Online Side Jobs for College Students

Are you in college and looking for jobs that will give you experience in your area of study? Or maybe you’re looking for something that you could do in the comfort of your home and distance from other students during the pandemic?

I’ve worked many jobs as a college student and had exposure to a variety of areas. The jobs I held gave me practical experience, had flexible schedules, or even paid more than minimum wage. They ranged from full-on part-time jobs to day-gigs. Here are some types of jobs I did that serve as online side jobs for college students–maybe some will pique your interest.

*This guest post was written by Chloe Choe from OffHourHustle

What are good side jobs for college students?

Brand Ambassador Jobs

Have you ever received a free Coca Cola on campus? Maybe you even received free stickers from Amazon? Did you know that many of the people working for these brands are actually students on campus? Brand ambassador jobs are little known in the community of college students.

While I was in college, I worked as a brand ambassador for Amazon Student, Kaplan, GNC, a startup, and a couple of startups. Many companies have student representatives on college campuses to reach the student audience. You can even work for brands such as Apple, Teach for America, or Red Bull as a Student Marketeer. I came across a lot of these jobs by simply searching on Google for “brand ambassador” and a certain popular brand. You’d be surprised at how many brands hire students to work these fun gigs

As a student brand ambassador, you might be tasked with giving presentations to student organizations, giving out free collateral, or collecting email addresses. These make for fun online side jobs for college students because you get to interact with a variety of people while on your job.

You can also work brand ambassador jobs as day gigs at conventions and events. While these might be less common now because of the pandemic, they’re good to keep in mind for when large scale events come back into play. I personally found these the most enjoyable because a lot of them come with cool daily perks!

I worked at PAX West, Cisco Live, and Drag Con and got to attend the conventions during my breaks and after my shifts. You can find a lot of these gigs through city-specific Facebook groups. In my situation, I went to the University of Washington so I joined the Brand Ambassadors of Seattle Facebook group but there’s a brand ambassador group for almost every major city.

Lab Assistant Jobs

If you’re studying in the STEM field (or maybe even if you’re not!), becoming a lab assistant is the perfect opportunity to learn and get experience on your job while being paid for it. Your university jobs site will usually have postings for these but sometimes you’ll have the most success by finding professors and contacting them directly.

I usually do some browsing on the professor’s website, email them stating what interested me about their work, attach my resume, and ask if they have any student research positions available. These are more prevalent in the STEM field but almost every major has professors looking for assistants and researchers. Make sure you look through your department directory to see what professors you can contact for potential jobs.

Craigslist Gigs

A lot of students use Craigslist to look for housing but have you tried looking in the gigs section? This section has countless jobs that are applicable to college students and can help you make a quick buck. Common jobs include data entry, digital assistant, or even research studies. These are nice jobs to take on because they usually pay more than minimum wage and you can take them on whenever you have extra time.

Research Studies

A lot of companies will pay for your time and opinion on certain products they might plan on launching. These are called research studies, or sometimes user research. These companies will usually outsource their studies but bigger companies such as Google or Microsoft have their own websites. My favorite ones to find research studies are Respondent and FocusGroup.org. As an example, here’s Respondent’s website once you create an account and log in to their dashboard.

Research studies will always have a screener questionnaire that you do before you get paid. They’ll ask demographic questions and some specific questions to make sure you fit the criteria of what they’re looking for. If you’re a match for their study, they’ll either contact you via email or phone and schedule you for a research session. When you participate in the call, you’ll describe your prior experiences and provide feedback while testing an application or product. These agencies will usually pay you in check or PayPal soon after you finish.

Tutoring

As a college student, it’s very easy to earn higher than minimum wage with a relaxing job when you tutor. There are many platforms in which you can tutor online such as Varsity Tutors and Tutor.com. Standardized test prep tutoring such as SAT, ACT, AP, and IB tests are the most in-demand so if you remember your stuff, apply for those positions. However, every subject requires tutors so make sure you check off all the subjects you are qualified for when applying to these jobs.

Online Internships

Companies are currently hiring virtual and in-person interns for all seasons. These can be either full-time or part-time and are posted all around the Internet so make sure you do your research. You can easily filter for internships with websites such as Internships.com or find specified websites for your particular major or industry. Here is a list of a couple of websites that offer specific internships, such as Psych Research List for psychology or Making It In California for STEM internships.

When applying for a lot of these positions, you can save a lot of time by auto-populating your application with your LinkedIn. Use this ultimate guide to LinkedIn to portray your best self and start applying away! 

Summary of Online Side Jobs for College Students

These are just a couple of the online side jobs for college students that are available. Having a job will not only make you money but it will give you the real-life experience necessary for building skills to join the industry upon graduation. I’m sure one of these will help you in your college career both financially and practically so apply for some jobs today!