7 Awesome Part-Time Jobs for Malaysian Students

Let’s face it. Life is getting difficult here in Malaysia, with the recent toll hike & cigarette hike. This is especially true when you’re a student facing an education budget cut and living on a fixed FaMa (father-mother) allowance. You probably spent tons stocking up on anti-haze masks too (thankfully everything’s okay for now).

A source of side income would definitely help alleviate some of these woes, and what better way is there for a student to earn a side income than part-time jobs?

 

Part-time jobs are not only a great source of side-income but also a great source of experience. It exposes you to the practical world of the working environment, which is vastly different from the theoretical world of academia. You can pick up soft skills like leadership & persuasion, and hard skills like ‘barista-ing’ & graphic design.

 

The best thing is these days it’s super easy to find anything online, including part-time jobs. You can visit sites like JOBi (mandatory self-promotion), Asia Part Time, or Part Time Post.

 

Thus, we’ve put together a list of 7 awesome part-time jobs for you to take up.

 

1. Barista
   

Those of you who love coffee (basically, everyone on earth) will love this job. Get paid to sip (brew, I mean brew) magnificent coffee all day. Professional barista courses cost thousands of ringgit, but you can learn on the job for free. With the explosion of cafes these days, baristas are heavily needed in some of the coolest places.

What you’ll do: If you’re relatively unskilled, you’ll be trained by a senior barista. Pour latte art, put together awesome caffeinated drinks, and serve them up.

What you’ll get: A new skill! You’ll be able to pour yourself a perfect cup of coffee in no time. Wage is usually slightly higher than other staff without a technical skill.

What you’ll need: If the cafe is hiring experienced baristas, well, that’s what you need. If they’re hiring non-experienced, just have an enthusiasm for coffee, a good nose, and steady hands.

 

2. Data Entry

Arguably the most flexible job on earth. Work anytime, anywhere. All you need is a laptop to key in entries. This job allows you earn a nice side-income virtually whenever you’re free. A lot of data entry jobs available from a vast range of industries so you won’t have a hard time finding one. OpsNinja lets you work on various work-from-home jobs which pays you by performance.

What you’ll do: Updating records, transferring offline data (paper) to online databases, processing invoices.

What you’ll get: A super flexible way to earn some side income. You could be paid by the hour (RM5+) or by the number of entries you made.

What you’ll need: A laptop and a penchant for scouring data and filling info sheets up with precision and speed. We hope you sit upright, too.

 

3. Promoter

Ever noticed those nice people handing you samples of ice cream or milo at the supermarket? They’re promoters. This is a great job for the weekends. Spend the entire day(s) promoting some new offering (snack/soap/service/electronic) and get some quick cash in return.

What you’ll do: Sell! Either by handing out samples or flyers, served with plenty of smiles. Of course, you’ll need to study the product you’re selling first.

What you’ll get: RM100+ per day typically, plus free product samples. You get to polish a universally applicable skill too, which is sales.

What you’ll need: Salesmanship. Befriend your customer, tell them why your Mentos is the best on the market, and make that sale. PS be prepared to stand close to all day.

 

4. Event Crew

You’ve been to events. Samsung’s new device launch, Heineken’s party, or an Amazing Race spinoff. That friendly person registering you into the event and showing you the seats? She’s part of the event crew. These are sometime handled by event management companies like Fat Boys and Big Bash.

What you’ll do: Depending on the event, you could get jobs from ushering to managing game stations to emcee-ing.

What you’ll get: It’s an event, so there’ll be loads of fun! See cool stuff happen. Help people have a good time. Pay depends very much on the job and the event, but it’s typically high paying. Seriously, it can be REALLY high paying.

What you’ll need: A friendly, outgoing personality. You will be briefed beforehand to make sure you know how the event works.

 

5. Tutor

Yup, who would’ve thought? We know you dislike studying, but teaching is a different ball game. Plus, the rates are great. The job is flexible. My A One or Tuition Jobs Malaysia makes finding tutor jobs easy as pie, too.

What you’ll do: Teach kids stuff. This could be through a tuition centre or home tuition. Subjects could be English, History, Maths, and the likes. If you land a job at a science centre, you can teach kids to blow up stuff (not really).

What you’ll get: The joy of teaching. Experience in managing people (hyper-energetic kids like you once were). Pay ranges from RM5/hour all the way up to RM50/hour .

What you’ll need: Mastery of the subject you’re teaching and the ability to convey concepts clearly. You’ll also need a lot of patience (there’s always this kid who asks ‘why’ 7 times in a row).

 

6. Campus Staff

You’re already on campus, why not make some money while you’re there? Becoming a campus staff is a great way to get some cash while helping out your university, without ever leaving the comfort of academia. These jobs are most often found in your university email.

What you’ll do: Again, depends on the specific task. If it’s orientation, you’ll need to greet freshmen and show them around. If it’s a research project, you could be doing data crunching.

What you’ll get: Know more people on campus. A competitive pay. No transportation required.

What you’ll need: Know the happenings around campus. A want to introduce freshmen / outsiders to your beautiful second home.

 

7. Service Crew

Love food and have a passion for serving up happy customers? Then join the service crew of any F&B outlet. Now you can work at your favourite restaurant! Just look for a “We’re hiring” sign. BBC reports the need for local part-timers in fast food restaurants.

What you’ll do: Likely you’ll be greeting customers, taking orders, sending burgers, pouring wine, and cleaning up. What you’ll unofficially do is stuff yourself with the restaurant’s best offerings.

What you’ll get: Free food! Maybe some tips. Learn the ins-and-outs of managing a restaurant (trust us, there’s a lot to learn). Usually an hourly wage will be paid, probably around RM5-RM10.

What you’ll need: Accountability. Restaurants need you to show up on time on a consistent basis. Professionalism. You’re representing the restaurant by being on the frontline.

 

Bear in mind this is not an exhaustive list, there are plenty of other part-time jobs available for you to pick up which are equally awesome. Look around if you’d like at our website.

Whatever job you pick, we hope you enjoy yourself and learn from the experience!