It’s hard getting a job while you’re in college. Many students find it challenging to find employment that’s flexible enough to accommodate their ever-changing class schedules. Many, if not most, will opt for a minimum wage job at a fast food restaurant, as a waiter, or retail cashier. And for even busy nursing students who have to study constantly, there are opportunities to make money on the side. Non-traditional nursing roles are on the rise, and many students are taking advantage to offer diverse services.
To many, it seems like those are the only opportunities available. The good news is that they’re not. With some creativity and a little elbow grease, you can find good jobs that offer you more than just minimum wage and allow you to have a steady income stream that will pay your bills and even help build a respectable savings account.
Salesperson
You might think all sales jobs are the same, but they’re not. Whether you’re selling perfume or makeup on the sales floor of a retail or department store or you’re calling people and selling products directly to them, there’s a lot of variety to sales jobs. Vector Marketing offers work for students that who excel at selling products directly to customers. One of the best places to find employment that’s flexible enough to accommodate your class schedule is on your college campus. Keep an eye out for opportunities for sales work on campus, or visit your school’s career center for help finding this type of work.
Blogger
It’s becoming more and more common for people to make money as influencers on social media. Despite the fact that many social media networks mandate that people disclose when they are being paid to post, many are finding ways to monetize their social media networks. Bloggers, too, are able to monetize their blogs through brand partnerships, affiliate marketing, and advertising revenue.
You too can start a blog. It’s a great source of extra income. You don’t have to sell a product, necessarily. Think about different things to offer such as skills and talents that you might be able to provide someone who doesn’t possess the same strengths. For example, if you’re a great writer, you can offer to help people improve their writing skills. If you’re a stylish dresser who frequently receives compliments about your style, you can offer your services as a personal stylist. If there’s a subject at school that you’re a master at, consider helping someone struggling with the same subject.
As you know, today many blogs are ad-supported, which makes them real moneymakers for the owners—it’s money being made while they’re sleeping.
Product Tester
Being a product tester is a job that’s increasingly becoming popular. More and more students are seeing the potential here. They get to simply try out a company’s products and services and give their honest feedback and opinions—and get paid for doing it. The products could be food related or cosmetics or clothing or something else. Usually, it’s something that would be exciting to receive in any case.
For companies that offer product testing, this is serious business since it’s a way for them to learn how the public might react, and they can then make further tweaks along the way before an official product launch. You’re not going to be able to pay off your student loans this way, but it’ll be a solid way to easily buy some new clothes and dine out occasionally whenever you feel like it. If you’re a budding entrepreneur, it’ll give you a way to pocket extra money to fund turning your idea into a reality.
Nursing
Nightlife Jobs
A nightlife job certainly won’t interfere with your earlier responsibilities. Good nightlife jobs can be had for the student willing to be a bouncer, a bartender, a DJ or someone hired for promotional events. You can get the ear of a local venue’s owner and let them know about your interest in available opportunities if you show up sometime in the afternoon when the venue isn’t busy.
Not Settling for Something Without Spark
Don’t settle for a job that doesn’t spark your interest. While, admittedly, it can be a challenge to find interesting work to suit your schedule, you can do it if you get out there and try to get in the face of business owners and managers with compelling work you’d be interested in.
