Best Part-Time Jobs for College Students

Best Part-Time Jobs for College Students

Whether they’d like to pad their wallets or resumes, many college students seek part-time employment while they’re in school. And if you’re one of them, these 10 jobs might be up your alley—they offer flexible work schedules and competitive part-time pay. What’s more, dozens of companies are hiring for each of these jobs. So, get your resume ready and apply!

1. Tutor

Hourly Pay: $15-$35

Details: As a tutor, you will help students with homework, advance in a certain area of study, discuss and review assignments—helping students to succeed—and more.

Companies Hiring: Sylvan Learning Centers, VIPKID, Action Potential Learning, Compass Education, and more.

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2. Restaurant Host

Hourly Pay: $8-$17

Details: As a restaurant host, you will greet guests as they enter the restaurant, then seat them at a table. You may also assist with servers, helping to manage their workloads.  

Companies Hiring: Wagamama, Marriott, Montage Hotels & Resorts, Live Nation, Hilton Hotels & Resorts, and more.

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3. IT Support Specialist

Hourly Pay: $18-$27

Details: An IT support specialist provides technical support for a company, its employees, an its customers, helping them to work through computer software and equipment issues.

Companies Hiring: Avast Software, Kronos Incorporated, Cloud Peak Energy, Gensler, Fleetio, Catalant, and more.

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4. Driver

Hourly Pay: $10-26

Details: A driver might work in deliveries, making sure packages arrive safely at their destination, or as a personal driving, driving individuals to and from their locations.

Companies Hiring: Doordash, Enterprise, FedEx, Good Eggs, Stanley Automotive, CHS, Manheim, Uber, Lyft and more.

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5. Delivery Person

Hourly Pay: $7-$15

Details: A delivery person picks up, transports, and delivers packages—including mail, food, media, and more. A delivery person might do so in a car, on a bike, or even on foot.

Companies Hiring: IGA, Best West Pet Foods, Cleveland Brothers Equipment Company, HomeTown Pharmacy, Millionaires Investment Group, and more.

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6. Brand Ambassador

Hourly Pay: $10-$27

Details: As a brand ambassador, you would raise a company’s brand awareness—and perhaps increase sales—by representing the brand and talking about it in a positive way.

Companies Hiring: Cox Media Group, Chameleon Cold Brew, The Legion of Bloom, ForceBrands, Monster Energy, HSSG Inc., and more.

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7. Barista

Average Base Pay: $7-$19

Details: A barista makes many beverages, most especially coffee beverages. They usually work in coffee or tea shops, but can also be employed at a store or bar that serves coffee.

Companies Hiring: Dunkin’ Donuts, illy, Compass Group USA, Wegmans Food Markets, Blue Plate Catering, and more.

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8. Babysitter

Average Base Pay: $9-$17

Details: When parents need to leave their children, a babysitter steps in to care for the children until the parents return—often feeding, entertaining, and putting kids to bed.

Companies Hiring: Sitter, Nanny Lane, PlatinumSitters, Safe Drive, College Nannies + Tutors, and more.

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9. Animal Caretaker

Average Base Pay: $9-$15

Details: As an animal caretaker, you will help with animals in a variety of settings, including pet stores, animal shelters, kennels, and more, feeding, bathing, walking, and otherwise caring for them.

Companies Hiring: Food and Drug Administration, USA Jobs, Laboratory Staffing, Daybreak Foods, Pawtropolis, and more.

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10. Social Media Assistant

Average Base Pay: $10+

Details: A social media assistant helps to manage a company’s social media channels, such as Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, engaging with the community and addressing customers’ concerns.

Companies Hiring: Ad Council, Pharmaceutical Product Development, True North Social, Brew, and more.

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How to Get an Internship

Consider Your Qualifications

One of the most common misconceptions that students have about how to get an internship is that they must apply to every position that catches their eye to increase their odds. But this is a sure-fire recipe for radio-silence from recruiters and hiring managers. Instead, think about the skills and experience you currently possess, and which positions you might be a good fit for based on that information. A few ways to narrow down which internships are right for you:

• Think about your degree: Look up common career fields and job titles for people with your major.
• Consider your experience: Think about your previous work experience, and which roles it might prepare you for. A student working at a campus newspaper might consider a journalism internship, while a student who tutors for a statistics class may want to look at data science internships.

• Identify transferable skills: Skills that help you succeed in school or in the student organizations you participate in — such as organization, critical thinking and time management — will all be useful in the working world. Some quick research should reveal which jobs require these skills.
• Explore your interests: With how much time you spend at work, you want to make sure you enjoy it! Write down a few career fields that interest you, and search internships in those areas.
• Start small: Don’t feel pressured to get your dream internship right away, especially if you have no prior work experience. Start by exploring small local organizations, groups affiliated with your school or volunteer work in order to bolster your resume.

Know Where to Look

Once you have a more concrete idea of which internships would be the right fit, it’s time to see what’s out there! Here’s how you can do that.

Visit Job Sites: Websites like Glassdoor have millions of job listings, so you’re bound to find something that’s right for you. You can search for the internship titles you’re interested in, and narrow results down by location, size, industry, company ratings and more. To get relevant results delivered to your inbox, create a job alert.

Use Your College’s Career Resources: Almost all colleges have a career site where employers interested in hiring their students can post positions. Career and internship fairs can also be invaluable, as they allow you to connect face-to-face with hiring decision-makers.

Leverage Your Network: Getting a personal recommendation can make all the difference in your internship search, so make sure to reach out to friends, family, colleagues, classmates, professors and alumni to see if they know anyone hiring. Another great strategy is to look up the companies you’re interested in and reach out to employees there for an informational interview. You never know what opportunities it might lead to!

Contact Companies Directly: If you have a dream company in mind, but they don’t have any relevant internships, you can always try writing them a letter of interest in hopes that they will either contact you when one opens or even create a new one for you. It’s more of a longshot than applying directly, but you’ll never know if you don’t try.