For a lot of students finding a part-time job that offers enough flexibility to allow them to complete their coursework while earning enough money to get by can feel like an overwhelming task. The competition for local part-time jobs is pretty stiff and many times you need to know someone to get a foot in the door.
Working online offers many benefits to students of all types that conventional jobs cannot. You can save money on travel expenses, work in a more comfortable environment, and, in many cases, you can even set your own hours.
Most employers who post jobs online for local positions often want to see a degree or years of related experience on a resume. As a high school, college, or grad school student, this can be a difficult obstacle to overcome in your job search, but it shouldn’t discourage you.
As long as you know what skills are important, there are a lot of high paying part-time jobs online you should be able to find work on quite easily.
Having familiarity with web conferencing software, being able to type, and knowing how to self-market yourself are just some of the skills needed in today’s digital economy.
Also, a few of the more entrepreneurial jobs on this list require some investment in time and capital upfront. You should take account of your current needs before pursuing any of these options.
With that said, whether you are in high school, college, or grad school, here are 30 jobs that students just like yourself are already successfully making money with.
Table of Contents
1. Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL)
English is a common second language for many people around the world. Because of this, there’s a high demand for teachers who can teach English to both young learners and business-minded adults. This means that you can make some serious cash teaching ESL online.
Several companies specialize in teaching English as a second language and most are in desperate need of online teachers, such as TEFLPros and
italki and many of these platforms don’t require a degree or any experience to get started.
2. Transcriptionist
Students with a good ear and typing skills are turning to transcription jobs to help pay their bills. This is a position where you will listen to audio or video files and type out what you hear as a transcription or in the case of video closed captions.
You can do this as a freelancer on sites like Freelancer.com, Upwork, and Fiverr, or apply for positions on career sites, such as ZipRecruiter and FlexJobs, or work gigs on transcription sites like Rev.com.
You may want to invest in a transcriptionist’s foot pedal though, which allows you to use your feet to pause, rewind, or play files without having to take your hands off the keyboard.
3. Virtual Assistant
One online job that can offer high-paying remote work for college and grad students is working as a virtual assistant. This is where you’ll typically perform the same tasks that one might normally do in an office setting.
As a virtual assistant, your job function might include planning events, handling inbound calls, scheduling appointments, inputting data, or whatever other tasks the position calls for. You can find virtual assistant jobs on many different career sites, including Indeed, Monster, and Career Builder.
4. Online Vendor
One of the oldest ways to make money on the internet is as an online vendor. This involves selling products through sites such as eBay, and Amazon. However, instead of just posting items for sale and waiting for buyers to come along, you can be a bit more proactive.
For example, you can run an ad campaign using social media, Google AdWords, and Instagram & Facebook Ads, so customers will find your ads while using Google, Instagram, or Facebook when performing Google searches or using Facebook. You can simply link the ads to your listings on eBay or Amazon to increase customer exposure.
Although this sounds simple, additional training is highly recommended to know what products will sell and how to market them for a profit. There are several free courses on platforms like Udemy, Alison, and HubSpot Academy.
5. Freelance Writer
Being a freelance writer is not just for English Majors, if you have the ability to quickly knock out a 3-page essay or research report then freelance writing may be a good fit for you
There are dozens of content Services looking for good writers. To find clients to write for, you can choose from any of the following options:
- Article brokers – Websites that pair writers with clients, which means you don’t have to worry about pitching articles to anyone. Textbroker is an example of an article broker.
- Freelance sites – Sites where you can advertise your writing services as gigs, which you’ll write when clients place orders with you.
- Direct pitching websites- Sending proposal emails to websites you’d like to write for while providing at least five examples of articles or blogs you’ve already written. Many sites will pay $50 an article and some up to $250 depending on their content requirements. There are dozens of sites that will pay for articles if you are hermoney.com, Cosmopolitan.com, TheDailyBeast.com, and Bookbrowse.com
- Writer’s job boards – lots of smaller websites hire writers directly through job boards like Problogger.com or compose.ly. Site owners will list a type of writer they are looking for you will choose the best ones and apply.
6. Etsy Seller
For students with creativity and entrepreneur skills, Etsy is the perfect platform to carve out an online business. Although it’s mostly known as a marketplace for handmade products, you can also sell digitally-made items on the site as well.
Even if you’re not skilled in crocheting or arts and crafts, there are plenty of pre-made products that can be personalized with customers, names, initials or a favorite saying also sell very well. This could be on Tee Shirts, Mugs, bracelets, pillows just to name a few.
