The job market is certainly up and down at the moment, and it has led to loads of doubt and questions about careers and money, especially considering the state of the economy.

If you’re asking the question “should I work part time”, you’re probably in one of the following positions.

A) Out of work and looking for a job, without the pressure of necessarily needing to work full time

B) A student.

C) Working full time and currently looking to drop your hours in order to pursue other things or simply for more time to enjoy to yourself or with loved ones.

So what are the main things you need to consider when evaluating whether no work, full time work, or part time work is for you?

Well obviously, it goes without saying, money plays a big part. You have to think about a few things when it comes to cash and work. Firstly, you really need to think about your dependants. Do you have people relying on you to make money? Do you have to reach a certain amount of cash every month in order to keep your life from falling apart? Rent? Debt repayments? I’d love to say that you shouldn’t work full time or even part time on something you dont care about or that isn’t furthering your skills and getting you towards where you shouldn’t be, but the reality is that sometimes we just have to make ends meet, and that’s not always a bad thing. If, however you dont have a great deal to pay for, you might want to think about whether you need to make that money to stick in a savings account or spend on clothes. Which leads me to my next point…

What is more valuable to you at the moment; time or money? Think about this. Lets talk about a hypothetical 20 hour part time job. It doesn’t sound like that much over the course of a week, but trust me, it will eat away at your time. I mean, this might consist of two seven hour shifts and one six hour. On those three days, by the time you’ve run other errands and traveled, you probably wont feel like doing a great deal else. The other four days are yours, sure, but by the time you’ve fitted in socialising and any chores you have to do, you’ll wish you had those days back. Worse, the 20 hours might be 4 hours over five days. Ouch. Five days will be quite seriously interrupted and at times you might wish you were working full time anyway! Dont get me wrong, you can fit things around a part time job, and by cutting out other distractions you can still work towards what you’re passionate about, but those hours will still haunt you, and you’ll wish you had them back when you’re working on your passions in unsociable hours.

Part time jobs can be great, especially if you enjoy them, but you need to think about what it restricts you from doing. If you’re trying to work 7 or 8 hours a day to become a writer or photographer, you might need a part time job, and you might work hard as a student but be short on cash, but you need to prioritise. If you can sacrifice the odd night out for more time to work on passions, you’ll see the rewards. If you need to pay the bills and put food on the table and fit your passions in between then good luck to you. Either way, you can do it!