Best Jobs For College Students

Taking part-time jobs is something that students consider during their study journey. It’s estimated that 70 percent of students in colleges work while attending school, according to the Center on Education at Georgetown University. Part-time jobs tend to be as coveted as college acceptance letters – in addition to search for classes, students will be just as eager to search for jobs. Maintaining employment while you take the demanding college studies is no easy feat, especially in fields requiring the traditional 9 to 5 hours. Many of these employees provide little flexibility when it comes to changes in shift with some only allowing full time, salaried positions. Despite those challenges, college students have been able to find a supportive environment and many companies are willing to offer employment on a part time basis to help the students meet their financial needs.

While students seek employment to support themselves and pay for their studies, sometimes, cash money is not all that they gain from these jobs. Studies indicate that students who take part-time jobs improve their grades. A Mount Holyoke College research found that students who score better grades together with a couple of internships are more than others likely to get employment within six months following their graduation.

Trying to fit a particular job into a student’s schedule can be difficult – it’s like playing Tetris. You want to find a job that is able to work for you instead of the other way round. The job should have flexible hours like weekends and nights so that you don’t interrupt your class schedule. Also, have a job that has perks – you want to be able to buy books, pay rent, and have some cash for survival - maybe a job that can score free meals.

That’s said, what are the best jobs for college students?

Virtual Assistant

In today’s business environment, virtual assistants are replacing personal assistants. A virtual assistant is an admin-savvy associate who assists busy professionals with their daily tasks, appointment setting, scheduling, research IT, and many more. This job fits college students who are organized and whizzes on the computer. Those students who possess previous experience in administrative work tend to find it easier to get these jobs.

The best thing about virtual assistant jobs is that they can be performed remotely, and at any time – day or night. A student will most likely take a night job so that they allocate the day hours to classes.

Duties as a virtual assistant involve managing financial information, creating and maintaining schedules, conducting research, booking travel reservations, IT, website, as well as social media support for the business.

The pay is about $15.64 per hour for a virtual assistant.

Nanny 

Students take nanny jobs because these jobs offer a lot of flexibility. Some nannies need to care for children in the afternoons – depending on the kid’s age. Others looking after babies can afford to work on their assignment including term paper when the baby naps. Some families understand the needs of students working for them and they help offer room and board in exchange for childcare services – a huge plus for those students who attend school in areas having high rent.  

Among the duties that students perform as a nanny are meal preparation, homework help, school pick up and drop off, looking after the kid’s healthcare, and performing household chores. The pay for these nanny jobs depends on the location in which the students work. If you want to have an idea of the pay rate for a nanny in your area, you can use tools like Babysitting Rate Calculator.

Call Center Representative

A vast majority of students can build a cushion by working at a call center. Since the mission of companies having a call center is to have their customers answer the phone, it means employees can work anytime – 24 hours. Most of these companies require employees to have some weekend and evening free time so that they can avail themselves for the job. This is a schedule many students can commit. However, the jobs fit well to students who can speak clearly and aren’t afraid to make some sales pitch – so if you possess previous sales experience or you’re bilingual, you stand a better chance of working in call centers as a representative.

The duties at a call center involve researching customer issues, reading from an already pre-determined script, managing outbound and inbound calls, inputting customer data and selling products. According to Payscale, call-center representatives have a median pay of $13.28 per hour.

Pet Sitter or Dog Walker

If you go along well with pets and would like to make some extra cash, you can consider pet sitting and dog walking tasks. These jobs have been around for quite some time, and for students, they provide a perfect opportunity to earn some cash. Sites like Rover provide on-demand job options that fit even with the seemingly offbeat schedules. Those who can host overnight pet sits for parents working during the night or those who can do doggy daycares during their free college hours can take these jobs.

If you have experience with non-traditional pets like reptiles, horses, and farm animals, your income can be higher. Also, if you double up for overnight pet sits and doggy daycare, you could earn as twice the amount.

The duties entail pet cleaning, dog walking, pet transportation, emergency vet visits, pet cleanup, and administering medicine. The average pay for pet sitting and dog walking is about $15 to $40 per hour.

Warehouse Associate       

You don’t need to have knowledge on how to operate a forklift to get a job in a warehouse, though. However, it can still help if you got it because it gives you an upper hand compared to others who may be competing for the job. As the eCommerce industry experiences an unprecedented surge, warehouses are operating around the clock to help meet the workload.

A warehouse is a great industry for students because most of these facilities extend their operations to night hours and weekends. They can even operate during holidays to help cater to the ultra-busy peaks so that they serve their customers well. This kind of environment makes it easier for students to find work in these warehouses.

The duties include order picking, quality control, administrative work, heavy machinery operation, and sorting and packing or even inventory control. A warehouse associate earns about $10 to $18 per hour. 

Barista or Bartender

As a college student, you can consider working in many of the restaurant chains like Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts as a barista. Look at the coffee shops in your college neighborhood and ask for a job as a barista. You can squeeze in hours before classes and after classes. The job would involve brewing coffee, taking orders, and serving coffee drinks.

Similarly, you can work as a bartender, but you must be over 21 years, though age requirements may vary by state. Duties involve mixing cocktails, taking orders, and pouring drinks. Once you land a bartending job, you quickly become popular and you grow your network of circles. The pay rate for barista and bartending are $10.45 per hour and $10.84 per hour, respectively.

