Summer vacation season kicks off red-hot demand for a host of summer gigs. These include jobs in hospitality, tourism, beauty, animal and child care — all of which support people who are vacationing, attending events and looking for ways to entertain their kids during the off-school months.
If you’re looking for temporary work, summer gigs are worth exploring. Here’s where you can find them.
Hospitality
Lydia Solis has been working in the hospitality industry for 20 years, doing everything from bartending to setting up and breaking down catering events. During the pandemic, she dropped working directly for bars and restaurants and signed up with Qwick.
Qwick enlists freelancers to work at events ranging from car shows and concerts to weddings and conventions. Jobs available include everything from cook to bartender; concession stand worker to dishwasher. Operating in 23 markets, the site promises to provide potential workers with all the information they need to accept or reject a shift. This includes the location, start time, pay, staff contact, parking, and required dress code. You’ll also be told what type of event it is and how many people will be attending.
Solis says the benefit of working for this gig platform is that she is able to pick and choose among gigs. She also can move from city to city and simply sign in to pick up work in any city where Quick operates. She says the site has plenty of summer gigs to keep both she and her husband working nearly full time.
Jitjatjo provides much the same services, but primarily serves East Coast and Midwest. Pay at both platforms varies based on the gig, location and position. However, it typically ranges from minimum wage to $30 per hour, plus tips.
Tourism
Have an outgoing personality and an interest in showing visitors the best restaurants, hikes and sights in your city? Two online platforms can help you make money as a local tour guide.
Viator and ToursbyLocals both enlist freelance tour guides to sign up and create tours of their own making. You can offer history tours; foodie tours; animal-centric events; hikes; bike rides; water sports lessons. The options are as broad as your imagination.
You, the freelance tour guide, determine the agenda, the price, the number of participants, and the schedule. These sites simply advertise, book customers, and collect payments for a portion of the tour price. Since you’re setting the price, the amount you earn each hour is determined by your profit margin and the number of people who book the tour.
Beauty
Wedding season is in full swing, which means there is plenty of opportunity for cosmetologists, who are willing to travel for work. A site called Priv enlists freelancers to bring hair styling, makeup, manicures and massages to consumers getting ready for special events.
Freelancers need appropriate cosmetology licenses to apply and will go through a screening. Once accepted, the site sends job offers, which you can accept or reject. When you accept a Priv booking, you’ll earn 60% to 80% of the amount the customer pays. Customers pay handsomely for the services, so that’s generally going to work out to a nice hourly rate. For instance, hair styling (sans cut) runs between $60 and $95. So you’re earning between $36 and $76. Makeup services run $95 – $135, so the stylist walks away with $57 to $108. Massage? That costs the client $115 – $175, so the therapist should walk away with a minimum of $69 for the least costly one-hour treatment.
Animal care
Love animals? You can earn good money pet-sitting while people are away on vacation.
A site called Rover allows freelance dog sitters to post a profile, explaining their experience, the type of animals they’re willing to watch, where, and what they charge. If you want to offer dog-walking services, grooming, training or other animal related services, you can list those here too. Freelancers pay nothing to list services here, but the site takes a commission from each booking.
Child care
With the kids out of school for the summer, the need for babysitters, camp counselors and educationally entertaining tutors is also at a high point.
Adult babysitters can find work through Care. And teenage babysitters can find work through Bambino.
Babysitters typically charge between $15 and $35 per hour, depending on the sitter’s age and experience and how many kids the sitter is watching. Bambino charges a small fee to parents for arranging babysitting gigs. Care charges modest membership fees to both parents and care providers. At Care, this fee is partly used to pay for sitter background checks. Bambino doesn’t background check sitters, but tries to screen them by encouraging them to connect with friends of friends on social media.
If you want to provide full-time care for kids, a site called Wonderschool can help you get licensed and manage a daycare center.
Prefer to offer online enrichment activities, such as a chess club, workshop or a language class?
Outschool allows you to sign up to offer online classes for kids between the ages of 3 and 18. You set the schedule, rates, and determine how many kids can attend each class. The site charges a commission on each sale. During the summer, the site also offers promotions to parents to encourage them to sign up.
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