may be reproduced and/ or communicated
for the purpose of detecting plagiarism.
Date: 19th July, 2019

Signed ________Thảo_________
Plagiarism

By signing the declaration, you are stating that you have not plagiarized.
Use the following as a checklist.
This work is entirely my own.
I have not copied another student’s work.
I have not copied or used in any way material from a text, journal,
website or other published source without acknowledgement (including
non – English sources).
I have cited and referenced fully and correctly as required by the ISB
where applicable.
I have not reworded material from another source and presented it as my

own.
I have not used this work in a previous class (self - plagiarism).


The pros and cons of having part-time jobs for ITP freshmen

ABSTRACT

Working part-time has been a part of the university student experiences. Therefore, there is
an increasing number of part-time jobs available for students to choose. The purpose of this
paper is to delve into part-time jobs among students from International Trading Program
(ITP) at Banking Academy, in terms of the popularity of part-time jobs among ITP freshmen
as well as the benefits and drawbacks of having part-time jobs for ITP freshmen. A survey in
the form of questionnaire was conducted which included 80 randomly selected ITP freshmen.
The paper of questionnaires was handled out to participants with 9 questions. After that, the
participants of this project were classified according to their gender background information
into two groups: 40 female students and 40 male ITP first-year students. The results illustrate
that both genders have the same range of having part-time jobs. Overall, the quantity of
female students having a part-time job is more than that of male students. Also, both male
and female students thought that the most benefits of having part-time jobs was that students
could earn much money for personal purposes from their work, while the most cons of
working part-time was neglecting their studies. For the significantly connotation of the
project, these findings not only develop a sophisticated understanding of part-time jobs for
students, but they also offer useful knowledge to those involved in the part-time jobs of
university students.

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The pros and cons of having part-time jobs for ITP freshmen

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT ...............................................................................................................................i
LIST OF FIGURES/ TABLE ............................................................................................... iii
1. Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 1
2. Method .................................................................................................................................. 2
3. Results ................................................................................................................................... 3
4. Discussion of findings ..........................................................................................................5
4.1 The frequency of part-time jobs................................................................................... 6
4.2 The advantages of having part-time jobs for ITP freshmen ........................................ 6
4.3The disadvantages of having part-time jobs for ITP freshmen ..................................... 7
5. Recommendation..................................................................................................................8
6. Conclusion ............................................................................................................................8
References ................................................................................................................................. 9
Appendix ................................................................................................................................. 10

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The pros and cons of having part-time jobs for ITP freshmen
LIST OF FIGURES/ TABLE

Figure 1: The popularity of having part-time jobs both genders…………………….......... 3
Figure 2: Student’s choice of work part-time jobs………………………………………… 4
Figure 3: The frequency of working part-time jobs by male and female students………… 5
Figure 4: Student’s salaries that earning from part-time jobs……………………………… 5
Figure 5: The advantages and disadvantages of having part-time jobs both genders……… 6

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The pros and cons of having part-time jobs for ITP freshmen

1. Introduction
Nowadays, there is an increasing number of college students. According to Nguyen
(2018), currently in Vietnam there are about 2 million students in universities and colleges
across the country. To pursue their studies, most students leave their hometown to big cities
such as Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. For new students living away from their parents, living
in a new city is extremely difficult. Furthermore, living standards of big cities are expensive.
In order for students to go to university, their parents have to pay for their monthly tuition
fees, housing, and food. In addition to the above, students also need to spend on personal
purposes such as clothes, cosmetics, sneaker, food, travel, and so on. Therefore, they are
always looking for part-time jobs to earn much money.
This leads to the increase in part-time jobs. In recent years, there are more and more
part-time jobs available for students to choose. The definition of a part-time job is a type of
job that is done for less than the normal number of hours invested, or for less than the full
duration that it is normally done. An example of a part-time job is a job where you work less
than the customary 40 hours per week (Houghton, 2014).
Working part-time has been a part of the university student experiences. Although it is
difficult to determine the exact number of students working part-time with a degree of
accuracy, several studies have found that between approximately 60 percent of all full-time
university students were then engaged in some form of part-time job (Berkley, 1997; ABS,
2002; Curtis and Williams, 2002; Lashley, 2005). They also added that this figure was
expected to grow (Curtis and Lucas, 2001). Neville, N. (2016) pointed out that an increasing
amount of research then related to students who work part-time. The advantages and
disadvantages of part- time job have been widely discussed and positive aspects of part-time
work relating to graduate employment are given in several recent reports. According to
Wilson, R. (2006), there was a belief that the incidence of employment is increasing, with
detrimental effects for academic performance, but the supporting evidence was typically

