Part-time jobs are an important source of income for students to pay for their expenses as well as their student loans and an additional source of income for full-time working adults to support their families. Side gigs are also a productive use of time instead of wasting away time doing frivolous things such as binge-watching TV shows and playing computer games. Nowadays, there are a plethora of side gigs available for one to choose from. Some research is required to find a part-time job that both pays well and suits one’s interests and capabilities. Here we will see about Side Gigs That Pay Well
High-Paying Side Hustles
Several high-paying side hustles that can be done either at physical locations or remotely are available today. Some examples of these jobs are listed below.
Private Tutor
If you are skilled in a particular subject, you can a good pay by teaching it to students in your free time. The pay you get depends on your level of education, the amount of experience you have in teaching, and the type of subject you are teaching. If you are teaching an in-demand subject with a limited number of qualified tutors, then you can charge a higher amount because the demand for your teaching would be high.
Online Freelance Work
If you are proficient in some skills, you can earn money using those skills by doing online work using those skills for clients remotely. The advantage of this part-time job is that your working hours are flexible, and you can choose to take up as many online work tasks as you want based on the amount of free time you have. The pay depends on the service you are offering and the amount of experience you have.
Selling Items Online
For this job, you need to buy items in bulk from a supplier and sell them online for a profit. You can specialize in selling any type of items you like. For example, if you have a passion for clothes, you can sell them online. There is a potential for you to earn a good amount of money from this job if the items you are selling are in demand.
Photography
If you are skilled in photography, you can take up photography jobs such as wedding photoshoots or birthday photoshoots. The amount of money you can get from this job depends on the level of photography skills you have.
Caretaking
You can take up jobs that require you to babysit children when their parents are away. Your pay depends on the number of hours and the difficulty level of the duties assigned to you.
Frequent Flyer Specialist
If you travel frequently and you have a good understanding of how to save money during traveling, then this is a good job for you. In this job, you must help to create economical travel plans for others to help them save money while still meeting their requirements. Your pay depends on the amount of experience you have in traveling. According to some online sites, you can earn up to $150 for one travel plan you create.
Bookkeeper
As a bookkeeper, you must do work like bank reconciliations and write financial reports. This job is a great match for people with strong math and organizational skills. The salary of this job is $30 per hour.
Private Consultant
If you are proficient in a skill, then you can use it to offer a private consultancy service. For example, if you are a certified Civil engineer, you can offer consultancy services for things like soil testing at the site of construction and inspection of a building. You will likely make a good amount of money from this job if you price your service slightly lower than the prices set by consultancy companies. This would increase the demand for your consultancy services.
Social Media Marketing Manager
If you are well-versed with social media platforms, you can choose to manage an influencer’s or a brand’s social media platforms. Your job includes creating SEO-friendly posts, scheduling the posts, and analyzing the performance of these posts, and finding ways to improve their performance.
Writing A Novel
Several writers are making a significant amount of money by writing novels in genres such as romance and selling them online. This is a creative job, and the working hours are flexible. The amount of money you get depends on the current market trends, the quality of your writing, and how well you market your book.
Lawn Mowing
You can earn up to $55 per hour of mowing a lawn if you sign up on sites such as GreenPal. These sites offer you lawn mowing opportunities, so you don’t have to find them yourself.
Tour Guide
If you have good public speaking skills and love interacting with strangers, then this is the job for you. You can become a part-time tour guide of your favorite tourist destinations in your country. In this job, you can meet people from various cultural and religious backgrounds and learn interesting facts about their countries and the way of life there.
Driver
You can qualify for this job simply by having a valid driver’s license. If you sign up to become a driver in companies such as Uber, you will get to drive and earn money in your free time. The app will link you with customers near you, which makes it easier for you to find passengers.
Delivery Worker
You can get a job as a delivery worker for companies such as Amazon. As a delivery worker, you can get tips from the customers in addition to the fixed salary you get from the company. As such, there is a good earning potential in this job.
Rent Spare Rooms Or House
This side hustle allows you to earn passive income without doing much work. You can choose to rent your spare rooms or spare house on a long-term basis or temporarily. To rent your house for a short-term, you can sign up on sites such as Airbnb. This is a feasible option for people who travel a lot, and their house is not used when they are away.
