Let’s be honest; not all of us want to work all year round, with hardly any days off to relax or travel. However, we often forget that some jobs provide entire summers off, allowing you to pursue your hobbies or spend quality time with your loved ones. However, which jobs and careers provide summers off?
Jobs and careers with summers off are usually school-related, including teachers, professors, teaching assistants, or psychologists. Additionally, workers in ski resorts work through winter only. In aviation, pilots and flight attendants often get summers off.
In this article, I’ll take you through 11 jobs and careers that offer summers off. Some are purely seasonal jobs, while others are full-time jobs that turn into a career over time. Before that, however, I’ll mention some advantages and disadvantages of taking on a job with summers off.
1. Teachers And University Professors
- Salary: $21 per hour.
- Workload: 83% of positions are full-time.
- Low Demand: 4,741 teacher jobs are available on
Educators at every level of education have the unique benefit of having a career as teachers or university professors while at the same time having their summers off. Unlike administrative posts in schools and universities, teachers and professors don’t have a lot of work to do when students aren’t around.
Therefore, a teaching position offers summers off because students have their summer (and winter) breaks, giving their teachers and professors a lot of free time. That’s not to say these teachers have nothing to do over the summer. Many professors use the time off to research topics for their new articles or books
Since teachers aren’t paid while not working during summer breaks, many schools offer two basic payment models. They can receive their pay for ten months or the whole year, in which case they’ll receive a reduced amount every month. That way, the income remains the same, but it’s paid over 12 instead of 10 months.
2. Consultant
- Salary: $40 per hour.
- Workload: 93% of positions are full-time.
- High Demand: 29,171 consultant jobs are available on
Consultants are people who’re usually experts in a particular subject. The expertise, in most cases, comes from decades of experience working in that line of business they now consult on.
Consulting, in that sense, is a flexible job that doesn’t require a consultant to be at their place of work all the time. Their clients usually schedule a meeting when they need a consultation. So, consultants can choose when they want to work.
Therefore, many consultants choose to have summers off. Moreover, many consulting firms provide summers off for their employees and use those summers to have interns working there.
3. School Psychologist
- Salary: $55 per hour.
- Workload: 36% of positions are full-time.
- Low Demand: 1,417 school psychologist jobs are available on
Another career option that comes with summers off is a school psychologist.
School psychologists are responsible for student’s mental well-being and making sure that:
- Students aren’t suffering from school-related stress.
- The curriculum isn’t too difficult for students.
- Students with learning difficulties can follow the lesson plans.
Apart from students, however, school psychologists are responsible for the teachers’ well-being as well. Teaching staff goes through a lot of stress, and school psychologists are there to alleviate some of that stress.
When summer breaks start, that’s when school psychologists’ shift ends. Since schools are generally closed over the summer, except for administrative staff, psychologists start their work in the fall.
4. Teaching Assistant
- Salary: $12 per hour.
- Workload: 100% of positions are full-time.
- Low Demand: 84 teaching assistant jobs are available on
Another job related to education and school, be it at a K 12 level or college and university level, is a teaching assistant. This job usually includes helping a teacher with everything they need that’s related to school, including:
- Printing and preparing certain materials.
- Assisting students with learning objectives.
At a higher education level, teaching assistants are also responsible for assessing students through some activities or exams. Additionally, teaching assistants lead groups of students through a college or university course on a more practical level, while professors provide theoretical knowledge through lectures.
Like teachers and professors, once students are done with their exams and summer break arrives, teaching assistants are free to enjoy an entire summer away from work.
5. Ski And Snowboard Instructors
- Salary: $27 per hour.
- Workload: 100% of positions are full-time.
- Low Demand: 8 ski instructor jobs are available on
These two jobs are primarily winter-related, and summers off are a given when you’re a ski and snowboard instructor. This particular job doesn’t require a specific degree; you just need to be very good at skiing or snowboarding.
Moreover, you can either work as a ski or snowboard instructor on your own or as part of a company or a resort that offers such services. The negative thing about this job is that you never really have a winter holiday for yourself. Still, you’ll spend hours in the snow, making money by teaching others what you already know so much about – how to ski or snowboard.
As winter tourism slowly decreases towards the end of the winter, it means you’ll get progressively fewer clients. Summers are, therefore, completely free to do whatever you want. Actually, many ski and snowboard instructors have additional summer jobs as they wait for winter.
6. Faculty Support Assistant
- Salary: $25 per hour.
- Workload: 100% of positions are full-time.
- Low Demand: 7 faculty assistant jobs are available on
Faculty support assisting is another position in educational institutions that gets summer off when students are on their summer breaks. Faculty support assistants are very similar to teaching assistants.
The main difference between these two jobs is that teaching assistants assist teachers, professors, and students, whereas faculty support assistants assist the administrative side of these institutions. Therefore, they might help with various document forms, registries, and various student queries.
Depending on year-to-year obligations, some faculty support assistants might not get an entire summer off, but even if they don’t, they usually work for only a few hours, with many breaks in between.