drawn from studies of specific institutions or specific groups of students. In general, these
studies have shown an increase in the number of part-time jobs for students. However, there
are articles that they only mention the benefits or drawbacks of part-time jobs. They have not
yet given the popularity of the part-time work among a specific group as well as the solutions
to solve this problem.

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The pros and cons of having part-time jobs for ITP freshmen
The aim of my research is to investigate the popularity of part-time jobs among ITP
first year students as well as the benefits and drawbacks of part-time jobs that students
encountered. Besides, this research will be provided some ways to help students prevent risks
of having part-time jobs. Finally, the research can help ITP first year students learn and
consider carefully before deciding part-time jobs. Therefore, this paper, as the result of this
research, aim to answer three questions: What is the popularity level of part-time jobs among
ITP first year students? What are the popular jobs that students usually do? And What are
the pros and cons of having a part-time job for ITP freshmen? Furthermore, I would be
highlights of the suggestion for ITP freshmen to minimize the harm of part-time jobs.
2. Method
This study provides information acquired from a survey carried out within International
Trading Program of Banking Academy. The research paper was based on the primary source
of data obtained by conducting questionnaire. In this research, quantitative method was
chosen. The quantitative data brought me about the numbers to prove the broad general point
of my research. Data collection occurs rapidly with quantitative research. Quantitative
methodology would best apply to this research problem. It can also be easier to make
predictions based on quantitative data because of its numerical basis. Quantitative research
does not require the participants to report to a specific location to collect the data. You can
perform the research remotely. That can make this option a lot cheaper than other methods.
Moreover, it is suitable for big groups. In addition, the obtained data can be reliable and

repeatable information.
At the beginning, a questionnaire consisting of 9 multiple-choice questions was
designed with respect to my three research questions. In the first step, 80 ITP first-year
students were randomly selected, and each of them respectively filled in the questionnaire
with their choices. Each student had 5 minutes to answer the questionnaire. The questionnaire
was divided into two main sections. First, two questions were asked to obtain fundamental
data from respondents. Afterwards, the questionnaire was broken into two smaller parts for
those who have a part- time job and those have not. All responses were documented, so the
data could be reused for later research. As the project aimed to investigate the benefits and
drawbacks of having part-time jobs for ITP freshman.

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The pros and cons of having part-time jobs for ITP freshmen
3. Results
The participants of this project were classified according to their gender background
information into two groups: 40 female students and 40 male students. As expected, the
accomplished outcome successfully reflected the similarities and differences between the two
groups regarding the perspective of their part-time jobs.

Figure 1: The popularity of having part-time jobs both genders
As can be seen from Figure 1, the proportion of male and female students having parttime jobs were broadly in the same range. Meanwhile, the figure of female students having
part-time jobs were higher than that of male students, which at 67% and 65%, respectively.

Figure 2: Student’s choice of work part-time jobs

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The pros and cons of having part-time jobs for ITP freshmen

It is obvious that shop assistant accounted for the highest percentage of choosing parttime jobs both genders, at 16% and 22% respectively. Shipper was the job chosen by only
males, which occupy 3%.

Figure 3: The frequency of working part-time jobs by male and female students
It is proved that male students often worked 2 hours a day, which constituted 13%,
whereas female students had the highest percentage of working part-time jobs 4 hours a day,
at 14%.

