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The Best Part-Time Jobs To Do While You Study

March 31st 2022

The life of a student is packed full of exciting experiences, new friends, and memories to last a lifetime. It’s also the perfect time to explore part-time jobs and to try out working in different sectors to both make money, meet people, and see if certain industries take your fancy!

While many students plan to work in a certain industry, sometimes the journey isn’t simple or straightforward. 

Part-time student employment is a steady and safe way to continue to earn money while studying and, while for some it’s a necessity, for every student it’s a chance to get some experience under your belt, and to open your eyes to new industries to work in. 

Skill development and your personal journey.

You’ll be surprised how many of the skills you learn in certain traditional student roles - like retail - translate into other professions. 

• As an example, professionals in retail are thorough and clear communicators; obsessed with teamwork; organised; cognizant of supply chain factors on service, and trend-led. 
• Those sorts of skills echo (and are in high demand) in almost every industry, from marketing to pharmaceutical development.

This is a lesson you can only learn through work and experiencing the rewarding (and sometimes exhausting!) world of student employment. 

The power of the student.

The incredible thing about student work is that the vast majority of employers know your focus is studying. As such, you exist in a peculiar middle ground where you’re expected to soak up learning and development within work, but in essence, you’re doing so to aid your education and further employment in your chosen industry. 

As such, employers are more fluid and understanding, more flexible with hours, and much more supportive and understanding when you exit the company than with a non-student worker (well, the good employers are). 

What are the best kinds of part-time student jobs you should consider getting while you’re studying?

Temp Jobs (office, administrative, labouring, production etc.)

A no-barrier role to consider would be traditional temp roles in industries such as industrial, production, admin, office work, labouring. 

Skills needed: flexibility and an eagerness to say “yes” to a wide variety of roles, the classic temp worker is positive, hard-working, and happy to get stuck into any task in any industry. The benefits of taking temp jobs are profound - your flexible working nature is on full show; you’ll get loads of experience in multiple industries, and you’ll develop a good referral network too!

Where do you find temp jobs? There are temp working agencies in every country and every city in the world. Some universities and colleges will have outreach to some agencies or in-house recruitment runs at the beginning of the year to find staff!

Last-Mile Delivery Jobs

A relatively new addition to the student job matrix, Last Mile delivery companies mix speedy service with a local twist, keeping many millions of people working in their community on flexible hourly wages with plenty of scope for upping hours to make more money.

Skills needed: fast work ethic, flexibility with hours and a passion for people. Certain delivery roles like couriering or Deliveroo also encourage sustainable travel (such as bike deliveries), so an element of fitness is needed for some roles, as is local knowledge of roads and communities to keep deliveries on time and customers happy!

Where do you find Last-Mile Delivery Jobs? The internet is your best friend - simply search any of the main job listing sites to find them.

Tutoring

This is especially lucrative for students who speak multiple languages or who are specialists in certain industries at the postgraduate level or above. Tutoring offers your community and learners in your field the chance to express themselves and learn from you, which is enormously fulfilling. 

Skills needed: specialist knowledge; an eagerness to teach; patience; a calm manner; and a passion for passing on knowledge to others. And thanks to improvements in digital connectivity and the rising expectation of screen-based learning, tutors can now extend their jobs internationally from the comfort of their own homes.

Where do you find Tutoring Jobs? You may find the best tutoring jobs are actually built through referral networks within schools or education units themselves. While jobs boards may have some, parents will entrust their dependent’s education to those they trust (hence referral networks), and adult learners will lean on a school or university to provide connections to trusted teachers.

Events and Hospitality

The benchmark flexible working industry will forever be a boon for students seeking exciting part-time work. From summer festivals to sporting events, on-campus events to street-food events, the events industry sucks up millions of students a year to work in one of the most fun industries in the world. 

Skills needed: good customer service; an eager, people-focused manner; happy to work long anti-social hours (at times) on your feet; speed and diligence; at management level, you’ll need potential licensing certificates to sell alcohol or to organise events. 

Other Example Events and Hospitality Jobs: Events Assistant, Tour Guide, Bartender, Waiter/Waitress, Host/Hostess, Receptionist, Event Supervisor, Event Manager, Event Guide, Chef, Sous Chef, Head Chef, Catering Assistant, Kitchen Porter.

Where do you find Event Jobs? Everywhere from Jobs Boards to campus recruitment drives, and while many are seasonal (such as summer festivals), recruitment and event agencies need staff all year round.