Wagga’s Charles Sturt University student Ruby Costello is juggling three casual jobs while undertaking full-time study in equine science. 

“I’ve always found it quite easy to get work in Wagga, but I’m quite an outgoing and hard working person,” she said. 

“The only people I know who have struggled to find work haven’t put themselves out there or haven’t been keen to work the less desirable jobs, like long hours and less pay. 

“If you look hard enough you’ll find there is always somewhere in Wagga looking for workers.” 

Ms Costello said it can be “bloody hard” to balance her work and study, while maintaining a social life. 

“I work at the CSU Equine Centre on weekends, the CSU library a couple of times a week and at Wayne Carrol Racing six mornings each week and also in the afternoons,” she said. 

“It’s bloody hard to manage full-time study, but if I didn’t work then I couldn’t afford to live so you just have to do it.” 

Former Wagga university student Sivan Feldy said finding a casual job in Wagga was not difficult, but not that easy either. 

“I found that with friends, some businesses can make it hard to coordinate time for classes and work,” she said. 

Thirsty Crow Brewery currently employs seven university students and event manager Katie Galvin said they are a valuable part of the team. 

“The university students are all casual and we are also interested in students who can be on-call for an extra hand with our major events, like Ocrowberfest,” she said. 

“Most of our shifts are in the evening around dinner time and over the weekend and we’ve employed students for years and accommodate to their needs.”

A CSU program that was piloted last year at the Bathurst campus is expanding to Wagga and Port Macquarie this year. 

The ‘earn as you learn’ program helps students gain valuable employment skills while earning an income to support their studies. 

Program coordinator Georgie Stuart said CSU is still building up a data base with Wagga businesses. 

“We’ve got businesses from allied health organisations, hospitality, retail and social media content creation roles, in admin and library assistant roles,” Ms Stuart said. 

“Finances are pretty much the number one concern for students at CSU and as we’re a multi-campus, students undertake lots of travel so we want to support them with a job that fits around their studies. 

“It’s great for students who might have moved to a new area and have no contacts, so it also helps them to network and gain connections in their industry.” 

The program is open to all students but is specifically targeted at new students and Ms Stuart encouraged students not to work more than 20 hours a week. 

“We had one student from Nowra who was moving to Bathurst and she had no contacts and needed some guidance,” she said. 

“I met her prior to starting university and she had an interview with our HR department for a job on campus and she was successful in gaining that position.” 

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