Figure 4: Student’s salaries that earning from part-time jobs

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The pros and cons of having part-time jobs for ITP freshmen
There is a significant difference between male and female students, most notably male
students earned much more money than female students a month. The salaries of females
from 2,000,000 VND to 4,000,000 VND was higher than that of males at 15% and 13%,
respectively.

Figure 5: The advantages and disadvantages of having part-time jobs both genders
An inspection of the data in figure 5 clearly showed that almost all students thought the
most popular benefit of having part-time jobs was that students could earn much money for
themselves, which made up 36%, while the most drawbacks is neglecting their studies, at
74%.
4. Discussion of findings
Similar to other studies, the project is not without its limitations. It is the inability to
answer the questions from all perspectives of university students upon part-time jobs. The
accomplished figures were collected in a relatively limited scope, due to the mere fact that

the participants came from only International School of Business, Banking Academy.
Nevertheless, I strongly assert that a certain level of generalizations can be implied from the
obtained finding, thanks to the diversity of awareness of ITP freshman students having
different social background. They came from different cities or provinces, different genders,
different attitude.

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The pros and cons of having part-time jobs for ITP freshmen
4.1 The frequency of part-time jobs
The results illustrated in Figure 1, page 3 show that both the male and female ITP
freshman students have the same range of having part-time jobs. Overall, the quantity of
female students having a part-time job is more than that of male students. The reason for the
difference between men and women is probably because female students are more diligent
and determined than male students when deciding to have a part-time job.
Nevertheless, unexpectedly, not only did two groups experience a resemblance in the
previous problem mentioned, but also in the online shopping frequency statistics, in which
the biggest sections of the two topics surveyed were both went to part-time jobs 2 hours or 4
hours a day. The number of male students often work 2 hours a day, while females have the
highest proportion of working part-time 4 hours a day. Due to study time is very dense, so
they have little time to work. Therefore, their average working time is from 2 to 4 hours a
day. There are a few students who work more than 4 hours. They also have to spend other
time to entertain, study and do other jobs.
4.2 The advantages of having part-time jobs for ITP freshmen
As can be seen from Figure 5, page 6 both male and female students thought that the
most benefits of having part-time jobs was that students could earn much money for personal
purposes from their work. The main reason for finding a part-time job could be money, so
this is the biggest advantage of part-time jobs that students believe about. The others benefit
including to gain experience, developing soft skills, and making friends.

According to Ruth, M. in 2008, as a student, the main task is to study. But beside that,
some students have a part -time job. During their part- time job, they will develop many
useful skills. They develop their professional life like teamwork, organizational skills, time
management, work initiative skills meeting etiquette and so on. Students get to know and get
more involved with their work, socializing and learning outside of society. For example, they
can do a part- time job with a group of five people. While working, they can practice basic
skills when working in groups. Students will have many life experiences. In addition, the
experiences which they get, will help them to overcome many situations in life easily. The
part -time job gives the real-life work experience. This work experience will help in getting a
job after study completion. Employers look for employees who understand the work
environment and work well as part of a team. Having parted- time job experience shows that
you have some exposure to the professional Microsoft Word and it will give an advantage

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The pros and cons of having part-time jobs for ITP freshmen
over other candidates during a job search. They also have opportunities to come in contact
with many people. Moreover, they will become happier and active.
According to Michael, O. (2008), financial support is the factor that leads them toward
a part -time job. Students can make money by working, which supports their family. For
example, students can pay their bills tuition fee, buy the required things and that will reduce
the burden of their study expenses for their parents, because when they do a part- time job,
they will have their own money and can use it for the right things without depending on their
parents. Nobody goes budgeting with the pocket money they got from parents, but when they
start earning, and they spend their earned money, then, they start thinking about it and plan
how and where they’ll spend their money and how much they spend and how much they
save. Having a part -time job is good, because of the many benefits it brings.
In conclusion, ITP freshmen thought that part-time jobs gather many opportunities and
advantages for them. Hence, the proportion of having part-time jobs is quite tremendous.

