Students turn to ebay as they bid farewell to summer jobs

A TYPICAL summer job might once have been pulling pints in a local pub, babysitting or temping in an office.

But it appears that ebay is the new bar job, as a survey found that the most popular way for university students to earn money over the long vacation is buying and selling clothes online.

Over half (51 per cent) of students said that this is how they make money during the summer holidays, according to a poll of over 3,000 undergraduates by the tutoring company Tutor House.

There are now a number of mobile phone apps (such as Depop, Vinted and Preloved) for buying and selling second-hand clothes, meaning students can make money with just a simple trip to the Post Office.

Hospitality or bar work was the second most popular option, with 43 per cent of students opting for this. Meanwhile, almost a third of students (30 per cent) said that they earned money from tutoring.

Other methods to make money over the summer included dog walking, filling out online surveys and “sharing economy” jobs such as working for the ride-sharing app Uber or the food delivery service Deliveroo.

One in 10 students said they do not work at all over the summer, and of those, almost all (96 per cent) received money from their parents to fund their lifestyle. The head of the university regulator has previously said that students need to work during their summer holidays if they want to get a job when they graduate.

Nicola Dandridge, chief executive of the Office for Students, said last year that undergraduates need to make the most of their long holidays by undertaking work placements or internships.

This will improve their employability and increase the likelihood of securing a “rewarding” job once they graduate, she added.