10 High-Paying Weekend & Part-time Jobs For Students

It’s the weekend again, and you are free to get kicking with your favorite hobby or leisure activity. You should, especially considering that you’ve been studying all week. However, the bills are piling up, and you might have considered getting a weekend job instead. What are the best weekend jobs that will be worth the sweat?

You can consider working as a freelance writer, blogger, graphic designer, social media manager, tour guide, online coach, proofreader, Uber or Lyft driver, pet sitter, etc. These are all high-paying jobs you can do during your weekends.

On average, these jobs pay way above minimum wage, and you can organize your weekends, so you work efficiently on them during this time.

If you are a student looking to land a high-paying weekend job, keep reading this article. We’ll share our selection of the best high-paying weekend jobs for students.

Weekend Jobs For Students That Pay Well

If you’re reading this, you’re probably a student looking for a way to make some extra cash. But it can be tough to find the right job.

It’s not as simple as walking down to the nearest fast food joint and dropping off an application. You need something that will pay well, be flexible with your schedule, and even allow you to continue studying for that big test.

Luckily for you, I’m here to help! I’ve spent my fair share of time looking for the best weekend jobs, so I can give you the pros and cons of each. Here are the ten best high-paying weekend jobs you can do as a student

1. Proofreading

If you have an eye for spotting and correcting grammatical and spelling errors in a written piece, you can consider working as a proofreader on weekends. On average, proofreaders earn more than $10 to $30 per hour. 

As a proofreader, your employers typically require that you look out for, detect, and correct punctuation, spelling, and grammar errors. Additionally, you will also look out for formatting errors. The most common documents you will usually come across as proofreaders include books and ebooks, academic papers, blog posts, marketing content, etc.

You don’t need to be exceptionally skilled to begin working as a proofreader, and your basic English ability will come in handy here. However, your English language ability must be far more than average. In addition, you must be someone with the patience to pay attention to minute details as you’ll typically be carefully scoring through pages of written documents for errors. 

To start, you can begin applying for jobs on freelance platforms like Fiverr, Upwork, Freelancer, etc. However, before gunning for jobs, you want to assess yourself properly and identify your strengths and weaknesses. Identify job roles that you’ve performed in the past that involved you having to review documents. These will count as relevant skills when setting up your profile.

Secondly, since you will typically be applying for jobs on freelance websites when starting, you want to build your profile to be as compelling as possible. Ensure you use your real name and a clear headshot profile picture.

Additionally, since proofreading requires conversing with basic writing styles, it’s wise to invest in acquainting yourself with different writing style guides. 

Most importantly, ensure you deliver quality on your first few freelance jobs. Getting good remarks and great reviews is critical to keep landing jobs as a newbie.

2. Online Fitness Coach

It just happens that most people have enough time for workouts by the weekend, and you can leverage this. The fitness and health market is popular and evergreen. If you have a knack for staying fit, you can earn from carrying along others who don’t know how to or may not feel as motivated. The average online fitness coach makes about $15 to $40 per hour.

As an online fitness coach, you’ll provide live training sessions for interested persons. Thanks to technology, there are many ways you can give online lessons right from the comfort of your home. Tools like Google meets, FaceTime, and Zoom are typical examples of videoconferencing tools you will find helpful. 

You don’t need certification to work as an online fitness coach. However, investing in formal education will be a plus and pose you as an authority to your audience. Regardless of whether or not you are certified, you will need a good understanding of the human body, muscle groups, and how they work.

Working as an online fitness coach opens you up to numerous avenues to earn from. In addition to online coaching sessions, you can create and sell your fitness lesson videos to your audience. These lessons can keep making you passive income long after you create them. You can also create and sell ebooks, build a following on YouTube, etc.

To begin working as a fitness coach, identify your sub-niche within the fitness niches and stick to it. If you’re going to be the weight loss expert, be prominent for being the fellow that helps with shedding calories.

