College Student seeks employment advice

April 29, 2007 6:40 PM

I am going back to school after a 3 year break. Help me think out of the box in terms of employment opportunities (while I am in college) that have working hours between 4:30 pmish and 1 amish.

Income requirements = $350+ a week, of course $500 would be more ideal.

I am open to working full time this summer and then cutting back (in the same field) when classes start at the end of August.

I have military experience, admin, sales, and costumer service experience (waiting tables, fine dinning and volume work)

I personally know that waiting tables is a common job for people in this situation but I'm burnt out on it to a degree and am trying to find something a bit more fulfilling and long term, preferably something with health insurance though that’s not a necessity.

One idea I had was to go into car sales (I did it for a brief time about 4 years ago). I would work full time during the summer and then Friday, Saturday, Sunday while classes are in schedule. But I want to explore more options before venturing down this path.

Alright hive mind, as always thank you for your help!

(one side note, i definitely want to take day time classes (there are just more of them at my college) so I can finish my degree faster. Evening classes and day employment is not really something I am considering)

posted by crewshell to Work & Money (19 answers total)

When I returned to college after a three year stint in the army, I snapped up a resident adivisor job - free room and board. I also worked my way quickly to the editorship of the college newspaper, paying a monthly stipend. With some Gi bill money and some scholarship dough, I was able to live comfortably as a full time college student. I don't know all of your circumstances, but as a non traditional student, there are many on campus opportunities that experience and maturity turn into tremendous advantages.
posted by majikwah at 6:48 PM on April 29, 2007

This is not a direct answer to your question, but I do know of a job that is usually 11 pm to 7 am if you think you could do that. I worked for several years as a night auditor at hotels. You have to do some customer service work for the first and last hour of the shift, and then generally you run reports and veg out for the other 6 hours. It's a great job if you need free time to study or read, you just have to get used to being on a different schedule from the rest of the world.

It can be occasionally stressful, I worked in a small hotel where I was the only employee in the building with 100 rooms from midnight to five a.m. So when problems crop up, it's just you. But 75% of the time I did my own thing, as long as the work was done when the sun came up.
posted by saffry at 7:06 PM on April 29, 2007

Don't know if you count this under the category of "waiting tables" but bartending will get you some mad cash. Benefits are that you can easily make a lot of money only working two or three days a week. I found bartending to be a lot more enjoyable than waiting tables, especially if you work at a fun, cool bar.

(Not exactly out of the box, sorry).

You could also try just taking M-W-F classes or T-Th classes and then substitute teaching on your off days. I know someone who did that and the way it worked was she's get a call at 7 a.m. saying "We need you today — can you work?" I think there have been a few AskMe threads about substituting — no experience required.
posted by Brittanie at 7:10 PM on April 29, 2007

Emergency Room Admissions? I don't know what they make, but their shifts at the ER I worked at seemed to run about those hours you list. Don't do a Level One Trauma Center. A Level Two is not as hectic and there's even time to study on occasion.
posted by dog food sugar at 7:12 PM on April 29, 2007

Hospitals are open 24 hours, and I'd guess working there comes with some sort of health plan.
posted by Rock Steady at 7:14 PM on April 29, 2007

Preview is good.
posted by Rock Steady at 7:14 PM on April 29, 2007

I forgot to add that if you're a full-time student most universities offer free or super cheap insurance. I was also going to say that a lot of newspapers want people to work evening shifts to cover anything that happens while the 9-5ers are gone. It might be easier to give you "meaningful" ideas if we knew what you were studying or what field you eventually hope to work in.
posted by Brittanie at 7:27 PM on April 29, 2007

My college job with perfect hours was at a bank chain's regional HQ processing checks. Ran from ~4:30pm until usually 10 or 11pm. 400 bucks a week.