Making Homemade Things And Selling Them Online
If you are talented in making items such as knitted purses, embroidered clothes, and fancy personalized bookmarks, then you can earn money by selling them online. You can make these items after you receive an order for them, ensuring that your effort and time are not wasted.
- Personal Shopper
If you enjoy shopping, you can get paid for shopping for others in your free time. To qualify for this job, you need to have good communication skills and an understanding of the items that your clients want. You will need to carefully understand the shopping needs of your client and ensure that they are properly satisfied while buying the items they request.
Pet sitter
If you love animals, then this job is the perfect match for you. You get to look after pet animals and spend time with them when their owners are away. Your pay depends on the number of hours you are taking care of the pet and the tasks assigned to you. A great perk of this job is that you can have a fun time with the pet while making money for doing so.
Florist
If you like being around flowers, then this job is suitable for you. This is a pleasant and relaxing job that involves taking care of flowers and making pretty bouquets using different combinations of flowers.
Boutique Sales Assistant
If you are passionate about fashion and you have good public speaking skills, then this is a job you should try. You get to help customers make decisions on what type of clothes buy for different events and what styles look flattering on them. In addition to your base salary, you will also get certain employee benefits such as employee discounts on the clothes.
- Interpreter and translator
If you are bilingual or multilingual, then this is a great choice of job for you. Your job will be to convey information effectively between two parties. The salary for this job depends on the type of conversation you are translating.
Massager
If you are good at giving a relaxing massage, then this is a suitable side gig for you. You can either work at a massage company or you can be a private massager who visits clients at their house to give them massages. This is a meaningful job that pays well, especially if you work privately as all the profit goes to you directly.
Nail Salon Assistant
In this job, your duties involve giving customers manicures and pedicures. The advantage of this job is that it is not physically intensive because you are seated throughout your shift. Furthermore, you have more options for shifts because most nail salons are open on holidays as well as the weekends.
Dental Hygienist
As a dental hygienist, your duties involve cleaning the patients’ teeth before a dentist examines them. The disadvantages of this job are that you need an associate degree to qualify for this job and you have limited shift options because dental clinics are not usually open during the weekends. However, there are also advantages of this job such as the fact that the salary is higher than many part-time jobs and your work is not very stressful.
Physical Therapy Assistant
As a physical therapy assistant, your job will be to help the physical therapist with the patient, wash linens, clean the equipment used, and assist the patients to and from the treatment areas. This is a meaningful and fulfilling part-time job to do.
Bank Teller
Your duties involve conversing with the customers, processing deposits and bank transactions. The average salary for this job is $12.82 per hour. To be good at this job, you need to be comfortable with speaking with people confidently. The advantage of this job is that you can work in a nice office environment and be seated throughout your shift.
Brand Ambassador
If you have an outgoing personality and you are a great public speaker, then you would be great at this job. Your duties involve explaining one-on-one to customers about the brand, providing them with the brand’s promotional materials such as brochures and flyers, and clearing any doubts they have about the brand or its products. All you need is a high school diploma to qualify for this job. A disadvantage of this job is that you need to be proactive which may be stressful for you.
Well-Paying Part-time Jobs For Students On The Campus
There are several well-paying side hustles available for students on the campus itself. Different universities have different jobs available. Some common part-time jobs available are listed below.
Library Assistant
As a library assistant, the student’s job is to ensure peace and quietness in the library and monitoring the areas designated for studying in the library. In this job, students get to complete their studies at work while earning money. Additionally, it is also a great opportunity for them to explore and read books in the library.
Teacher Assistant
In this job, students’ responsibilities include helping the teacher with tasks such as distribution and collection of assignments, relaying information between the teacher and their classmates. To get this job, students need to ask their teacher regarding the available openings.
Campus Tour Guide
As a campus tour guide, students need to give paid tours of their college campus, explaining the historical significance of the infrastructure present in the campus and the various features available for prospective students. To qualify for this job, students need to talk with strangers comfortably and confidently. Usually, students in their second year of academics and above will have sufficient knowledge of their campus to take on this job.
Campus Technical Support Assistant
Campus technical support assistant job openings are offered by the college’s computer center. In this job, the students’ responsibilities include solving technical issues faced by the staff and students in the college. An advantage of this job is that students are only required to work when there are any technical issues during their shifts. Since there are seldom any technical problems, students get to study during their work time.
