Find Weekend Employment While Attending College
As a college student, you may find yourself wanting to make some extra cash. Be sure you can find a work-study balance that works for you, then check out the multitude of opportunities that are available on and off campus. Be it working online or serving up hamburgers, you may be able to pad your wallet working on the weekend.
Contents
Steps
Getting a Campus Job
- Inquire about work-study programs. Most universities offer opportunities for students who need a little help. Typically, you have to be receiving financial aid to qualify for a work-study program. If you do, you will be able to work up to a certain amount of hours doing jobs around campus such as assisting in dorms, working in the cafeteria, or helping in the library.
- Check with your school's financial aid office to see if your school participates in the program. Then fill out the Apply for Federal Student Aid. This form will assess your financial standing and determine whether you qualify for the program.
- Become a tutor. Many students need help with their classes. Use your grasp on course topics to help fellow students or underclassmen. Inquire if your university organizes tutoring programs, or freelance by advertising your services on campus and online. Put up flyers on notice boards, send out a message on a relevant listserv, and post on your class year's Facebook page.
- Many companies that hire tutors allow them to choose their own hours, meaning you could work strictly on weekends.
- Tutoring can be done entirely online, connecting with students through Skype.
- Check out Cardinal Scholars, Aim For A Tutoring, and Tutor.com amongst other tutoring companies.
- Represent a brand. You’ve probably seen these people on your campus, handing out free samples and promoting products. Products can be anything from laptops to energy drinks, but they are all geared towards college students. Companies look for communication skills, and outgoing and friendly personalities when they hire reps. Advantages of this job include flexible hours and gaining experience in marketing, social media, and sales.
- Chipotle, Apple, and Redbull are amongst the companies who routinely hire brand reps for college campuses.
- Conduct research. College professors are often doing research projects with which they need help. This is especially true if you are attending a research university that works with bioscience, chemistry, or medicine. Professors in the humanities will often also be looking for assistance with research for upcoming papers. Inquire with your professors about working in a lab or doing part-time research for them.
- This may be a great opportunity to not only make money, but to gain valuable experience and earn a recommendation for future study or employment.
- Work in a call center. Universities are always raising money, especially by contacting alumni. Most universities will have a call center staffed with current students. Your job would be to dial up former students and ask for donations. While this work may sound tedious, picking up a few occasional shifts can help pad your wallet. Contact your school's call center to ask about employment opportunities, or apply directly if you see a flyer or other posting for a call center job.
- Model for art classes. Art classes need living, breathing models for students to draw and sculpt. If you are comfortable being partly or fully nude in a room full of art students, for hours at a time, this could be the job for you. You could try to ask the art department at your school whether they need models for classes; alternatively, you could find a local art studio and inquire there about modeling opportunities.
Utilizing Technology
- Jump into the share economy. The proliferation of mobile phones and apps have given rise to all sorts of new ways of making money on your own terms. Part time jobs can be done through novel apps that make it easy to connect you with tasks, customers, and simple ways of getting payment. There are a multitude of options to fit your skills.
- Drive people. You’ve probably already used ridesharing apps like Uber and Lyft. Using an app to connect people through mobile devices, these apps turn ordinary people with a car, into professional, part time drivers. The difference between working for a ride app and being a taxi driver is the ability to choose your own hours, and not having to ever handle cash; payment is processed through the app. Both Uber and Lyft offer sign on bonuses during promotion periods.
- Sell your photos. Foap is an app which allows you to post your mobile phone pictures for sale. You would be surprised at the amount of people willing to pay for your cat photos.
- Work odd jobs. Several apps such as TaskRabbit and Zaarly list jobs ranging from cleaning someone’s attic to help pulling a prank. You simply sign up for a job and get paid through the app when the task is complete.
- Find a temp agency. Temp agencies connect part time workers with employers. Any college town is sure to have a temp agency. They will be the ones to interview and hire you, taking away the need to look for individual positions and different company. Once the job at one company is finished, they will assign you to the next one. Temp agencies, like Shiftgig and Manpower, look for people who are organized, professional, and work well in an office setting.
- Online temp agencies may have different focuses; some, like Shiftgig, focus mostly on the service industry. Temp agencies are different from full-time employment agencies in that once they hire you, you pick your own shifts, and you can work as much or as little as you want.
- Write, edit, and evaluate social media for cash. Many websites and businesses are looking for contributors to their articles and blogs. Through the magic of the internet, you can work remotely and get paid by the task. The opportunities vary widely and can take a bit of sleuthing to find the right fit for you. Here are some examples of online, remote work:
- Appen has many listing for online jobs, including a standing call for social media evaluators to report on the effectiveness of social media for other companies. If you are social media savvy, this could be a great opportunity for you.
- Join a blogging service and get paid to write articles. Many websites look for people to write blog posts on topics of their choosing. Examples include Squidoo, Hubpages, and About.com.
- Offer your services through websites like Fiverr. It’s a platform for writing, editing, video, and translation work. In reference to the name, you’ll get paid five bucks for completing a job. Build up a reputation and you can get more jobs.
Working Locally
- Check out Craigslist. One of the first online classifieds, this website is a throwback to the 90s. Regardless, you can still find great work opportunities by local business, whether they are full or part time jobs, or just one off gigs. They can be anything from babysitting and dog walking, to promotion door to door sales. And use your intuition and common sense: remember that if an offer sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
- Be mindful of personal safety: if meeting someone in person, do it in a public place.
- Inquire at local eateries. Any college town or campus will have a multitude of bars or restaurants, often staffed by students. These jobs are sure to have plenty of weekend hours for their busy times. They will often need servers, hosts, kitchen workers, and delivery drivers.
- Dining establishments will often post help wanted notices in their windows. Call ahead to see about the best time to come in. Bring your resume, and be prepared to make a pitch to a manager as to why you're the best hire.
- Teach your skills. Think about your own abilities and how you can turn them into paying jobs. There's a very good chance that you have a skill which you have practiced and honed for years.
- If you are musically inclined, consider giving music lesson in your instrument or performing gigs at local clubs, open mikes, and restaurants.
- If you already do photography, offer to do photo shoots for events around campus, or for student and local publications and websites.
- Read the classifieds. Yes, it's true that newspaper circulation is down, but it's not dead by far. Plenty of businesses and individuals, some who are averse to modern technology, still post good old fashioned want ads in the paper. You may find a hidden gem of a job opportunity if you peruse the local paper.
Tips
- Be sure to have an up to date resume that you can send out when applying for jobs. Contact your campus career services for help writing a good resume.
- Always work hard and be professional. A bad reputation can be hard to shake, especially in a small college town.
Warnings
- Don’t overdo it. You’re in college to learn and do well in your classwork. Find a good work-study-life balance, so you don’t burn out.
