OPINION

Students are nearing the end of their academic year. Working in the holidays can be a great financial gain. Both in terms of money and financial literacy.

The right holiday or term-time job can
be a life-changing experience for students. Jobs can boost a student’s career and financial wellbeing, and even sometimes turn into a career.

They can also significantly reduce the amount of debt a student needs to take out.

Holiday jobs aren’t just about money, although that helps when you’re living on next-to-nothing as a student and having to pay huge fees. They are about the skills, the connections, and the independence that comes with them.

Even mundane holiday jobs teach skills, or can help students realise what they don’t want to do in life. Some students work for themselves and can change career paths thanks to holiday jobs.

Last Christmas an entrepreneurial friend was in my ear telling me I had to write about her 20-year-old daughter’s experience selling biscuits for CookieTime. The Otago University student had become one of the 105 sellers around the country.

Not a biscuit eater, the whole Christmas cookie thing had really passed me by. But it wasn’t the cookies, or the business, or even the quite phenomenal commission her daughter earned, that my friend was interested in, but the lifelong learning her daughter gained. “What she learned is how you as an individual can drive your own destiny.”

CookieTime recruits students from communities in every corner of the country. They go through multiple rounds of intensive interviewing, and are trained before being launched into the real world to sell buckets of biscuits to you and I. Once selected and trained, the students are delivered five pallets of biscuits, which is a daunting number I’m told.

“They have to learn to store stock and rotate it, and then cold selling. They need to know exactly who ordered what. They’re learning how to deal with people and get them to engage with you,” my friend said.

As it nears Christmas the sellers find good roadside locations and compete to sell more and clear their inventory. Having been debited for the stock, my friend’s daughter found ways to employ friends, incentivising them to work for her.

I interviewed nutrition and marketing student Clara Simmons, who was one of the top sellers in New Zealand last year. Apart from earning a good chunk of money towards her studies, she learned that she was way more capable than she thought she was. “It gave me the confidence to put myself forward for opportunities in the future. It gave me really good social skills and crazy business skills,” says Simmons. “Monetary skills, stock control, forecasting, planning, logistics, how to sell, and how important marketing is. And it has given me confidence to apply for different grad roles.”

Business skills learned early can have a life-long impact, says Nicole Baird, alumni programme manager at the Young Enterprise Scheme (YES) says.

YES works with secondary school students who are supported to start their own businesses, learning skills such as teamwork, communication, resilience, and problem-solving.

“More than these skills, students develop their entrepreneurial mindset, allowing them to discover new solutions, adapt to their environment, and innovate in their businesses. Their participation improves their future outcomes and the social good in society.”

The Young Enterprise Scheme encourages students to think outside of the box and take the lead as entrepreneurs, which helps shape their futures for the better.

Many students continue their businesses beyond the school year, providing ongoing learning and an alternative career pathway.

A few examples of businesses that continue to operate from previous YES cohorts include Abalro Health, a health product utilising barberries, TotalCard, a business card made from wool, Remojo Tech, a device recycling and refurbishing programme, Ecobase, an eco-friendly lip balm, and The Together Collective (a clothing line that supports young artists).

Alex Stuart, CookieTime Christmas Cookies campaign manager, was a seller himself while studying teaching at university. After two years in his teaching career he was head hunted back into the company and now sees his future career in sales, logistics and marketing.

The students employed for Christmas come from very diverse backgrounds. Like Stuart, many do not have families that can support them through university and have to pay their own way.

The biggest earner last year was a student from Whanganui, who earned $41,000 before expenses, which included employing two siblings to help with sales.