It’s a common and an ancient practice for students find small jobs while they study, while this is easier and possible in some places; it’s not in some others. In Estonia, how possible and convenient is it for foreign students to take up jobs while studying?
Local laws, academic structures, individual course schedules, financial status, student’s intellectual ability, physical abilities and one’s previous job skills are some of the factors that generally influence the possibility of working while studying. However, a foreign student studying in Estonia possibly may have been attracted to Estonia by the country’s e-intelligence, excellent teaching, and learning conditions, the student-friendly cost of living, or simply for the fun to study abroad for a new challenge or even for education tourism and may not necessarily be to work while studying.
For the majority of foreign students who really wants to work as they study in Estonia, my reasonable but not exhaustive survey shows that greater majority of the students who really wants to work to support their studies are working. While it’s true that some students may not have taken up their dream jobs, they are not frustrated, the earn sufficient income to meet their imminent needs.
This has become possible mostly because in Estonia student’s residence permit for study doubles as their work permit, the flexibility of work schedules, friendly and non-racial employees, flexible course options that allow students to choose courses from a wide range of options and suit their schedules, and most importantly sufficient information about available jobs for students. Students have access to up to date information on various job websites such as www.tootukassa.ee , this website is particularly interesting because, besides publishing vacancies of different kind of jobs, the also provide counseling, follow-up, and in most cases provides unemployment trust fund to registered applicants. Another interesting job portal for short time jobs is www.workabit.com, it does not provide stable jobs but affords one the opportunity to work a bit for hours, and in some cases even for days. Moreso, http://too.pinu.ee specifically publishes IT related job vacancies while www.cvkeskus.ee and www.cvonline.ee both helps you to build your CV and consequently alert you of vacancies matching your qualifications. Other useful job sites includes www.tood.ee, www.manpower.ee, www.ehitusportaal.ee, www.job.ee, and the list goes on. It is also unarguably true that the best way to secure a job is through information from friends and fellow students who are already working. Unfortunately, most attractive and especially non-IT jobs in Estonia require some Estonian language skill, therefore a student who wishes to work has added advantage if he or she could speak some Estonian language. Also, another challenge to working while studying could be the possibility to get overwhelmed in one’s work to the detriment of academics. However, some students prefer rather take up full-time summer jobs during the summer period and then study full time during the semesters.
In a nutshell, Estonia is a suitable destination to work while studying. In as much as it’s a top choice for quality education, excellent recreation, and tourism, it’s also a possibility for foreign students just like their indigenous counterpart to work as the study.