It's not fun work, but it was ideal for a short period of time. If that sounds doable to you, search for jobs with keywords "item processing" or "proof department".
posted by Plinko at 7:39 PM on April 29, 2007

If you want to sell your soul, there's always call centers. If you're good, there's pretty good money to be made and the ones in college were open 24/7.
Driving buses was also pretty good money and they ran until 1am.
posted by jmd82 at 7:57 PM on April 29, 2007

My brother worked from about 2am to 6am Mon-Fri unloading boxes for Fed-Ex. They paid him $10/hr +$1/hr for tuition assistance. I think benefits are included too. The city where I live only pays $7/hr so pay may vary by location. He took over on delivery when one of the drivers quit and now makes about $15/hr.

Late night store stockers get payed about $8/hr at places like Wal-Mart and Target.
posted by stuffedcrust at 8:00 PM on April 29, 2007

Projection, at a nearby movie theater. It's got a steep learning curve, but once you master threading a film, it's a job with a lot of downtime (for doing the homework), and some great perks. I worked in the booth at an Indie/Art film theater for 2.5 years towards the end of college and after, and I'd go back in a second.

Except... the one downside. Unless you find a union house, the money's not going to be great. $9-10/hour. Projectionists these days tend to be register lackeys upgraded when the previous projectionist quits. Whether or not your favorite movie theater is union depends on where you live, of course.
posted by god hates math at 8:01 PM on April 29, 2007

Response by poster: My course of study is in finance, economics. Thanks for all the great replys. I'll look into a few of them. I am in the DC / Northern VA area, by the way. Going to school at GMU in fairfax.
posted by crewshell at 8:19 PM on April 29, 2007

Some ideas:
- residence assistant, so you get free room & board
- grocery or department store clerk, so you get discount on things you need to buy (especially if dept store also stocks groceries)
- waiting tables one or two shifts per week (if you're making $20 an hour after tips, you'd only have to work Saturday/Sunday, as opposed to 35 hours at a job that pays $10 hour. Maybe you could do this on call or something, so that it's more of a back-up job.)
- call centre work (pays around $20/hour where I live)
- get great marks and apply for scholarships. My university granted a free ride if you had a GPA of 3.5 or higher.
- insurance sales
posted by acoutu at 8:23 PM on April 29, 2007

Starbucks offers flexible shifts, great health benefits (even for PT employees) and is said to be a generally fun place to work.
posted by arnicae at 8:41 PM on April 29, 2007

Your field is economics?

Be a part-time or freelance bookkeeper. You can work as little or much as you like. It takes time to hussle up customers, but many small businesses only need once a week help, and the pay (although variable in the extreme) can be quite high. At my last gig I was making 25/hr. I've made as much as 40 and as little as 10. Learn Quickbooks (which is easy) and then either start at an accounting temp agency, call bookkeeping services to see if they need helpers, or just make cold calls to small businesses. You can also try craigslist etc.

Really, it's kind of boring, but I supported myself this way for years, and never worked full-time.
posted by serazin at 9:01 PM on April 29, 2007

Oh, duh, after reading Serazin's suggestion, I have to tell you to consider small business consulting. When I was in school, students were making $20-35 an hour and up for this, although some made less. I started in consulting and freelancing when I was still a student. Many colleges have small business consulting groups run by students.
posted by acoutu at 9:07 PM on April 29, 2007

What about working at your school library's reserve desk or language lab? The ones at my university were open late - something like 11:30 or midnight - and it seemed like student employees got A LOT of homework done.
posted by mdonley at 9:25 PM on April 29, 2007

Response by poster: Thanks guys, the consulting isn't really within my reach yet. I am just now returning to class and will be diving into my major courses this semester. A year or so into the degree that might be more likely.
posted by crewshell at 11:38 PM on April 29, 2007

I wasn't suggesting economics consulting. I meant that you could consult on customer service or military issues. (Some small businesses can always use help in improving their customer service, store security, loss prevention, etc.)
posted by acoutu at 9:23 PM on April 30, 2007