Working Markets
Working markets is by far the best outdoor job you can get. It doesn’t pay half bad; between £7-£10 an hour and if you’re working on a daily wage – say 60-70 quid a day – you can leave as soon as you hit your target – which tends to happen at around 2 pm. You’re laughing! The only downside is the early starts, but hey, it’s better than working late nights. Also, you get in with all the other traders, get mad discount and the banter goes on all day long.
Tip: Traders don’t usually advertise jobs because there’s always someone who knows someone who needs a job so you’re better off rocking up with a your phone number and a big smile.
Campaigning/Fundraising
You get to go to different parts of London, spend the entire day outdoors and get paid a generous £8 – £12 an hour. The big downside is everyone hates you and you have to talk to strangers all day long. You also repeat yourself a million times about how important it is to donate ten quid a month to Oxfam while Oxfam pays you £10 an hour for doing it in the first place – and everyone still hates you. Still, any outdoor job is a good job, you stand on your feet, don’t get bad posture and on occasion get to meet some interesting people.
Tip: Gumtree usually advertise for these positions but you can also go to the charity you are interested in and get in touch with them directly. A good place to start would be Oxfam’s official website.
Steeet Performance
If you can’t swallow swords or play the guitar then why not paint yourself gold and sit still for 10 hours. You get heaps of cash (coins more like) for doing absolutely nothing!
Tip: Covent Garden usually hold auditions for these types of things, if you are however more of the musically inclined you may want to get in touch with TFL for some underground busking.
Holding a Sign
You ever see those people holding a sign in front of a shop and wonder, what the hell is the purpose of this guys job. Well, there is a purpose. Under some weird sign law in Britain, shops or enterprises are not allowed to hang anything on things that do not belong to them. So instead they use human beings. So this job, although perhaps boring, is probably the best job considering how little effort it requires. It’s simply standing (or sitting) on the road wearing a double sided sign and pointing in the direction of the shop, you could probably enjoy a drink while you’re at it too.
Tip: Find a bikini waxing shop and ask if they are in need of any sign holders.
Tree Surgeoning
This is mostly for people who like to hang around trees and cut branches off. It’s an absolute favourite for rock climbers. All you need is a sturdy ladder and a sharp chain saw. Brum brum, branch falls off and you repeat this until the job is over. There is of course the unlucky guy who has to pick up all the shit you cut off so make sure you get someone to do this job for you. Tree surgeoning pays well so you sure as hell won’t have troubles hiring someone.
Tip: You can go freelance and risk losing a limb or you can get some proper training here.
Window cleaning *Not for the faint hearted*
Do you know how much money these people make? Looooads. Why? Because there aren’t enough insane people to climb 300 metres up some glass building to polish huge ass windows while hanging on a tiny little harness.
Tip: You might want to get some training for this one. Visit the IRATA website for more info.
Images by Getty