Additionally, you want to build your skill set to near perfection. Taking recognized certification courses like NASM, ACE, ISSA, and NCSF. It is an excellent way to do this. You also want to organize your coaching program and establish your brand. 

 3. Blogging

Blogging is an excellent way to generate money part-time without having to work every day. Besides, it also has excellent income potential as you can scale up your blogging business into a full-time one. The average blogger earns from about $9 to $43 per hour. However, blogging will not make you quick money.

In general, as a blogger, you will develop easy-to-read and problem-solving blog posts aimed at providing answers to your readers’ most asked questions.

Starting a blog is not necessarily expensive. There are cheap hosting plans you can use. However, you may need an average of about $50 or more to have your blog up and running.

To start your blog, you must pick a domain name, register it and pay for hosting. You will then need to customize your blog to your taste, and you can begin making and publishing your posts on your blog.

There are several ways to make money from blogging. In general, your chances of getting more traffic to your blog increase when your blog posts are search engine optimized and rank high on google. You can convert this traffic into an earning opportunity by including affiliate links in your blog.

4. Graphic Designing 

You can earn from working as a graphic designer on weekends. However, you will need a good eye for design, creativity, and some technical design software training shoved down your pocket to do this. The average graphic designer makes anywhere from about $15 to $61.

Your job as a graphic designer will typically involve creatively designing logos, ebook cover pages, adverts, brochures, visuals of web pages, presentations, etc. Clients will require you to translate their ideas into creative designs that appropriately convey the message they have in mind.

To be successful at working as a graphic designer, you have to hone your design skills. Take courses that will teach you how to use popular graphic design software like Canva, Adobe Illustrator, etc. You want to be as good as you can be in using whatever graphic design program you choose to learn, as being better skilled is always an advantage.

You can consider honing your design skills on platforms like 99Designs hosting design competitions.

To begin getting jobs as a graphic designer, you can go freelance. Platforms like Fiverr, Upwork, Freelancer, etc., are good examples of freelance platforms you can build a profile to begin applying for jobs. 

As with any other freelance service, you want to ensure an alluring profile page. You also want to perform excellently on your first few jobs so you can leverage the reviews to land more jobs.

In addition, when you’re starting, you should go for graphic design software that is not expensive. You don’t want to incur costs higher than what you are paid. You will find free and low costing design tools like Canva helpful here.

5. Freelance Writing

Freelance writing is another good weekend job you can consider taking up. You can earn from working as a freelance writer if you have a fair amount of knowledge in a given subject area, good research ability, and can put words together creatively. The average freelance writer makes about $10 to $60 per hour.

Freelance writing typically involves developing written content for your clients. This content could include blog posts, stories, ebooks, emails, YouTube scripts, news, etc.   

While you don’t need a degree or certificate to begin working as a freelance writer, you want to have a good command of the English language- at least beyond average. You also want to be able to develop plagiarism-free and grammatically accurate content.

You can source for jobs on freelance platforms like Fiverr, Upwork, Freelancer, etc. However, platforms like this are typically very competitive. To stand out, you have to learn to pitch alluring and convincing proposals. Again, your first few jobs are your surest baits for landing more jobs, so you want to do them excellently.    

6. Social Media Manager

Social media is viral nowadays, and there’s hardly any severe business brand that’s not on social media. This means they’ll need someone to manage their social media handles. If you love spending most of your time on social media, this is an excellent opportunity to turn your passion into your paycheck. On average, social media managers earn about $23 per hour.

As a social media manager, you will typically have to manage social media account for businesses. This means you’ll be creating and updating posts, replying to comments, and responding to messages. In general, you will be keeping a company’s clients engaged.

Getting started as a social media manager does not require formal education. With little or no experience, you can fit perfectly into the role of a social media manager. However, you must be creative, quick to learn, and have a knack for frequenting social media.

You can search for social media manager jobs on freelance platforms like Upwork or Fiverr.    

