Living in London, as everyone knows, can be pretty expensive. Therefore, students on a tight budget always tend to find a part-time job to help support their lifestyle and expenses throughout their studies. On the other hand, looking for employment or internships during the academic year can benefit your scholar curriculum and improve your overall final grade if counted as part of your learning process. The tricky part is to find something that fits in your schedule and doesn’t take too much time out of your study time.

Which (online) job is best for students?

Nowadays, universities have facilitated students to find temporary employment by using their student affairs department to coordinate better the time and energies of the student. Also, jobs and internships have become more flexible where a student can do their work experience remotely, saving time in going and coming back from a place of work. Online paid internships and part-time jobs have helped with time management and efficiency.

These typologies of jobs are beneficial for their time flexibility, good money for an entry-level position, upskilling before graduating, and a better understanding of the career direction the student would want to specialise in.

Depending on their degree and specialisation, the best online employments are in the design industry: graphic designer, social media creator, photographer, video producer, SEO evaluator, website developer, blogger, copywriter and so on.

There are also more traditional jobs such as tutor, translator, teaching assistant or customer service that can be done remotely.

Top 5 online jobs for students

The most common job roles that students usually take on during their studies are to support themselves financially and upskill.

1. Resume & website content writer

One of the first things they teach you how to do in university is writing. Being a content writer means organising your information and creating original content for any platform: resume, website, blog, newspaper, press releases, social media, SEO, advertising. The copywriting business is a very competitive field and in very high demand.
Language teacher – If you are lucky enough to know more than one language, this job is perfect. Flexible hours you can choose, you can do it remotely or in person, and you decide on your hourly rate. You might need to prove a certain level of fluency in the language you have chosen to teach by providing a certification like IELTS for English or DELF and DALF to teach french as primary examples.

2. Online Tutor

This role is very similar to a language teacher. Here you can choose which typology of subjects you would like to specialise in as a tutor. You can put create an account and advertise your services on websites like MyTutor (https://www.mytutor.co.uk/), TutorMe (https://tutorme.com/) or Preply (https://preply.com/), to mention a few.
Social media specialist – If you are studying marketing or anything creative like graphic design or communication and production studies finding a job in social media is a rite of passage before specialising in a specific field of marketing studies. Various positions are available on job careers pages directly on university websites such as UAL (https://www.arts.ac.uk/working-at-ual/jobs), targeted directly at students searching for a flexible part-time job opportunity. On Fever or Upwork, you can find other online jobs suitable for freelancing and contractor work.

3. Translator

On the same websites like Upwork or Fever, you can also find freelancing jobs such as translating for companies in different countries. This type of work gives way more flexibility to the students, that can do the job at any time they want as long as they respect the deadline.

Best websites for students’ jobs

• UAL: Which stands for, University of the Arts London, is the perfect website for student or entry-level post-grad students in Communications and Creative Studies. The university provides a councillor to direct the student into the proper job role. Also, it offers different types of job opportunities, from freelancing, online, part-time and for international students or online courses to upskill before entering the work environment. Many more universities in London now have a career department where the university helps students find a job with all the implications of working and studying while graduating.
• UpWork and Fever: These are independent websites for occasional and freelance jobs. Most roles are more concentrated on the digital and marketing field, but you can also find translations, copywriting and tutoring.
• Indeed & Linkedin: Having a good CV and knowing how to navigate websites such as Indeed or Linkedin is fundamental because they need your CV on both occasions. Linkedin helps you create and build a professional network that you will need further to find your permanent position. At the same time, there is a good section of job searches you can easily apply to while you continue your studies.

The opportunities are endless for students that want to have their first experiences in the workplace and also have the time to prepare for their exams. Ask your career department at your university the best way to tackle your first approach to the workplace and then expand from there to the third-party platforms suggested above.

Find out more about Studying in London >