12.08.2015 University of Limerick general views with students, Cian Conboy and Amy Fox, The Living Bridge. Picture: Alan Place/Fusionshooters.

I am from India, and I’m here at UL to study for a Master’s in Work and Organisational Psychology. Along with being a part of different clubs and societies, volunteering, getting involved in dance and music activities, one of my top interests is travelling!

Since moving to Ireland, a part of Europe, I started dreaming of going to different European countries over the weekends and exploring as much as I could. Making the most of my time here in Ireland became my goal and I was all set to experience Ireland once I arrived here in September.

To fulfil all my dreams and to support myself financially, I decided to take up a part-time job as well!

Finding jobs in Limerick at first could seem like quite a big task and one might be lost on how to go about it, but it’s pretty simple and if you need help, the people in Ireland are some of the friendliest that I have come across.

As a student, we can get part-time jobs in the food & beverage industry in places like cafes, restaurants, and fast food joints. The other option could be retail, working in one of the many shops in the city centre or shopping complexes that are across the city of Limerick, like the Castletroy shopping centre or Parkway shopping centre near UL, or the Crescent shopping center, which is closer to the city.

One of the best websites to look for jobs here in Ireland is Indeed.ie, or one could personally go and hand over their CVs at different places and expect calls from the employers if and when they need people. If students need a visa to work part-time, then the number of hours they’re allowed to work per week would be mentioned on their visa application. As an Indian passport holder, I am allowed to work 20 hours a week during term-time and 40 hours a week (full-time) during Christmas break and between June-September.

However, since I’m a psychologist by profession and have worked with children before, I wanted to do something different than the regular jobs and do something that would let me be around children. Thus, I applied for the job of babysitter/childminder.

I believe it’s one of the best decisions I have made to take up this job! It’s a roller coaster of emotions managing children. Oh boy!! you need a lot of patience, tolerance, sense of responsibility and care, but I do enjoy it. Children shout, yell, scream, cry, fight, hurt themselves and can be mischievous around a new babysitter in the house so knowledge of basic first aid care is always handy when starting out.

When I started babysitting with my first family, it was fun but equally difficult to manage 5 children all at once, all belonging to different age groups. However, I believe it helped me be more creative in ways to pacify kids and make them enjoy the time spent together. I started doing arts & craft activities with them, playing their favorite music, dancing with them, watching videos on YouTube, and watching all sorts of animation and action movies with them.

Soon I realized I became a child around these children and got to live my childhood all over again. And I cannot forget to mention the smiles and the hugs you get from them!

This part-time job definitely brought me a lot of happiness and enriched my little work experience here in Limerick!

Good luck and all the best to everyone who is looking forward to moving to this wonderful university and finding a job!