7. Tour Guide

You can also take up a job as a tour guide during weekends. If you are passionate about your town and are well-vested in the knowledge of the nooks and crannies in your area, then you will make a perfect tour guide. Tour guides are well paid, and the average tour guide earns anywhere from about $10 to $24 per hour.

As a local tour guide, you will help tourists find their way around your city, advise them, and make recommendations based on their needs.

You don’t need a degree to make a great tour guide. You can make a good tour guide with average communication skills, good knowledge of your vicinity, and a warm personality.

To begin working as a tour guide, you can visit websites that connect tourists looking for directions to tour guides. Websites like ToursByLocals and Airbnb are good places to start.

8. Delivery Driver

Delivery drivers don’t only get to work at their own pace, but they are well paid for it as well. This means you can conveniently be a student during the week and a delivery driver by the weekend. The average delivery driver earns about $16 per hour.

As a delivery driver, you will typically have to deliver food to other people’s doorsteps. You can work on your terms, delivering food when you choose to, even on weekends. Many delivery services even allow you to get your payments on the same day.

While you don’t need to be a degree holder to get a job as a delivery driver, most delivery services require a vehicle of your own. In addition, you should be physically fit enough to lift loads of up to 30lbs and more.

You can begin working as a delivery driver by signing up on websites like DoorDash, Walmart, or Uber Eats. Signing up on these platforms will typically take just minutes of your time.

9. Pet Sitter

While many people pet lovers acquire and keep pets around themselves, not everyone has the time to cater to the needs of their pets.  If you are good with handling pets and don’t mind spending your weekend pet-sitting, you can leverage this for your profit. On average, pet sitters earn about $12 per hour.

Your job as a pet sitter will typically involve dog walking, feeding, and playing with dogs. Most pet-sitting jobs allow you to select the breed and size of dogs you are comfortable with, so working as a pet sitter should not be challenging.  

Pet sitting is not that much of a skilled service, so you don’t need to be certified to be a pet sitter. If you are comfortable around pets and find it fun to spend your weekend while making money, then pet sitting will be just the perfect weekend job for you.

You can land your first pet-sitting job on websites and apps like Rover, Wag, Care.com, and camp bow. Signing up on these sites will take just a few minutes. However, most of these platforms require that you pass a security background check before selecting to work.

10. English Language Tutor

You can also make money from teaching the English language online during weekends. If you are a native English speaker or have good English speaking and writing skills, you can consider taking up a job as an English Language online tutor. English language tutors earn an average of about $20 per hour.

Your job as an English language online tutor will involve teaching interested persons English language lessons. While this may not seem complicated, especially if you are a native English speaker, you don’t want to look down on this opportunity as many people want to improve their English speaking and writing skills.

You don’t need a degree in English to begin working as an English language tutor. However, most companies will require that you at least have a bachelor’s degree in any other field.

To get English language tutoring jobs, you can visit websites like Preply, TutorMe, Tutor.com, or Skooli. These are all excellent places to begin your job search.

What Weekend Job Pay The Highest?

Jobs like food delivery driving, private tutoring, freelance writing, graphic design, pet sitting, social media management, English language tutoring, etc., are some of the highest-paying weekend jobs. Each of these jobs offers an average pay of at least $10 per hour, and you can always work on most of them at your own pace. 

In addition, most of these jobs do not require that you have a degree, so you can begin working on them without much ado.

What Are The Highest Paying Student Jobs?

How Can I Make Extra Money On The Weekends?

You can make extra money on the weekends from side hustles like Uber or Lyft driving, dog walking, babysitting, housesitting, online tutoring, food delivery driving, grocery shopping, janitorial services, restaurant jobs, and weekend reception jobs. Again, most jobs in this category don’t require formal training, so you can begin working almost immediately. 

As a student with needs to meet, you most likely want to generate extra cash during the weekends. However, when doing this, you also want to get as much value for your time as possible. We have put together this list of top-paying weekend jobs to help you choose which will give you the best value for your time.