There is also a high demand for digital products, such as custom banners, logos, desktop wallpapers, office forms, and eBooks. Because there’s no shipping involved with digital downloads, you can still focus on your schoolwork without having to worry about making trips to FedEx or the post office.
7. Proofreader
Students with strong English and grammar skills can work online as proofreaders. This is where someone will submit their work to you to check for spelling, grammar errors, or formatting errors
In addition to advertising your services as gigs on freelance sites, you can also search online job boards specifically for this position. Many major media sites are in need of proofreaders who can work with editors to ensure articles and stories are checked before being published.
If you want to take an extra step in your job search, you can search LinkedIn for editors of online publications and ask if they have any proofreading positions available.
8. Resume Writer
Believe it or not, many people who are looking for jobs are unable to make their own resumes. Even with free resume templates available online, there are still people who become intimidated by this process and would rather have someone do it for them.
You can perform this service for others by joining freelance sites, such as Upwork and Fiverr. You can also create your own website with a PayPal or credit card feature to accept payments and use an ad network to advertise your resume writing service.
9. Private Tutor
Becoming a private tutor can be both profitable and rewarding, and can be done at many levels. It does not matter if you are in high school, college, or grad school, really the only requirement is that you are a year or two ahead of your students, understand the material, and have the patience to help someone else understand what you already know.
If there’s any area of education that you might have experience with or even just something you’re particularly skillful at, become a private tutor online may be an attractive option. This might involve teaching math, science, drawing, or anything else to both children and adults.
Tutoring sessions often take place through web conferencing platforms, such as Skype and Zoom, and you can find clients by either advertising your services on School Facebook groups or offering your services through online tutoring sites like tutor.com or tutorme.com
10. Online Merchant
Becoming an Online Merchant is similar to selling on Marketplace sites like Amazon and eBay but in place of putting your products on their sites, you build your E-commerce site. The most common way of becoming an online Merchant is using one of the available e-commerce platforms available like Shopify, Wix E-commerce, or WooCommerce.
There are upfront costs to beginning this type of site these include hosting, cost of goods, and advertising. Similar to Amazon and eBay it is highly recommended that you get training before starting on this type of website.
Two of the most common models for being an online Merchant are:
- Arbitraged products – These are products that you first purchase elsewhere (either as wholesale or retail) and then sell on your site at a marked-up price.
- Drop shipped products – With Dropshipping, you don’t hold any inventory or handle any products. Instead, your distributor discretely ships out items to your customers once an order is placed through your site. Many types of products can be drop-shipped but some of the most popular are inexpensive gadgets from China, Clothing, and t-shirts with your custom graphics.
11. Website Flipper
Over the last several years websites have become a type of investment property for businesses and entrepreneurs online, which means that you can make good money by flipping websites. This is the art of building a website getting everything completely ready to start doing business and then put that sign up for sale.
Once you become more advanced you can begin purchasing distressed websites fixing the things that are wrong with them bringing them back to profitability and then reselling the sites for a profit. To do this, you can check website marketplaces, such as Flippa.com, Empireflippers.com, and Exchangemarketplace.com.
12. Coder
Whether you’re in school for computer programming or are simply interested in learning how to code, you can make money by working as a freelance coder.
If you’re not already familiar with HTML, PHP, and CSS, you can learn this quickly by taking a few courses online and reading tutorials. You should then be able to find a company that’s willing to hire you to help with building or maintaining their website.
These types of positions are normally easy to find if you check job boards. You can also search the internet for sites that appear to have subpar coding and offer to help with improving it.
13. SEO Expert
SEO, or search engine optimization, is the process of using techniques to get website pages to rank well in search engine results. All websites are competing to be on Google’s first page when a user searches for specific keywords. SEO experts are people who have learned what it takes to get there, so this is a highly valuable skill to have, as it helps businesses make more money.
You don’t need a degree or any type of special training to learn SEO methods. All the information you’ll need can be found online by reading webmaster forums and watching YouTube videos on this topic.
14. PowerPoint Creator
As a student, you may have used PowerPoint for at least one assignment by now. This program has become an essential tool in both academic and business environments. Some people aren’t tech-savvy or patient enough to learn how to make PowerPoint presentations.
The ability to create PowerPoint presentations is a skill that stands out on a resume. This means that you can offer to create these presentations for students and business-focused adults by advertising your services on gig sites, academic Facebook pages, and student forums.
15. Personal Trainer
If you’re healthy and have a passion for fitness training, you can take advantage of the current boom in the remote fitness industry by becoming a trainer online.
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, many people around the world stopped going to gyms. This meant that fitness trainers had to adapt and started training their clients by using video conferencing instead, and this concept just took off with clients from there.
