I was once a college student and I know how hard it is when you don’t have money to buy the things that you need for schooling. Fortunately, with the right skills and the right diskarte, you can earn a decent amount of money by working online as a student and no experience.
Here in the Philippines, there are a lot of part-time job opportunities such as working in McDonald’s or Jollibee, washing the clothes of your neighbors, and taking good care of the baby of your aunt and uncle in exchange for some cash. While there’s nothing wrong with these job opportunities, making money from online jobs can earn you something better.
While in college, I worked for a few online jobs that didn’t require prior experience and investment. I mentioned a lot of websites that I used or signed up for to make money from home. I already have a few articles about those websites and so in this article, I will list a few new online jobs that you can earn money from as a student.
Table of Contents
1. Work as a Virtual Assistant
Income: at least $3 to $10 per hour (or more).
Working as a virtual assistant won’t require years of experience. To be honest, I was hired by a client as her virtual assistant even if I don’t have experience assisting people in their business or personal affairs.
But as her virtual assistant, my tasks vary and include web research, data entry, and other tasks that are easy to learn as you go.
For example, I remember she asked me to search for car racing tracks around her neighborhood where she can bring her own car to race. I then consulted google and then call each one of those dealerships to ask a few questions.
Well, the task was really easy especially because the questions are already given by the client and are answerable by yes or no. Also, ‘googling’ is just a piece of cake (right?). The only thing that made it challenging is talking to people in English, which was something I am not confident doing at that time.
Okay, I have to be transparent here and tell you that there are virtual assistant jobs that do require an expert in a certain skill such as social media graphics design, or video editing, or project management. On the other hand, some clients prefer freelancers who are a jack of all trades, meaning, someone who is familiar with a lot of skills.
While I suggest you not to apply for these certain job postings, I am not discouraging you to try your luck. 🙂
If you want to work as a virtual assistant you might need some skill set but I’m telling you there are clients out there who are willing to hire freelancers without experience. You only need to be confident, trustworthy, and easy to follow instructions.
Related: Websites Where You Can Find Virtual Assistant Jobs
2. Become a YouTuber
Vlogging is undeniably one of the high-paying online jobs you can find. As a YouTube channel strategist, I have managed a LOT of YouTube channels that are earning thousands of dollars per month. Here in the Philippines, you can find a lot of student vloggers who are earning as much or more than a professional Filipino employee can.
One of the best things about being a YouTuber is that you are the boss. It sounds intriguing, right? Yes, but there’s a catch. Being the boss comes with great challenges and responsibilities in growing your views and your community.
One thing you need to understand though is that uploading videos on YouTube won’t guarantee you a paycheck every month. You will not get paid by the hour like an employee so if you need money ASAP, this is not for you.
If you need to earn money right now, here are 9 Simple Ways to Make Money Online.
So how can you become a YouTuber?
If you have a smartphone, internet connection, valuable content that you can share with other people, and a little bit of knowledge of video editing, then I say being a YouTuber is a good option.
Ask yourself, what is something you can film that other people might be interested in watching and you could profit from? Maybe you would like to film yourself studying for 4 hours. Or you can also record yourself decluttering your study table. There are thousands of content ideas you can do as a student vlogger, just pick something you are interested to do and people can also enjoy watching.
So yeah, being a vlogger won’t guarantee a fixed income but if you stay consistent in creating content and manage your YouTube channel properly, I believe that shortly you will be able to monetize your channel and receive regular compensation.
Related: How To Earn Money on YouTube
3. Work as a Tutor
Websites like StudyPool and CourseHero are two of the most popular platforms where you can get paid by tutoring students. There are a few tutors who said that they are still in college but they were accepted as tutors.
So what can you do as a tutor?
Within the tutoring platforms, students submit questions that tutors may give answers to. The questions vary. You might need to explain a concept or solve a mathematical problem. In addition, the questions vary in difficulty. Your goal is to help the student with clear step-by-step details and explanations.
There are several subject categories such as accounting, business, finance, Mathematics, Physics, Biology, history, and more. With this, you have the option to answer the questions under the category that you are interested in, knowledgeable about, and expert in.
So how much can you earn being a tutor?
According to CourseHero, on average, their tutors earn $500 per week. As per StudyPool, you can earn up to $7,500 per month. Both sound intriguing right?
If you have a passion for tutoring and are confident about your knowledge on a certain subject matter, then I highly suggest you try signing up for either StudyPool or CourseHero.
Related: Earn Money By Teaching English Online
4. Be a Data Entry Clerk
The job of a data entry clerk has always been a need for businesses both in an online or offline setting. There will always be data that a company will need to be properly processed, entered, and archived. That being said, there will always be a job posting for a data entry clerk position.
So what does a data entry clerk do?
Although the responsibilities can vary from one business to another, a data entry clerk usually helps in doing administrative tasks such as typing jobs, taking information from one source and putting it into another, and verifying and checking for errors in the information given to them.
For example, one of my tasks before as a data entry clerk is to copy and paste resorts information from the web into a google spreadsheet. Another task I did was to verify the contact information listed in a spreadsheet by visiting links that are also inside the sheet. Both of these tasks are pretty easy, but I can say that they are tiring especially for the hands.
How much can I earn as a data entry clerk?
Again, this depends on a lot of factors but I was being paid $3 per hour before. I also experienced being paid a fixed amount in completing a certain task, which I really prefer because I am now a fast typer, which means I can do more data entry tasks in a shorter time.
While some businesses require certain qualifications in hiring a data entry clerk, the possibility of finding a client who accepts new data entry freelancers are high. You just have to make sure that you can properly and accurately work on the duties that will be assigned to you.
5. Perform Customer Service Tasks
Being a customer service representative will require you to provide phone, chat, or email support to a business’ customers. Your main goal is to answer their questions about or solve their problems with the products or services they availed of.
This online job is somewhat similar to working as a call center agent.
I highly recommend this job opportunity to people who enjoy talking with other people and can handle dealing with customers, who at most times could be upset. Moreover, if you have a good grasp of the English language, it would be a HUGE plus for this role.
How much can I get as a customer service representative?
I came upon a few job postings that offer a fixed monthly salary of at least 400 USD and there are also some that pay at least $3 per hour. Typically, the compensation depends on the duties involved.
Final Words:
Being a student and having no work experience shouldn’t stop you from applying for online jobs. If you have the will, the resources, and the confidence, it’s still possible for you to snag a great role.
What now?
Now that you know 5 potential online jobs for students without experience, then start considering which one of them you could be best at. Not sure yet? Try eliminating the ones that do not interest you at all.
For example, if it were me, being in front of the camera is too overwhelming. That’s why I would cross out becoming a YouTuber. Moreover, I don’t have the courage to deal with angry people/customers so being a customer service representative is not an option for me.
On the other hand, I am keen on following instructions, I enjoy organizing my calendar, and I love helping other people with their tasks. And so, I would try searching for a virtual assistant job that I am confident applying for.
Still confused? Soon, I plan to discuss further each of the online jobs that I added here where I’ll be discussing an in-depth guide on how to increase your chances of succeeding in becoming a specialist on each of these. Stay tuned!
Is there a work-from-home opportunity that you’d like to add to the list? Let me know in the comment section below.
