The experience of being able to study abroad is a privilege one can’t afford to waste. Adding work abroad experiences during your study abroad period will add an excellent point that will set you apart from your competitor when applying for jobs later on. In this article, I’m going to show you the type of jobs you could do while studying abroad

If you are certain you can manage school and a part-time or freelance job, and MOST IMPORTANTLY, your student visa allows you to work to a certain extent, then go for it.

It will be exhausting, but at the same time, it will be one of the most rewarding,  memorable, and valuable experiences you could ever have.

What are the jobs you could do? Stay tuned to know more about these opportunities abroad…

Many countries allow international students to work while studying there, with some restrictions and regulations which may be different from one country to another.

Studying abroad itself is going to be hard. You’ll have plenty of responsibilities such as assignments, papers, presentations, group work, and so on.

On top of that, you’ll have to manage to live on your own in a foreign country and make plenty of adjustments and overcome culture shock.

Thus, adding work (albeit part-time or freelance) into the equation could shake things up. Trying to cram another responsibility into your already hectic life might seem like a crazy idea.

Especially when you are an adult student, a non-traditional student mom, and dad, and have your family there with you, to accompany you in your study abroad.

But, having said that, I would like to say that juggling school, family, and part-time or freelance work is not impossible at all. In fact, I did exactly those, years ago when I first moved to Italy to study.

If you don’t have a family to take care of while studying abroad because they didn’t come with you abroad or you are still single, then juggling will be (relatively) easier.

Therefore, you should seriously consider looking for a job while studying (but don’t forget to check if your student visa allows you to work, what are the restrictions, rules, and regulations and make sure you comply with everything!)

So if your student visa permits you to work, here are the types of work you could consider doing while studying abroad:

1. Babysitter /Nanny

First of all, we need to clarify between babysitter or nanny with Au Pair.  An Au Pair is defined as a young person (between the ages of 18-30), who goes abroad to live with a native family and learn (or perfect) a language in exchange for childcare. Meanwhile, a nanny does not take part in any cultural exchange and gets a salary as in any other job,

Au Pair comes from overseas under the Au Pair Visa (many countries offer a specific Au Pair Visa), while if you are working as a nanny, you won’t be needing any other visa since you are already present in that country under your student visa.

As long as you comply with the regulations and do not violate your student visa requirements (e.g, not working more than 20 hours per week), this type of job could be a good fit for you, especially if you like children.

Many families would like to hire international students as their nannies since they are fluent in English (and other languages, at least their mother tongue) and could converse with their children and teach them in English.

Most importantly, they are already present in the country with their student visa, so the family doesn’t need to go through the process of applying for an Au Pair visa for a person who is still overseas.

2. Tutoring

If babysitter jobs are needed by families with young children, tutoring jobs are needed for older children, to help them finish their homework, work on their skills in certain subjects, and so on.

An engineering student could do tutoring for maths, a linguistic student could offer services for learning a language, and so on. I had a friend who study in a conservatory, he taught guitar, piano, and other musical instruments to children, so the options were not limited only to subjects like Maths or English.

You could advertise your service by word of mouth or using certain platforms. If your student permits only allow you to work up to 20 hours per week, limit the number of your students and their study sessions to that amount.

3. Working in Hospitality Industries

If you study in a city and a country that is a popular tourist destination, usually there will be some opportunities for you to work in the hospitality industries, such as in hotels, restaurants, and cafes, work as a tourist guide, and so on.

Although perhaps part-time jobs will not be abundantly available, you could still try your luck in finding a job using your Unique Selling Proposition (USP).

For example, you could work in hotels, restaurants, cafes, or shops that have many tourists or visitors from your country, or speak a language that you mastered. When people visit a foreign country, having someone greet them in their own language will be a nice surprise.

It will give a more lasting impression, thus, many establishments employ people who speak the language of their majority customers to create good impressions, more trust, and in the end, increase willingness to keep returning to the establishment and keep using their services on their next visits.

4. Writing Jobs

Writing jobs could be a perfect job for you if you want to work during your study abroad because basically, you could write from everywhere, write on any kind of topic, and work for everyone (even for yourself, but that’s another discussion entirely).

You could have a writing job to develop written materials such as user guides, online help articles, or specialist manuals for various companies. Or you could write as a content writer for bloggers, and so on.

More importantly, becoming a writer abroad means that you’ll learn how to develop your own writing skills and approach for an international audience. Your style, tone, and word choice will change and help you become a better writer in your future career, no matter where it takes you.

Personally, this was the path I have chosen, back when I first moved to Italy to study. I was working on a project-based job for my government, in an Indonesian Trade and Promotion Center in Milan

I conducted some research and wrote market briefs and market intelligence on export-import commodities, as well as other trade opportunities between Italy and Indonesia.

I was free to work whenever I want, as long as I met the deadlines. I also didn’t need to come to their office every day, just every now and then (usually once a week), to collect data and gather information.

After I finished with one market brief, I would come and give presentations where they would comment on my work, make revisions, request additions, and so on.

I had a friend who used to be a journalist before coming to Italy. Here, she started as a freelance writer, sending her works to many publications and media outlets in her country.

Now she is accredited in Italy as a foreign journalist and work as a foreign correspondent for one of the biggest TV station in her country.

