8 Summer Jobs That Will Expand Your Skills

8 Summer Jobs That Will Expand Your Skills via Pexels.com 1. Camp counselor When you choose to spend your summer around  other peoples children,  youre truly giving up all of your free time to help them parent their kiddos. Sometimes, being a camp counselor can be one of the most rewarding experiences. Getting to work with children and (generally) do activities that are fun can be the perfect way to waste away the summer months. But being a camp counselor is more than just getting kids out of bed for breakfast and walking them from activity to activity. Being a camp counselor means being responsible for multiple childrens well-being. Youll have to develop more responsibility than youve ever had to before in your life. Youll be more inclined to look at situations from several perspectives. And youll potentially meet other camp counselors and campers who will change your life forever. If youre trying to go into a field where kids are involved, being a camp counselor during your summers in college will teach you the skills youll need for your desired career. When you work with kids, you have to know how to be flexible. You have to be able to come up with games and entertainment on the spot. You have to be responsible for your actions, and constantly stay a step ahead of the kids youre looking out for. Becoming a summer camp counselor might be the perfect way for you to gain the skills you need to work with children. 2. Receptionist As silly as it sounds, being a receptionist can teach you how to juggle multiple tasks at the same time. Sure, there are receptionist gigs that require you to say the same phrase over and over and over again, but then there are receptionist gigs that allow you to talk to the public, work with people, and make sure business operations go smoothly. If youre looking for an administrative job, or youre wanting to work on your organizational skills, taking a  receptionist job  for the summer might be in your favor. For college students who take summer classes (and dont we all!), working as a receptionist might be the perfect way to knock out some of those course requirements. When youre a receptionist, youre often multi-tasking. Youre doing multiple things at once, trying to keep your head afloat. But there will be times as a receptionist when youre crazy busy and other times when it seems to slow down. Those are the times when youll be able to study and work on your homework. As a receptionist, youll gain skills like active listening, organization, memory, communication, and tech-savviness. After working for two to three months as a receptionist, youll be able to juggle class assignments without issue. Youll learn how to prioritize whats urgently important and what can wait until later. 3. Nanny/Babysitter Much like a camp counselor, working as a nanny or a babysitter will give you experiences with children that youll need after college. However, unlike a camp counselor, nannying allows you to truly grow close to just a few children, whereas being a camp counselor will put you in charge of several children. Typically, when college students taking a nannying job, theyre transporting kids to and from their summer activities, watching them at the pool, making sure they get their chores done, and run errands for the family in the meantime. Being a nanny definitely isnt easy, but at least you get to spend your evenings and weekends at home in your own place (for the most part). Taking a job as a nanny will teach you an infinite number of skills and if youre looking to learn what its like to be a stay-at-home mom or dad, being a nanny is your best bet. Youll learn what it means to get kids up and ready for the day, transport them to their activities, make sure you have everything packed and prepared, run errands while theyre occupied, and end the day with quiet time and a nutritious dinner. It makes it really easy on a family to have a nanny, but it will put  a lot  of responsibility on you. Youll basically become an extension of their family. via Pexels.com 4. Freelance worker When you are a freelance worker, you arent signing yourself up to make a fortune, but youll learn several important life skills. The first of which will be  how to make your own schedule  and  manage your own time.   When you freelance, you have to actively search for jobs, so you have to be disciplined about how you spend the hours in a day. Youll have to search for jobs you qualify for, reach out to the person whos hiring, and then deliver quality work. Otherwise, you wont be freelancing for very long. If anything, freelancing is a difficult way to make a living. You have to stay on top of taking jobs and hitting deadlines. You also have to make sure youre  keeping a portfolio of freelancing jobs youve completed.  If you dont do this, youll have a really tough time finding a job. If anything, people hiring freelancers want to be sure they pick the right person for the job. 5. Waitress/Waiter At first glance, spending your summer waiting tables might seem like a bore. With random scheduling, tough hours, and hard manual labor, waiting tables isnt the easiest summer job. However, waiting tables might be the kind of work youre looking for, especially if youre taking lots of summer classes or you have a tight summer schedule. Waiting tables will teach you how to be proactive. You have to put yourself in anothers shoes to really understand what they want while theyre eating. If you work at a high-end restaurant, waiting tables can be pretty stressful and maybe even rigorous. You might feel like this kind of summer job gives you more flexibility (so you have time for your friends and the pool), but if youre wanting to make as much money as possible, youre going to end up picking up a lot of shifts for people in order to make ends meet. If youre going to learn anything while waiting tables, its how to take care of people. But unlike being a counselor or a nanny, youre going to be taking care of a range of ages, and youll get to go home after five or six hours. If you have a pretty tight summer schedule, waiting tables might be the way to learn the skills you want in just a few hours a day. infographic by Lorena Roberts via Canva.com 6. Tutor/Summer School Teacher If youre trying to enter the field of education, tutoring during the summer is one of the best things you can do for your resume. Whether you decide to tutor privately, through a summer school program, or with a tutoring center, having experience teaching is one of the best ways to give yourself the credit you need to land a teaching job later on. If youre going to tutor privately, word of mouth is going to be your best advertisement. Once you get linked up with a few families, it wont take long for them to recommend you to their friends. 7. Lifeguard Lifeguarding requires  a lot  of certification, but in the end, lifeguarding can be one of the best summer jobs. Youll be poolside, getting your tan on, for 8-12 weeks over the summer. As a college student, youll love being out in the sun, around kids, and by the pool day after day. But lifeguarding is more than just sun tanning. You have to prioritize peoples lives. Their safety is truly in your hands. Youll have to work with your coworkers to ensure youre always providing the safest environment for the visitors at your pool. This kind of teamwork can be something youll be able to bring up in interviews for jobs after college. If youre looking at going into a field that requires you to work with other people, on a team, lifeguarding could be a good way to get the skills and experience you need. 8. Lawn Care If youre a fan of physical, manual labor, lawn care could be the right summer job for you. Plus, this can be an excellent income during the summer months. If youre going to invest in a lawn care business for the summer, youll definitely learn what its like to run your own company. You have to get your own clients, keep up with their schedules, and then get your butt out of bed to get the work done before the intense heat of the day. If youre looking to work on your responsibility, this is definitely the way to do it. When you make yourself your own boss, things can go downhill pretty quickly if you arent disciplined enough to keep yourself in check. When it comes to looking for a summer job, college students are looking for different things. Some of us are just looking to bring home a paycheck, while others of us are wanting to secure a spot at a highly coveted business. Its all about setting your sights high once you get out of college. Depending on what you want to do once you graduate, youre trying to sharpen your greatest skills. Once youve graduated, youll have to sell yourself and your resume. The jobs youve held up until your college graduation will be your biggest selling point when you start interviewing for jobs. Youll be looking for ways to prove that youre punctual, responsible, disciplined, and knowledgeable. It all begins with the summer jobs you choose while youre in college.