Student jobs you can do from home allow you to work on your schedule, bring in extra income, and get some work experience.
They’re also your chance to experiment with jobs which can redirect your career path towards fulfilling jobs after completing your college degree.
Online jobs for college students are your opportunity to develop hard skills and brush up on soft skills that’ll stand out on your post-grad resume.
College student jobs you can do from your dorm room include:
- Freelance writing
- Customer service
- Virtual Assistant
- Tutoring
How do these four opportunities strengthen your resume?
Building Your Portfolio With Freelance Writing Jobs
Writing jobs are a great opportunity for building both your CV and portfolio for your future writing career. Besides writing, you’ll gain other broadly applicable and valuable skills—including creativity, concise communication, and the basics of marketing.
As a college student, you can find writing jobs in the world of marketing, creative fiction writing, and online publications.
The table below shows different ways writers can earn money and skills you’ll gain after working these jobs:
| Type of Writing | Includes: | Skillset You’ll Acquire |
| Copywriting |
| Hard skills:
Soft Skills:
|
| Content writing |
| Hard skills:
Soft skills:
|
| Creative writing |
| Hard skills:
Soft skills:
|
Entry-level writing jobs are an opportunity to build your writing portfolio which, in turn, helps you land a full-time writing job after college.
However, the skills you acquire as a writer are versatile. You’ll learn a lot about editing, research, and digital marketing as a content writer and/or copywriter.
You might find out that you enjoy these aspects more than writing and use the experience to find jobs as an editor, research assistant, or marketing consultant.
Pro Tip: Write about topics you closely follow or the ones you study as a part of your college major. It’s easier to write quality content if you know the topic.
Improving People Skills With Customer Service Jobs
Customer service jobs ramp up your communication skills, help you learn how to be an active listener, make quick decisions, and become more emphatic.
Online jobs for college students in customer service are versatile. They include entry-level opportunities as a support specialist, customer service assistant, and call center representative.
While working in customer service, you might spend your days answering emails or spending your shift with a headset. What all of them have in common is that you’ll be conversing with people all over the world—honing your communication skills.
Soft skills that look great on the resume that you can further develop working customer service jobs include:
- Active listening
- Problem-solving
- Effective communication
- Positive attitude
Hard skills include:
- Bilingual/multilingual communication—if you speak more than one language
- Computer skills
- Product expertise—in-depth knowledge of company products
Hiring managers know that customer service jobs require working in a stressful and unpredictable environment while communicating with people from all walks of life.
Having a customer service job on your resume hints that you know how to listen and adapt to any work environment.
Mastering Organization as a Virtual Assistant
As a virtual assistant, you’ll have to be detail-oriented, tech-savvy, dependable, and an organized powerhouse who also knows their way around social media—sometimes all of it at the same time.
Common tasks for virtual assistants include:
- Managing social media accounts
- Organizing schedule (travel, meetings, booking accommodation)
- Providing customer service
How does this translate to soft and hard skills you can list on your resume? Take a look at the table below:
| Hard Skills for Virtual Assistants | Soft Skills for Virtual Assistants |
|
|
Pro Tip: Find a virtual assistant position within the industry you’re interested in working after finishing your degree. You’ll get an insight into your future day-to-day after you graduate and figure out if your future career is the way you imagined it to be.
You also might find out that being a virtual assistant is a job you enjoy and want to continue following the degree.
Becoming a Clear Communicator With Tutoring Jobs
Tutoring experience is a major plus on CVs for future educators, but other college students can benefit from tutoring because they build these skills:
- Time management
- Verbal communication with people of different ages
- Ability to break down complex concepts in a straightforward way
Tutoring opportunities look different.
They can mean helping struggling students get better grades by finding effective study techniques or different ways to explain difficult concepts. They can also mean helping them learn extracurricular skills online.
Popular online tutoring opportunities include:
- Online English teaching (ESL)
- Helping students of different ages with homework or studying over Zoom
- Selling online video courses on different subjects
- Tutoring on extracurricular skills (e.g. arts or music)
Boosting Your Resume With Online Student Jobs
Online college jobs are a stepping stone to getting a dream job after you finish college because:
- They back up the soft and hard skills you list on your resume.
- They have the potential to grow into a full-time career.
- They can redirect you towards your dream career.
- They show future employers that you have a strong work ethic and that you’re proactive in your career.