4.3 The disadvantages of having part-time jobs for ITP freshmen
My survey’s data shows that three main drawbacks of having part-time jobs for ITP
freshmen were neglecting their studies; affecting their health, and imitating bad habits easily.
According to both genders, the most cons of working part-time was neglecting their studies.
In the report with the title” Disadvantages of working part- time job”, author Reddy (2016)
showed that students have many things to spend at university such as tuition fee, clothes,
sneaker, cosmetic, food, and so on. They often choose part -time jobs to buy anything they
need. However, students are too focused on earning much money from their part -time jobs.
They not only study busy at universities but also have to worry about completing their parttime jobs. While doing part -time job, they will have a busy schedule, and they will get less
time for study and themselves. Therefore, they will not have time to rest, so they feel tired
and exhausted and their study will be neglected. Students are busy in their study, so they have
less time to relax and entertain. They have to go through a period of stress while work and
study. They will feel extremely tired. According to author Barney in 2014, the physical health
of workers who have part-time jobs is worse than those who are full-time. They have to do
many jobs at the same time, so they have to face up with risks of being unhealthy.
Part time jobs of students can impact on their health. They can forget daily meals, so this
may lead to lack of the necessary nutrients for their body. They will feel extremely tired both
in study and job. This leads to under pressure, headache, or depression.

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The pros and cons of having part-time jobs for ITP freshmen
5. Recommendation
From the above discussion of the findings, there are several following suggestions that
should be put into consideration. The first recommendation is that some students can be
neglected from their study or impact on their health. Therefore, students should have a
reasonable plan in order to balance between the work and the study. Firstly, they should
arrange a reasonable time.One way is to finish all the assignments in their class. Then, they
will have much time to work hard. Hence, they will not be confused when they do both job

and study. Secondly, we need to choose a good part- time job to get a lot of experiences. If
students are concentrated on their study, they will lack of social skills. They will not get a lot
of experiences to be mature. It is very important for students to get a good part- time jobs.
They can know how to overcome the difficulties of life. The second one is that Banking
Academic should have orientation for students before making decisions to work part-time
jobs. They can organize practical seminars and field trips to raise the awareness of ITP firstyear students. These contribute to reinforcing as well as supporting students when they do
jobs. Another recommendation is companies should have concerns as well as more incentives
for part-time students. All of these suggestions can help students improve their part-time jobs
so that they can gain the benefits and avoid the drawbacks of having part-time jobs for
university students.
6. Conclusion
To sum up, I expect that the acquired results of my project can provide a deeper and
more thorough understanding of ITP students’ perspective and behaviour towards part-time
jobs in terms of popularity as well as the advantages and disadvantages of having part-time
jobs. Furthermore, through my attempt to differentiate the differences in genders
backgrounds that can have an impact on the variations in behaviour of students. Further
research, consequently, would be conducted to study this issue in a broader scope with more
diverse participant groups. Having a part -time jobs brings both advantages and
disadvantages for students. In my research, I have found the pros and cons of having part time jobs for students. So that readers can understand more about the benefits and difficulties
of part -time jobs of students and think carefully before deciding whether to do part -time
work or not.
(2569 words)

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The pros and cons of having part-time jobs for ITP freshmen

References

Ford, J., Bosworth, D., & Wilson, R. (1995). Part-time work and full-time higher
education. Studies in Higher Education, 20(2), 187-202.
Retrieved
from: />Lodahl, T. M., & Kejnar, M. (1965). The definition and measurement of job
involvement. Journal of applied psychology, 49(1), 24. Retrieved from:
/>Neill, N., Mulholland, G., Ross, V., & Leckey, J. (2004). The influence of part-time work on
student placement. Journal of Further and Higher Education, 28(2), 123-137.
Retrieved from:
/>Ruth, M. (2008). Advantages and Disadvantages of a part time job for students. Next
generation careers, 205-220. Retrieved from
/>Van Bastelaer, A., Lemtre, G., & Marianna, P. (1997). The definition of part-time work for
the purpose of international comparisons. Retrieved from:
/>
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The pros and cons of having part-time jobs for ITP freshmen
Appendix
!
!
QUESTIONNAIRES

I am Vu Phuong Thao from 7C, ITP student, Financial Management Department, Banking
Academy. I am doing a research project on the pros and cons of having part- time job for ITP
first- year students. This questionnaire is designed to help me obtain data for my research
project. I am greatly indebted to your opinions which are apparently crucial to the completion
as well as the quality of my project. Thank you for your cooperation.