7. Working As A Freelancer
- Average Salary: depends on the gig.
- Availablity: no jobs are available right now.
Freelance jobs are perfect if you like to work alone and according to your schedule. When it comes to summers off, not every freelance job will come with that benefit, but the main characteristic of these kinds of jobs is that you can choose when to work and when to relax.
Sure enough, many freelance workers choose to have either a portion or an entire summer just to themselves.
Certainly, the most popular freelance jobs today have to do with the following:
- Writing
- Editing
- Digital drawing
- Graphic Design
- Tutoring
Whether you’ll have a summer off from your freelance job depends on your organizational skills and how much money you make. At first, you’ll probably need to work all year round to make some profit, but over time, you’ll have that freedom to have summers just for relaxing.
8. Snowcat Operator
- Average Salary: around $850 per week.
- Workload: 100% of positions are full-time.
- Low Demand: 6 snowcat operator jobs are available on
Just before ski resorts open their doors to customers, they often hire skilled snowcat operators to prepare trails, terrain, and slopes for use over the winter. What’s more, many resorts use snowcats to drive visitors across the resort, which can get buried in the snow sometimes.
Therefore, some snowcat operators may have to work during the night (removing snow from trails) or during the day (transporting resort visitors). In any case, if you want to do this job, you have to know how to drive snowcats and be extra careful around dangerous slopes.
Over summer, when there’s no snow to remove, snowcat operators usually find something else to do, usually something in the construction industry.
9. Flight Attendant
- Average Salary: $85,910 per year.
- Workload: 100% of positions are full-time.
- Low Demand: 27 flight attendant jobs are available on
The job of flight attendants varies drastically depending on many factors. Flight attendants usually get falls or winters off because peak air travel seasons happen during summer. However, if a flight attendant works at an airport where tourists come to spend their winters, those flight attendants usually get summers off.
Additionally, flight attendants who’ve worked their job for a few decades are more likely to get their summers off.
10. Pilot
- Average Salary: $145,301 per year.
- Workload: 93% of positions are full-time.
- Low Demand: 691 pilot jobs are available on
As with flight attendants, pilots also tend to get summer off. Older pilots usually get summer off partially as a reward for their long service and partly because there are more flights during summer, and younger pilots have more energy to deal with that many flights.
Moreover, it also depends on the airplane a pilot uses. If a pilot flies a smaller airplane in a city with strong winter tourism, that pilot usually has the summer off when there aren’t that many tourists.
11. School Prediatric Physical Therapist
- Average Salary: $87,699 per year.
- Workload: 100% of positions are full-time.
- Low Demand: 27 pediatric physical therapist jobs are available on
Many schools hire pediatric physical therapists who’re there to provide assistance to students with some form of physical disability. It can be a disability a student is born with or simply an injury that’s treatable fairly easily.
School pediatric physical therapists are there as medical professionals who treat students while they’re at school. So, school pediatric physical therapists also get summers off since there aren’t any students to treat during that period.
Advantages of Careers With Summers Off
Although not that numerous, jobs and careers offering summers off can be found in many fields. Because of that, each job comes with its perks and benefits.
Generally, however, advantages of jobs with summers off include:
- Less mental stress: Jobs with summers off usually don’t cause job burnout, which is a massive problem for many employees working ordinary jobs with only a few days off. Jobs with summers off don’t cause as much stress and give you time to recuperate.
- More free time: Summer is the most popular season when people like to travel, camp, or relax in their homes, and jobs with summers off offer just that. You also have plenty of time to spend with your loved ones.
- Various skills: Many people with careers that provide summers off use that time to gather and learn new skills that make them qualified for other, higher-paying jobs. Some take up a hobby, such as drawing, while others develop a professional craft, like carpentry.
- Healthier work environment: Employees working ordinary jobs also experience unhealthy work environments, like bullying and arguments. When it comes to jobs with summers off, employees don’t spend too much time together and are generally happy to see each other in the months that they do.
Speaking of job burnout, check out my other article on the five common psychological side effects of hating your job to learn more about this common and serious issue. If you haven’t experienced it yet, read the article to learn how to avoid it.
Disadvantages of Not Working in the Summer
Every job has its negative sides, and it’s no different with jobs and careers that provide summers off – even though it’s hard to believe.
Disadvantages of not working in the summer include:
- Harsher work conditions: Summers are great for holidays and travel, but they’re also perfect for working. Other seasons, especially winter, can be particularly harsh for workers working outside.
- Seasonal jobs: Many jobs with summers off are only seasonal jobs, meaning you can do a job for a few months in a particular season (that’s not summer), and that’s the end of it until the next year. The negative thing is you usually can’t build a career from it.
- Money issues: If you’re only working one job, especially a seasonal one, summers off mean less money since you’re not paid for that period. Therefore, many people usually find additional jobs over the summer just to make a decent living.
- No winter vacations: If you’re working in a ski resort, it usually means you’ll never be able to have a winter vacation to yourself. Some jobs do have shorter winter holidays, but they’re usually jobs in schools.