Do you want to make money while studying chemistry?
Good news: we’ve rounded up the best jobs for chemistry students. These student jobs are well-suited for wannabe chemical engineers who need to earn some extra cash on the side.
To rank those jobs, we considered factors such as salary, career advancement, and whether the job is easily accessible for undergraduate chemistry students.
1. Teaching Assistant
- Salary: $12 per hour.
- Workload: 93% of positions are full-time.
- Low Demand: 204 teaching assistant jobs are available on
Chemistry professors hire teaching assistants to help them prepare lab experiments, help students with assignments, write the course syllabus, and other academic duties. Here is what a day as a chemistry teaching assistant might look like:
- Early morning: Assist the professor with the preparation of a lab experiment. For example, prepare the equipment required for a distillation, redox, or titration experiment.
- Early afternoon: Calibrate spectrometers before they are used by students.
- Afternoon: Ensure that students follow elementary lab safety measures and grade the assignment that they hand out.
To get hired as a teaching assistant, you need to contact the professor before the start of the semester. TA jobs are usually listed on the chemistry faculty website where professors hire students to help with courses such as organic chemistry, analytical chemistry, physical chemistry, inorganic chemistry, and biochemistry. Chemistry students can also assist first-year physics and mathematics classes.
Requirements
- Preferred: Previous experience as a tutor.
- May vary: Some universities only hire teaching assistants from graduate school while others also consider undergraduates.
2. Part-Time Chemical Technician
- Salary: $19 per hour.
- Workload: 93% of positions are full-time.
- Low Demand: 124 chemical technician jobs are available on
Chemical technicians perform routine technical tasks in laboratories such as calibrating equipment, preparing samples, and reporting the results of experiments.
Lab tech jobs are usually not available to chemistry students unless they already have an undergraduate degree. However, a chemical technician position is a foundation for many chemistry careers: analytical chemists, organic chemists, biochemists, and other chemical engineering jobs.
Requirements
- Required: A solid background in applied chemistry, elementary math knowledge, and skills in using standard labware.
- May be required: an undergraduate degree as a chemistry major or materials science major.
3. Chemsitry Research Assistant
- Salary: $22 per hour.
- Workload: 100% of positions are full-time.
- Low Demand: 4 chemsitry research assistant jobs are available on
Chemistry research assistants are responsible for setting up experiments, analyzing databases, using techniques such as chromatography, spectroscopy, or microscopy. Research positions are sought-after jobs for graduate students as they give students the opportunity to:
- Gain chemistry knowledge that is not taught in the classroom.
- Develop a mentoring relationship with a faculty member or chemical organization.
- Earn a letter of recommendation for doctoral school.
Most of the time, research assistants are hired to help professors with their academic research. However, some chemical companies also hire chemistry graduate students to help with their applied research. In any case, these research positions are valued by students who want to pursue an academic career or a chemistry career within a prestigious chemical laboratory.
Requirements
- Required: An Bachelor's in chemistry.
- Preferred: Academic or work experience related to the field of research. For example, some positions might require the chemistry students to have passed specific classes and have extensive knowledge about analytical chemistry, organic chemistry, or inorganic chemistry.
- Preferred: Familiarity with statistical and research methodology.
4. Delivery Driver
- Salary: $19 per hour.
- Workload: 88% of positions are full-time.
- Medium Demand: 19,068 delivery driver jobs are available on
Delivery driving will not advance your chemistry career. However, they are good-paying jobs for chemistry students who struggle to find an internship, a research position, or a tutoring position.
The most popular ways to make money delivery driving on the side include:
- Driving for Uber, Lyft, and other ride-sharing companies.
- Delivering food for Uber Eats, DoorDash, PostMates, and other food delivering companies.
- Deliver packages for UPS, FedEx, and other package delivery companies.
Requirements
- Required: a driver’s license and at least one year of driving experience.
- Required: auto insurance that meets the liability requirements.
- Usually required: 21 years of age or older.
5. Tutor
- Salary: $20 per hour.
- Workload: 75% of positions are full-time.
- Medium Demand: 7,310 tutoring jobs are available on
Chemistry students can make money by tutoring high school and college students.
At the high school level, chemistry students can teach courses such as chemistry, biology, physics, and statistics. At the university level, chemistry students can tutor any courses passed with flying colors.
Requirements
- Preferred: A bachelor’s degree in Chemistry.
- Preferred: Recent teaching experience.
6. Data Entry Clerk
- Average Salary: from as little as $5 up to $25 per hour.
- Workload: 10% of positions are full-time.
- Low Demand: 517 data entry clerk jobs are available on
Data entry jobs are exactly what they sound like! They’re jobs that involve entering data. Chemistry students often have extensive experience with databases and data analysis which makes them the ideal candidate for data entry jobs such as:
- Describing or identifying images
- Entering up-to-date prices
- Transcription of audio notes
- Subtitling
- Tagging and annotating data
- You name it!
Data entry clerks are typically asked to perform on-demand tasks that computers are unable to do.
Requirements
- Preferred: Completing a qualifier to validate transcription/subtitling/tagging skills.
7. Babysitter
- Salary: $18 per hour.
- Workload: 76% of positions are full-time.
- Low Demand: 237 babysitting jobs are available on
Babysitters are responsible for the safety and well-being of children when their parents are away.
Sitters can also take on additional responsibilities (helping with homework, cooking, recreational activities, etc.).
Requirements
- Preferred: Driver’s license (some parents want you to pick their kids up from school)
- Preferred: CPR and First Aid certification
8. Freelance Writer
- Average Salary: between $20 and $100 per 1000 words.
- Workload: 84% of positions are full-time.
- High Demand: 121,576 writer jobs are available on
Freelance writers get paid to write:
- Web content (blog posts, product descriptions, web pages, etc.)
- Video and radio scripts (Youtube video scripts, podcast scripts)
- Emails (marketing emails, newsletters)
- Press releases (for small businesses and online companies)
- Magazine articles
- Newspaper articles
Requirements
- A good grasp of grammar, spelling, and punctuation.
- A portfolio that shows excellent writing and editing skills.
9. Virtual Assistant
- Salary: $12 per hour.
- Workload: 100% of positions are full-time.
- Low Demand: 19 virtual assistant jobs are available on
Virtual assistants are administrative assistants from home. Their job involves:
- Scheduling appointments
- Making phone calls
- Responding to emails
- And more: bookkeeping, writing, marketing services, etc.
Requirements
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
- Preferred: prior experience as an administrative assistant.
More Jobs for Chemistry Students
This article was a non-exhaustive list of part-time jobs for chemistry. If you want to have more job ideas, I recommend the following article:
If you already have a degree and want to find your first job, have a look at these more advanced chemistry positions: