Let’s face it: especially as college undergrads, well-paying jobs are hard to find, especially during the summer. The vast majority of internships are unpaid, retailers don’t want to train someone just for the summer months, and we’re not really qualified (at least in the eyes of employers) for most professional-level jobs in our fields of interest.

So what can we do? One option is to take the non-paying internships, because they do provide good experience. However, at least for me, having an internship as my only job isn’t an option, because I need to be making money.  For the first half of the summer, I had very little luck finding jobs that would work for me. First, I tried working as a Phone-A-Thon caller for Scripps, but since I live about an hour away from campus, I was spending more on commuting expenses than I was getting paid. Then a family friend found me a potential job working for as an assistant for casting agent, but by the time I called she had already filled the position.

One of my strategies for finding a job was (and is) to check The Gateway religiously, and one day I saw a posting for a writing tutor. A family near Claremont wanted a writing tutor for a son and daughter a few times a week. I was concerned about the cost of commuting, but I applied anyway, because at this point I was applying to any jobs I could find. I sent over my resume, and I was surprised when the family hired me immediately, without even an interview. They even offered to pay me $25 per hour, which I later found out is a very normal wage for tutors.

I was terrified the first time I pulled up to their house. Aside from some peer tutoring in high school, I’d never done anything like this before. Because it was the summer, I had to prepare a curriculum completely from scratch, so I had to come up with grammar exercises, essay prompts, and reading. But I really enjoyed helping the kids with their writing and grammar skills (especially since I’m a creative writing major) and it was a lot easier than I expected.

Since that job, I’ve had several others working as a tutor. I signed up with a tutoring site called WheresMyTutor.com in order to get more clients, asked family friends if they knew anyone who needed tutoring, and found tutoring jobs posted on The Gateway. The great thing about tutoring jobs is that you’re working for a family instead of a larger company, so you can set your own schedule more easily.

In addition to paying very well (especially if you can tutor math or science, which unfortunately I cannot), tutoring jobs allow you to teach the subjects you enjoy the most. I’ve often found that tutoring also helps me reaffirm my knowledge of a subject. For example, I’m currently tutoring a high school student in Spanish, which is a great refresher for my Spanish vocabulary and conversation skills.

I can’t guarantee that tutoring will be a great job for you, but I know it is for me, and I never would have considered it if I hadn’t gone out and tried it.