Hi All,

I'm having some money issues. Long story short: i need to get some cash between October-December. I don't have much time to commit to anything, so i need casual work for a bit of cash here and there. I've lined up a bit, but i need more.

The department won't let me do any teaching/demonstrating work because i won't be a registered student anymore. And the uni wont let me help at open days because i won't be a registered student anymore.

Does anyone have any ideas for getting cash fast?

Thanks
Sim

P.S. no, telesales is not an option... ,-)

I was SOOO going to post the same thing. My stipend has finished :-( and the money has gone :-(

its a toss up for me - do I do PhD 24/7 and then hope to get a better chance of getting a researc job as a 'Dr' :-x

or do I contribute towards the household by gettnig a (poorly) paid local job and try to finish my PhD in my spare time??

I'm trying to find things I can do that won't be a full time job. So far I've thought of erm....nothing.

I haven't got anything to sell either, people keep suggesting ebay.

Have you tried approaching some employment agencies? You can pretty much tell them what hours you want to/don't want to work, and whenever they have something suitable on their books, they'll phone you up, and you can't/don't want to do it at that time, then you don't have to. you can get some really good and well-paying jobs this way.

I did it when I was doing my undergrad degree, and I only wanted to work evenings/weekends just to get a bit of extra money. I managed to get a really good job taking emergency calls for calor gas - it was 3 hours one evening, and 12 hours over the weekend, and it was the best paid job i've ever had - I earned more doing this for a few months than I used to working full time. the agencies are full of people wanting full time 9-5 work, and if you want the hours outwith that, there's often good jobs with great money you can pick up.

I'm about to go to a temp agency - although I didn't want to do it too soon and then turn down work, because then they won't offer me anything when I do want it.

I've also thought about having a baby and getting state maternity pay :$ apparenty babies are free! (gift) although I think I'd have to wait 9 months for the payments to kick in.

I'm going to go on job seekers, I think, and try and survive on that until I've eventually written up and submitted. I'll look for work, but given where I live, I'm fairly certain that I'll never get a job.

Yeah job seekers is appealing, isn't it like £50 a week? If it means I qualify sooner, then its probably a better option.

Cheers Purplecat, that's a good idea. Thanks Sneaks, i have nothing to sell either! i will consider pregnancy. I knew i'd get expert wisdom from this forum. I might try the agencies before the doll Walminski.

I think it's more than that - £65. It's better than nothing while I try and write up.

ooh £65 :-x

Maybe marry rich?

I'm quite tempted my dog sitting/walking. In my area people charge £10 for one dog to walk it for 45 mins. Now ifyou could do that for 3 or 4 dogs a day you'd be quids in and quite fit. A lot of people will pay £10 just for you to drop in and let their dog out for a wee in the middle of the day when they're at work.

You could try the 'academic writing' companies i.e. write essays for useless idiots who can't be bothered/lack the skill to write it themselves.

You could also tutor - not really an option as I'm psychology, so there's not much call for non maths/science/english based tutoring in my area.

With respect to whether someone goes on the dole or not, Sim, I suppose it's a question of how much work you need to on your PhD and how quickly you intend to finish. I want to just get the thing done and hand it in so I can hopefully then get a proper job. If I get a job, working 9 till 5, for 5 days a week, it's going to take longer than I want to finish (I'll be knackered). If I get part time, job say 16 hours, it'll work out about as much as being on the dole. It just makes more sense (for me anyway) to suffer the indignity of the dole for a few months while I wrap things up with my thesis.
I'm not sure if you're writing up or not. If you're not in your write-up year, I don't think you'd be able to go on the dole anyway because you'd be registered as a full time student (assuming your Phd is full time). Good luck with finding something.

ah Wal, you have exactly summed up my feelings on the matter! That is exactly why I would probably need the dole - because I'd rather get the PhD done and be able to walk into resaerch jobs as a dr. rather than someone saying "erm I'm going to finish....soon" - as I've already lost out on both jobs I've had interviews for because I'm not a Dr. and I've only got 1 publication - going up against people with 2 or 3 publications and the Phd finished.

I've done the academic writing / freelance thing before. It can be extremely hard work, often of questionable legality and there are times when it is a battle to get paid (especially if your agency offers the client "complete satisfaction") -- a proportion of people using an academic writing service will have no moral concern about claiming they are dissatisfied with the work and refusing to pay (whilst stealing the thesis and submitting it as their own). There is usually little protection for the author in those circumstances. Besides I can imagine that trying to write / research a completely new topic to a given deadline and specification, AND write up a thesis would be absolutely exhausting. I know some people who have had great success with that kind of work, but for me it was extremely draining. Just my thoughts.

Hi Sim,

Publishers pay for reviews of text books, so it may be worth contacting some in your field to see what they offer.

Good luck! (up)

I think there are quite a few of us in the same situation. I had a meeting with my supervisor last week and she said how would I feel if I could just be locked in a room for 6 months with nothing to do but work on my PhD. I thought that would be wonderful so I could just get it finished. I have a part-time freelance job for two days a week so I decided not to look for other work and spend the rest of my time finishing my thesis. Then me and my bf sat down to work out the finances and even if he paid all the rent and bills, he would not have much left and I would still not have enough. So I am having to look for more work and then I know I won't be able to get on with my PhD as quickly as I want to. It just seems as if it is going to go on for ever when all I want to do is just finish and pass and then at least there will be post-doc jobs open to me. I've seen a wonderful job at the V&A researching French Fashion from 1500 working in Paris and Lyon and if I had my PhD I could have gone for it. I want to be able to at least apply for things like that rather than slogging on for months, years doing work that I don't really want to do.

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PamW - I would apply anyway, you may well get it! I recently didn't go for a job in oxford, because I thought "well I haven't finished my PhD, AND its Oxford for christs sake" - I then heard from someone (after the closing date) who works in the department that they didn't have any applications from finished PhDs AND they were specifically looking for a woman (not sure if that's really legal?) and he said if I'd applied I would have had a very good chance. So I say go for it :-)

Luckily my hubs earns enough to support both of us, just ,as long as the interest rate doesn't go up on the mortgage. Although I feel guilty, he went into a job before the end of his funding and is still trying to finish his PhD.