You can first market yourself on Instagram and YouTube by photographing and Video in your workouts. Once you begin to gain followers, you can then offer one-on-one private sessions through a teleconferencing app.
16. Blogger
There are many different types of blogs and most take time to build up an audience that can generate a decent source of income, but if you can regularly post articles that readers are interested in, this can be a great way to make mostly passive income. There are several ways you can earn income from blogging, the three most common are
- Pay-Per-Click (PPC) ads – PPC programs, such as is Ezoic and Mediavine allow you to place ads on your site and earn money each time a visitor lands on your site.
- Rent advertising space – Once you have enough traffic, you can approach other website owners and offer to advertise their products on your site for a monthly sponsorship fee.
- Affiliate products – You can find affiliate products related to your blog and link to them from your articles. When a visitor to your site clicks a link and purchases an affiliate product, you will earn a commission on the sale. There are thousands of affiliate products over dozens of platforms to choose from.
17. Online Moderator
Anyone who has visited a forum or chatroom has most likely come across an online moderator at work, whether they realized it or not. These are the people who monitor social sites to ensure everybody is following the rules.
To get started as an online moderator, you can simply search for forums and social sites that have many members or google online moderator jobs. You can then answer the want ads you find or contact the site administrators directly and ask them if they’re hiring moderators
While agencies typically offer better pay the work hours are typically not as flexible, freelance moderators unless most moderators work for several different websites at once by opening multiple tabs in their web browsers. For those who can multitask, this is one of the better online jobs for students in college. Especially for those who can communicate in more than one language
18. Translator
Many individuals and companies need translation services for both documents and audio. If you know a second language, you can search job boards for online translation positions. You can also do this as a freelancer by advertising on Upwork, Freelancer.com, and textbroker.com.
Also, even if you are not fluent in a second language, some students have found ways to make money using translation arbitrage. This is where you find clients who need translation services, then hire gig workers to translate your clients’ orders for you at a cheaper rate. This works best if you’re able to review the work before passing it on to your client.
19. Online Bookkeeper
If you happen to be studying business or accounting, you can use this as a way to become an online bookkeeper. Many companies need someone who can balance their finances. Bookkeeping involves managing financial records, sending out invoices, collecting payments, and keeping track of a company’s expenses.
Even if you’re still in school, any type of educational background involving business can help give you the credibility that’s needed to be a bookkeeper. There are many free and paid courses on bookkeeping and you can even become certified.
20. App Tester
Thanks to the widespread adoption of smartphones over the past decade, companies are now developing apps for their products and services at an unprecedented rate. This means that many of them are in need of testers to report back on the pros and cons of their apps.
Through online platforms such as Amazon Mturk and Clickworker, many students are making money this way. While most of these gigs pay very little because each testing session is normally very short in duration, it can add up when you can stay busy with multiple clients.
Also the more Giggs you complete successfully the better your rankings will be on the site offering you the chance to earn more. Pay on these types of sites can range from pennies per minute to $10 – $15 an hour.
21. Video Editor
Freelance video editing is easily one of the best online jobs for students in high school and college. To do this, all you’ll need is a professional video editing program and a little self-marketing know-how.
While many video editors make a good living posting gigs on freelance sites, you can also find clients more directly by looking for those that regularly post subpar videos on YouTube or Facebook. You can then show them a demo of your work and offer to improve their videos for a negotiable price.
22. Data entry
If you’re a quick typist, there are many different data entry jobs that you can do online as either a freelancer or an employed remote worker. Many companies need someone to convert scanned documents into online content. So, you may have clients who ask you to help them with inputting customer applications and forms into an online database.
To do data entry work, whether it’s on a day-to-day basis or as a salaried position, you should check online job boards or post an ad for your services on popular freelance sites.
23. Customer Service Representative
For students who enjoy talking on the phone, many companies hire customer service representatives (CSR) who can work remotely from home. You can find and apply to CSR jobs on career sites such as ZipRecruiter, Indeed, and GlassDoor. For a CSR job, you’ll normally need the following:
- Reliable internet – Companies that hire for CSR positions normally test their employee’s internet bandwidth first. They want to ensure that it’s fast enough to handle calls through their platform.
- Headset – While some CSR positions require that you purchase your own headset, this is normally provided to you. Many companies want to make sure you’re using a headset model that they have already thoroughly tested.
- Fast typing speed – Because working as a CSR involves lots of typing, having a better than average typing speed is normally preferable.
24. Social Media Manager
If you know what it takes to get shares and likes on social media posts, you might just be perfect for a social media manager position. Because sites such as Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube have become so integral to people’s lives, many businesses and influencers want to tap into this as a way to promote themselves and their companies.