Home Health Aide

In the healthcare industry, home health aides tend to be unsung heroes. They provide essential home-based support to people who are not willing to pay for the typical nursing home services or not willing to stay in those facilities. Based on the patient and what problem they could be having, most health aides may not need to possess nursing certificates – however, they need to have first aid training and CPR and specialized education which may be provided by the company.

Duties entail providing in-home care, giving updates to families and caretakers all through the day, light meal preparation, and transporting the patients to have appointments with the doctors. The pay for home-based health aides is about $24,548 annually, according to Zip Recruiter.

Food Service Worker

While waiting tables to raise funds to get through college could sound like a cliché for many, however, it is something that is doable and many students manage to do it. Serving, slinging expression drinks, bartending, and washing dishes are popular jobs for students. Additionally, many food service workers, in addition to flexibility, also reap the benefits of things like extra income from tips, particularly during the peak holiday season. What students need to do is ensure they showcase their etiquette and deliver exceptional customer-centric service to the customers of the foodservice establishments or restaurants.

Duties involve serving food, taking orders, light food preparation, handling cash or credit cards and making drinks. The hourly pay depends on the location you are working and it can vary based on the tips you get.

Sales Associate

The sales associate positions are considered the most commonly-held work positions or jobs by college students in America, according to Business News Daily. Like food service workers, there is flexibility with sales associates when it comes to shift coverage and scheduling. These elements come in handy for the students, especially during the stressful school weeks.

Many seasonal jobs for sales associates tend to open up during the holiday peaks meaning students who go home over the holidays can take advantage of these jobs to cash in some funds before they open colleges. Duties entail store cleanup, handling cash or credit cards, organizing store inventory, and upselling or making sales.

The pay for sales associates varies significantly and starts at the minimum rates of wages as defined by the state.

Gym Receptionists

With gyms, they tend to open their doors early and they shut down late. Some even stay open 24 hours, 7 days a week meaning that they offer a great scheduling opportunity to college students wanting to take up some work. Those students who are in class for a traditional 9 to 5 day may find the gym receptionist job a good fit.

And to make the deal even sweeter, most gyms offer deep discounts or free gym indulgences to the employees. So you will have an opportunity to keep fit as you work. Duties involve performing recordkeeping tasks, checking in guests, cleaning equipment, giving gym tours, and signing up new members.

The pay for gym receptionists ranges about $12.40 per hour.

Tutor

Although not every college student has the wherewithal or knowledge to tutor, those who do are able to benefit from some of the highest hourly rates. Tutoring jobs are found in many places including peer tutoring programs within the university, in online platforms, at private firms, and in other places. Regardless of the platform a tutor uses, there is plenty of autonomy as well as gratification from the job. Duties involve test preparation, subject and topic tutoring, and essay coaching. The pay ranges anywhere from $30 to $85 depending on client needs and experience.

Administrative Assistants

Although administrative assistants may not enjoy the flexibility that is seen in retail stores or restaurants, they offer professional office environments. This helps prepare the college students to have a real edge during a time when they are about to get to the real work environment after college. Students interested in pursuing a career requiring administrative skills may find the administrative college student jobs very crucial.

The jobs include office management, HR, and accounting. The duties are such as data entry, answering phones, contact maintenance, record keeping, and scheduling.

The administrative assistants earn about $13 per hour.

Hotel Front Desk Receptionist

If you’re a student majoring in hospitality, you may want to consider hotel front desk positions as receptionists. This is a good chance for you to begin attaining important skills and practical knowledge that may help you once you finish your studies. Similar to the gym receptionist jobs, the hotel receptionist jobs provide good scheduling for the student. These jobs have a 24-hour working environment meaning that students can fit their college schedule and the hotel work schedule. They can take classes during the day and go to work during the night.

The graveyard shift in hotels usually features a lot of downtimes which would mean that a student could still have their laptops and books with them where they can quietly study in the quiet environment as they wait to serve guests.

Duties involve answering phones, greeting as well as checking in and checking out guests from the hotel. They also involve operating computer programs, completing basic bookkeeping as well as cashiering processes and communicating with the room service and maintenance. The workers also do answer questions posed by the guests and record any complaints presented.

The pay for front desk receptionist average $10.28 per hour.

Lifeguard

If you are a full-time student and would want to take advantage of the summer employment, you can go for the lifeguard position. Many employers take on summer lifeguard jobs in beach hotels, community swim centers, and other facilities. You will need to have a lifeguard certificate by Red Cross before you can submit an application. You also want to possess skills like life-saving CPR.

Duties involve overseeing swim parties, closing and opening the swimming pool or facility, monitoring swimming areas to ensure the safety of the swimmers and people around. The work also involves monitoring weather reports to help alert the swimmers and ensure safe swimming conditions.

The pay rate is about $9.16 per hour while entry-level ocean lifeguards are able to make up to $16 per hour.

Conclusion

There are plenty of job opportunities for college students who would want to make extra cash. Depending on your study schedule and the work schedule, the students can develop the work plan to see that they work and at the same time take up their classes.

Doing part-time jobs helps equip students with practical knowledge that they can apply when they enter the job market. Also, students who take part-time jobs are likely to achieve better grades than those who don’t. A student will need to have strict and disciplined time management in order to make their schedules work appropriately and to their advantage.