1. What is your gender? (Giới tính của bạn là gì?)
฀ Male (Nam)

฀ Female (Nữ)
2. Have you ever had a part-time job? (Bạn đã từng có cơng việc làm thêm chưa?)
฀ Yes
฀ No (Không)----------Go to questions 6-8 (Đi tới câu hỏi từ 6 đến 8)

3. Which part-time jobs do you like? (Bạn thích những cơng việc làm thêm nào?)
฀ Shop assistant (Nhân viên bán hàng)
฀ Waiter/ Waitress (Phục vụ)
฀ Shipper (Giao hàng)
฀ Tutor (Gia sư)
฀ Others (Please specify) (Công việc khác)

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The pros and cons of having part-time jobs for ITP freshmen

4. Where do you usually do part-time jobs? (Bạn thường làm việc ở đâu?)
฀ Coffee
฀ Shop (Cửa hàng)
฀ Company (Công ty)
฀ Restaurant (Nhà hàng)
฀ Cinema (Rạp chiếu phim)
฀ Convenience store (Circle K, Vinmart, FamilyMart, etc) (Cửa hàng tiện lợi)
฀ Others (Please specify) (Nơi khác)

5. How often do you work part- time jobs? (Bạn thường làm công việc bán thời gian
trong bao lâu?)
฀ 1 hour a day (1 tiếng 1 ngày)
฀ 2 hours a day (2 tiếng 1 ngày)

฀ 4 hours a day (4 tiếng 1 ngày)
฀ Others (Please specify)

6. How much money do you earn a month? (Bạn kiếm được bao nhiêu tiền mỗi
tháng?)
฀ Less than 500,000 VND (Ít hơn 500 nghìn)
฀ From 500,000 VND to 2,000,000 VND (Từ 500 nghìn đến 2 triệu)
฀ From 2,000,000 to 4,000,000 VND (Từ 2 triệu đến 4 triệu)
฀ More than 4,000,000 VND (Nhiều hơn 4 triệu)

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The pros and cons of having part-time jobs for ITP freshmen

7.

What do you think of the benefits of having a part-time job for a student?
(Bạn nghĩ những lợi ích của cơng việc làm thêm cho sinh viên là gì?)
฀ Earn much money for themselves (Kiếm tiền cho bản thân)
฀ Gain experience (Lấy kinh nghiệm)
฀ Develop soft skills (communication, teamwork, etc) (Phát triển các kĩ năng mềm)
฀ Make friends (Kết bạn)
฀ Others (Please specify) (Lợi ích khác)

8.

What do you think of the drawbacks of having a part-time job for a student?
(Bạn nghĩ những tác hại của công việc làm thêm cho sinh viên là gì?)
฀ Neglect their studies (Sao lãng việc học)

฀ Affects their health (Ảnh hưởng tới sức khoẻ)
฀ Imitate bad habits easily (Dễ bắt chước theo những thói quen xấu)
฀ Others (Please specify) (Tác hại khác)

9.

According to you, how to minimize the harm of part-time jobs for students?
(Please give the way)
(Theo bạn, làm như thế nào để giảm thiểu được những rủi ro của những công việc
làm thêm cho sinh viên?)
฀ Reasonable time management (Quản lí thời gian hợp lí)
฀ Choose a good part-time job (Chọn một cơng việc làm thêm tốt)
฀ Others (Please specify) (Cách khác)

©Thank you for your support©
(By Vu Phuong Thao, Cityu7C, ISB, Banking Academy)

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The pros and cons of having part-time jobs for ITP freshmen

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