If you love writing, this could be a perfect job for you, since the work is flexible, you could work anytime and from anywhere.

Find what kind of writing jobs you are interested in, and the kind of services you could offer and start seriously looking for them. As a start, you could create an account on Fiver, Freelancer.com, and the like of it to snag your first writing job.

5. Research (or any other type of) Assistant.

Usually, the research assistant is on-campus work, where you could work as a research assistant for one of your professors, either for a certain period of time such as a semester or more or as a projects-based assistant.

Reach out to your lecturers and inform them of your interest in finding an on-campus job as a research assistant or anything related.

Ask them if they know someone or some organization that is looking for an assistant, who knows, perhaps it will be a perfect fit for you.

Don’t shy away from volunteer projects. Even if it doesn’t pay you anything, there are still so many things you could take away from that experience.

For sure, you could put those volunteering projects in your CV, meet a lot of new people (locals, most likely, if you study abroad), and have the chance to work with them. It’s also a good opportunity to build your network in a foreign country.

6. Social Media Marketing

Social media has become a necessity in our daily life. On top of that, the digital world where it operates provides us with no confine or barriers, allowing us to work from anywhere simultaneously.

Thus, an opportunity to find an international online marketing job related to social media is relatively easy. If this is something you want to do, the opportunities are endless.

From a corporate perspective, each company has a different strategic plan for marketing techniques in different countries, and it has become hugely important for companies to have a strong social media presence.

When you work abroad in social media marketing and digital, you’ll have the potential to learn and understand marketing from an international perspective and talk to international audiences, which are unique skills and knowledge that you could take with you throughout the rest of your career.

You could manage the social media accounts of brands, especially the ones that have people from your own culture and ethnicity as their target audience, for example.

“Talking” to them will be easy for you since you understand them well, how to approach them that will be perceived well, what makes them tick, and so on.

These jobs of managing social media accounts of brands or business owners such as FB manager or Pinterest Virtual Assistant required skills. If you don’t master them already, you could take some courses before you offer your service.

But make sure that both the course learning and doing the job itself will not be going to interfere with your studies because when you study abroad, that should be your main focus, at least until you graduate.

And most importantly, don’t exceed your 20 hours per week working period or any numbers stated as your maximal working hours under your student visa. Stop accepting work if you know you will be logged in more than 20 hours per week.

7. Content Creator

Having an opportunity to live abroad is a privilege not many people could experience. Thus, you could document your experience and upload them to your YouTube Canal a.k.a become Youtuber, to share with people and give them the chance to see how’s life in other parts of the globe look like.

But, I must admit that I had doubts about whether or not I should put these options here or not, in the end, if you want to work while studying abroad, you MUST REMEMBER that you are restricted by the term of your visa.

It’s imperative that you know all the requirements and restrictions concerning your student visa. Find out how exactly the rules and regulations will apply to you as a student staying with a student visa in that country and make money by creating content such as becoming a Youtuber or selling your Craft on Etsy.

For example, in Italy, every foreign resident who comes to reside in Italy (students, workers, their spouses and children, and so on) need to have a fiscal code. Therefore, the money they make will be automatically taxed, once it reaches the threshold of taxable income.

Students working less than 20 hours per week don’t normally make money big enough to reach the bottom threshold of the taxable income, but as you all know, being a content creator is a whole different story, where the amount of money you could make is practically limitless.

If content creation is something you want to do, ask the authority (e.g the fiscal office, the immigration office et cetera) regarding the rules and regulations and how to comply with the tax rules and working regulations within the restriction of your student visa.

Chances are, you will need time to gather audiences and to be able to monetize. By the time you make a significant amount of money, you’ll be finished with your study anyway, but still, better safe than sorry. Don’t jeopardize your study and risk losing the opportunity of finishing your education for your hobby or side hustle.

Over to You…

When you are convinced that you could juggle work and school responsibilities, you could start to look for an opportunity to work while finishing your study abroad.

But, you must remember that you are restricted by the terms of your visa. It is imperative that you know all the requirements and restrictions concerning your student visa! such as what kind of job you could have as a student and how many hours you could work per week.

Once you are clear that your student visa allows you to work, you could start looking for job opportunities. You could work as a babysitter/nanny, works as a tutor, and work in hospitality industries such as restaurants, shops, and hotels, work as a tourist guide, and so on.

Other opportunities are writing jobs, research, or any other type of assistance, being a social media manager, and content and other creators such as selling your work or services.

Whatever you do, ALWAYS comply with the rules, and don’t let your job interfere with your study as it should be your main focus.

You’ll have the rest of your life to work, but your study abroad period will only last for several years, even only a year or two, so enjoy it!!!

What kind of job do you think you could do as a side hustle while studying abroad? Have you done one of them or something else entirely? Share them in the comment section below, I’d like to hear your experience 😉

Pin them for later and share them on social media if you find this useful…thanks so much and till next time!!!

Related Articles:

• 10 Essential Things You Have to Know About Finding Job Abroad
• 10 Things I Wish I Knew Before Working Abroad
• The People You’ll Meet When Studying Abroad, and How They Can Help You Grow
• 7 Crucial Factors to Consider When Choosing the Right Career for You

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