10 Best Part Time Jobs for Local and International Students in Malaysia

1. Home Tutor

The private home tutor industry is getting popular in Asian countries like Malaysia, where academic hurdles are increasing — seeking outside tutoring may seem necessary to parents. Decreasing trust in public education systems also drives the perceived need for tutors.

For example,  the average hourly wages at McDonald is nearly RM6. On the other hand, a tutor can earn up to RM40 per hour, which is 8 times more than McDonald’s hourly wages. A tutor can earn up to RM 480 per month by teaching a primary student for 2 hours.

As a home tutor, you can set your own hours depending on your experience and availability. It will spare a significant time for your college classes and other commitments as well. Tutoring also adds to your personal development, communication skills, and knowledge.

Job level: Difficulty
Reward: RM40 per hour

2. Event Staff

This is a typical job for students looking for a short-term position with fruitful reward, and do not require much experience and skill.

Generally, an event such as the concert or product launching’s event requires manpower for supervision, logistics, security, booths, ushering in guests and other jobs. However, event job is quite boring as the events usually last for hours. Positive thing is that you can make good hourly wages and enjoy the event as well.

Job level: Medium
Reward: RM20 per hour

3. Food Service Staff

A waiter/waitress will work in a restaurant to ensure hungry diners are left satisfied. You will be serving food, drinks and cleaning, taking bookings and more.

Some restaurants take customer service very seriously, so the training and the stress involved in this line of work can vary widely. You are required to work in shifts so that you can avoid clashing of your job hours with your class. However, the job is quite tiring as it requires long hours of standing

Job level: Easy
Reward: RM6 per hour

4. Freelancer:

If you are good in graphic design or creative writing, chances of people looking for you to outsource their creative task is high. Some of the highest paying freelancing professions are tech support, marketing, content writing and customer support. If you are new in the market, you may charge a low price in the beginning in order to attract job and increase your rate along the way based on your quality, reputation and capability of meeting deadlines.

Being a freelancer, you enjoy both good income and time flexibility but you may also face risk when your customer unable to pay at the rate you both agreed or delay the payment due to the unsatisfying quality of your job.

Job level: Difficulty
Reward: RM25 – 50 per hour

5. Direct Sales:

This is not a job for everybody, direct sales require a high resistance to failure (you’ll get rejected a lot) and a very strong work ethic. However, If you have good convincing skill, the sales part is definitely your thing.

You might be entirely on a commission basis, which means you might not get paid unless you sell. Direct sales usually can earn a high commission if you are able to deliver sales, the more sales will get you more income. Besides, It is also a good way to practice your English with interactions opportunity with people.

Job level: Difficulty
Reward: RM0 – RM50 per hour

6. Photographer:

Thanks to the modern technology today, student who owned a professional DSLR camera can easily call themselves photographer even they have not been through any professional training in photography.

A full-time professional photographer usually charges around RM2,000 to RM5,000 for taking photos in a wedding. Unlike part-time photographer, they might charge half the price or even lower. Therefore, you can still earn a handsome income if you can manage a photography project by yourself.

In addition to this, you can sell your pictures online to stock sites like Fotolia, SmugMug Pro, iStockPhoto, and Shutterstock. Many of these sites can offer you up to $100 per photo.

Job level: Medium
Reward: RM50 per hour

7. Retail Store Assistant:

Many retail stores in Malaysia offer perks like short shifts, discounts and schedule flexibility to the students working with them. Tasks such as packing groceries, logistics, packing shelves, mopping floors to operating the cash register, there are different jobs at a grocery store. Some retail stores might offer the commission as an incentive for you to drive sales from them. However, the job is quite tiring as it requires long hours of standing

Job level: Easy
Reward: RM7 – 10 per hour

8. Cafe Barista

This job is for those that enjoy chatting and serving coffee with strangers. It is also quite satisfying when you attracted royalty customer to the cafe. However, the job is quite tiring as it requires long hours of standing. Working in a cafe is a great way to practice your English.

Job level: Easy
Reward: RM7 – 10 per hour

9. Promoter

The promoter is different with retail stores assistant that mentioned above, the nature of the job is specifying in promoting products and generate sales. Example jobs like free-tasting or brochure distributor at the elevator.

It is a great way to practice your English as you might require talking all the time to strangers that you approached, However, the job is quite tiring as it requires long hours of standing

Job level: Easy
Reward: RM7 – 10 per hour

10. YouTuber

YouTubers typically work from home in producing content. According to a reliable source, every 1,000 views can earn about RM5. If you are popular, some advertisers are willing to pay you to make a video about their product.

Job level: Difficulty
Reward: RM0 – RM50 per hour

So these are the best part-time jobs for students in Malaysia. While a part-time job is a good way to fund your study and other daily expenses, don’t give it priority over your study and class schedule.

Despite the nature of your job or the amount of your paycheck, you should always be disciplined and act as a professional even in your part-time job.