Reports say that more graduates are now taking on menial jobs that require little to no skill. For me, a job only becomes ‘bad’ when it stops working for you.

Here is a list of five part time jobs I’ve experienced and the valuable life lessons that came with them…

1. Labouror: Knowing I have the ability to create something out of nothing.

2. Shelf Stacker: Having an amazing product is useless if it can’t be seen.

3. Door-to-Door Sales: No, will eventually be followed by yes.

4. Bar Work: Everyone has a price once the bar is closed.

5. Cleaner: No task is beneath me.

At the time I probably moaned about how little I was being paid for the hours I was putting in, but looking back, some of these life lessons are priceless.

Part time work can be a great opportunity to learn new skills and build character but once that stops, then it does just become another bad job.