Barista
This is a great job for students who enjoy drinking and making coffee. Furthermore, students would get employee discounts, which would help them to save on their coffee expenses. This job is also a fantastic opportunity for students to interact with other students who visit the cafe. This allows them to gain useful information and build friendships.
Research Assistant
As a research assistant, students have the opportunity of helping their professor on a research topic. This job is valuable to students who are interested in pursuing research work or becoming professors themselves in the future.
Event Management Assistant
As event management assistants, students need to help with the administrative tasks involved in the setting up of events. Their duties usually involve technical work and backstage tasks. A perk of this job is that students get to watch college productions for free.
Babysitter
Students can apply for babysitter positions at the student employment office on the campus. As a babysitter, students get to take care of the children of the staff and the professors. Students can make up to $10 to $15 per hour on this job.
Book Store Assistant
If there are openings, students can apply to become an assistant in the university bookstore. A big perk is that students can get employee discounts, which would help them to save money on their expenses in buying course materials and other stationery.
Administrative Assistant
Students can apply to become assistants in their department office. Their work includes doing administrative tasks such as handling paperwork. This job is a great chance for students to interact with their professors and peers. This helps them to build their professional networks which would be useful in the future when they graduate and are looking for full-time jobs.
Benefits Of Doing Part-time Jobs
There are several benefits that anyone can reap by doing part-time jobs. Some of these benefits are listed below.
- It teaches people to spend their money responsibly because they would realize the amount of hard work that goes into earning the money and hence, they would be more careful when they are spending it.
- Students will be able to learn important skills that would be useful for their career in the future and their personal life. Such skills include time management skills, teamwork skills, and communication skills.
- Certain part-time jobs will help people to speak up and improve their social interaction skills. This is especially useful for introverts. These types of part-time jobs include customer service jobs and event management jobs. This would help students to be more comfortable with conversing with strangers.
- People would be able to gain valuable life insights from the people they interact with during work, such as their coworkers and customers.
- Earning money to partly support themselves, would set students in the right direction towards gaining full financial independence in the future. This is because having gotten a glimpse into the real working world, students would be more confident to take on full-time jobs.
- People can get awesome employee discounts at the store they work at.
- Students would learn how to manage both their studies and their part-time job properly.
- Students would be able to build their professional network while working in a part-time job by interacting with different professionals during their work. This would prove to be useful for students when they are ready to do a full-time job.
- Part-time jobs allow students to make some new friends. This is especially useful for international students who are new to the country they are studying in.
- If students can get part-time jobs in their field of study, it would count as valuable work experience, which would help them get better full-time jobs in the future.
- A fun part-time job can make a student’s life more interesting. Students would be more motivated to study, knowing that they can look forward to a fun part-time job later in the day.
- If the part-time job requires creativity, then it will allow people to develop and use their creativity. Examples of such jobs include art and music-related jobs which give students the freedom to experiment and explore.
- People can support themselves and their families by doing part-time jobs in between their transition of full-time jobs.
Conclusion
In a nutshell, there is a myriad of well-paying part-time jobs that one can choose from to gain valuable work experience or to earn some extra money to support themselves better. One should assess their interests, abilities, and the amount of free time they have so that they can choose a side gig that is suitable for them. If you have spare time, you should consider getting a good side hustle as it is a productive use of your time, and you can earn extra money to support yourself and your family.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What are some popular side gigs to do in 2021?
The following side gigs are popular in the U.S. as of 2021.
- Freelance writing
- Resume writing
- Food delivery work
- Fitness trainer
- Transcriptionist
- Social media manager
- Making & selling crafts online
- Upcycling items & selling them
- House caretaking
- Remote customer service
- Tutor
- Making educational courses online & selling them
- Pet-sitting
- Driving instructor
- Translator
- Website tester
- Graphic designer
- Voice actor
- T-shirt designer
- What is the average salary of a part-time job in the USA?
The median salary for part-time jobs in the USA as of 2021 is $29 586 per annum which is equivalent to a wage of about $15.17 per hour. The salary changes based on the location and the type of part-time job.
- How many hours per week can international students work part-time in the USA?
Students with US student visas are allowed to work up to 20 hours per week as of 2021 when college is running. During academic breaks, students are allowed to work up to 40 hours per week.