Up-and-coming influencers often manage multiple social media accounts across Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, and now Tik Tok and they gain in popularity, they need help. If you have a favorite influencer and believe you have what it takes you can reach out to them directly or offer your services as a freelance manager through sites like LinkedIn, Upwork, or Hubstaff Talent
Many local business owners don’t always understand tech trends and how to gain followings online. Their inexperience presents an opportunity for you if you’re able to demonstrate both knowledge and skills in this area. Offering your services to a local business that doesn’t already have a significant social media presence and explaining how you can help them with this can be a great way to get your foot in the door and build up a portfolio of clients.
25. Voiceover Artist
There’s a growing demand for voice-over artists, on video platforms like Vimeo, and especially YouTube. As these platforms continue to grow in popularity and more and more blogs are starting YouTube channels those side owners are not always the best voice for their videos.
To become a voiceover artist, you can advertise your service as a gig on the usual freelance marketplaces or contact advertising and video production companies directly. If going the direct route, be sure to provide potential clients with a recording demo of yourself.
As you gain experience you should not limit yourself just to YouTube. Often the voiceover artist you hear narrating commercials on television or advertising products on the radio got their start on freelance sites like Fiverr and Upwork.
Interested in a career in the Performing Arts, voiceovers aren’t just found in media advertising. If you’ve ever watched a foreign language film that has been dubbed over in English, this was also a voiceover actor’s work.
26. Textbook Broker
Over the years, there have been some wild stories published in the media about college and high school students who made a killing as textbook brokers. While this is a line of work that requires a lot of hustling and entrepreneurship, it can be incredibly profitable if you have the know-how and drive for it.
You basically act as a middle person between the sellers and buyers of textbooks. There are many different marketplaces online that serve as hubs where you can buy and sell books. Although this one can be profitable it is not for everyone, it’s also seasonal with most activity being beginning and end of semesters.
27. Stock Photographer
If you’re already a bit of a Shutterbug this one can be a great way to make extra cash. With millions of websites online, there’s a high demand for digital images. Site owners don’t always have the time and resources to create visual content themselves. This is where you can really capitalize on the situation as a stock photographer if you have a decent camera.
Every time a customer downloads a picture from stock photography sites, the photographer stands to make a small chunk of change. This can really add up for those who have a large portfolio of pictures. Whether it’s outdoor photography, pictures of office settings, or snapshots of animals, there’s a wide array of different niches and topics you can specialize in.
This one can also take time to get up to speed, you will need to upload lots of awesome photographs on multiple sites to have a good portfolio for clients to choose from.
28. YouTube Content Creator
If you can make entertaining or helpful videos for others and can do so consistently, there’s some serious potential to make money with YouTube. In addition to promoting your own website or products, you can earn money with these two options as well:
- Partner Program – Once you have over 4,000 video watch hours accumulated in a 12 month period and over 1,000 subscribers, you can apply to YouTube’s Partner Program. Once approved, you can earn money through Google’s Adsense platform which will display ads on your videos.
- Rent Video Space – If you have a significant following, you can reach out to companies related to the topics of your videos and offer to promote their brand for a negotiated price. You can then either mention their products in your videos or place a link to their site below the videos.
29. Graphic Designer
Students who have a flair for digital artwork can make a living as online graphic designers. While this type of position doesn’t require any type of formal training, you’ll need to know how to create images and designs with computer software.
Although some companies hire their own in-house designers and advertise these positions online, most graphic designers tend to be freelancers. In this role, you can either choose to specialize in a specific type of graphic design or work as a jack of all trades designing images and art for websites, eBooks, apps, and other types of multimedia.
30. Email Marketer
Not everybody is good with words, which is why email marketing is one of the best paying online jobs. If you can communicate concisely and creatively, you may just have what it takes to become an email marketer.
In this position, you’d be in charge of reaching out to prospective customers by sending emails on behalf of a company. In the emails, you would typically pitch a product or service in order to generate interest and to get customers to visit your client’s website.
While email marketing positions are often advertised on various employment sites, you can reach out to companies directly and explain why your services will be of value to them. Use your pitch to them as an example of how strong your pitching skills will be with their customers.
Thinking Outside the Box
While there’s a wide range of online jobs available, many of these roles involve a certain level of entrepreneurship and self-direction. So, you shouldn’t be afraid to try new things when it comes to applying for online jobs, reaching out to clients, or testing new ways to market yourself. Thinking outside the box and getting creative is often what makes the difference between having a typical job and being highly successful.
By Bryan Greene