By Mwebe Morgan

Photo by nappy from Pexels

Since March 2020, the coronavirus outbreak, unemployment claims in the United States have reached an all-time high. With 3.3 million new filings, a modern high. With so many people out of work in the country right now, and millions more living in shelters, finding work is becoming increasingly difficult. The worldwide unemployment rate was 6.5 per cent in 2021, up 1.1 percentage points from the previous year.. 

While there are countless websites that promote both legitimate and unscrupulous work-from-home opportunities, the keyword in the employment adverts is “remote or home-based.”

There has never been a better moment to look for a remote job than right now. According to FlexJobs, a membership service for job searchers with a database of over 57,000 employers, the percentage of remote vacancies climbed by 12 per cent in 2021 over 2020.

The majority of remote jobs are often customer service or sales marketing duties that can be done very easily via telework. Companies are learning what additional sections of their workforces can flourish remotely as they expand their work-from-home policies and, in some cases, establish permanent ones.

FlexJobs career services manager, Brie Reynolds, the most remote jobs are for HR and recruitment positions. During the Great Resignation's record-high turnover, there is a great demand to hire HR personnel who can hire additional employees.

Allowing HR personnel to work remotely allows organizations to recruit them faster and extend their applicant pool outside their regular area. 

Accounting and financial jobs are the fastest-growing categories for remote ads on FlexJobs. According to Reynolds, this indicates that firms require “numbers people” to juggle ever-changing budgets under pressure in the recovering pandemic economy. 

According to the FlexJobs database, 11% of remote positions are entry-level, 60% require mid-level experience and 20% are manager-level.

“Businesses are evolving at a quick pace, and they are attempting to employ individuals who can forecast what will happen in the future and how to plan properly,” Reynolds adds.

As with any job search, you'll want to have a polished résumé and be prepared to look for work online. These 15 platforms will assist you in getting started:

1. FlexJobs

FlexJobs is one of the most comprehensive and widely used websites for finding remote jobs. Members can look for remote employment based on their career field. One of the most useful features of the FlexJobs platform is that it displays the posting date for each job, as well as whether the position is full-time, part-time, or freelance.

A membership fee is required to access the website's job listings, which may be acquired on a weekly, monthly, or yearly basis. FlexJobs is presently providing a 50 per cent discount on membership rates by entering the code JOB at checkout. This offer is active now through April 30th.

2. Upwork

Upwork is a freelancing marketplace for professionals in industries such as writing, graphic design, and web development. The website assists professionals in finding assignments, communicating with clients, and being paid. If you're a new freelancer or working in a new industry, you may gain useful experience without having to pitch clients all the time.

For two decades now, Upwork pioneered new ways of working with businesses in finding more flexibility and connecting talent to prospective clients. Upwork has both free and premium membership programs for freelancers. “Is Upwork excellent for beginners?” is a typical question among freelancers. Yes, Upwork may be a terrific place to start your freelancing career, since you can search through millions of jobs and pick the ones that are right for you. Upwork provides payment protection on hourly and fixed-price contracts, as well as secure, in-platform payment solutions.

Note: On Monday, freelancing platform Upwork Inc (UPWK.O) retracted its year-end projection after stopping services in Russia and Belarus, citing danger and uncertainty as Moscow's assault on Kyiv continues.

3. Fiverr

Fiverr is a website where employers may discover freelancers. Because price packages are determined by freelancers, the site offers varying prices, allowing businesses to limit their search results by budget. The platform is completely free to use. Is Fiverr a decent place to start for beginners? Fiverr is an excellent place to start if you're new to freelancing since you can sell any digital product or service for $5 or less. On Fiverr, clients may hire freelancers to complete tasks such as business work, technology, programming, audio, music, animation, videos, translation, writing, digital marketing, design, and graphics. You can also list gigs that are linked to lifestyle and enjoyment.

4. Remotive

Remotive is a job board that advertises software development, customer support, and product development positions, among other things. Accessing Remotive's employment board is free, and all ads include a posting date and a link to the company's internal job posting if you want to apply.

5. Guru

Guru is a freelancing service that pays freelancers on an hourly basis for their work. Signing up for a membership on the website is the only way to obtain it. Most folks with basic online knowledge will find the procedure simple. The basic membership is likewise free, but you must pay for premium features. 

After successfully registering on Guru and creating your profile, you can begin looking for appropriate opportunities on the site. Select Find Jobs from the menu and begin your search with terms that reflect the talents or services you provide. Guru isn't horrible, but it's clearly geared for opportunities for engineers. Guru has little writing and design jobs, but they're few and far between. The Guru platform does impose a 2.9 percent processing fee on each settled invoice. Users who pay using eCheck or wire transfers, on the other hand, are eligible for a full refund of the processing charge.

6. Freelancer

Freelancer is an online employment marketplace that allows customers and freelancers from all over the world to interact for mutual gain. Individuals or organizations in need of competent support for short-term or long-term tasks can list such projects and invite freelancers to make bids for the work's completion. Because Freelancer has evolved to be the largest freelancing marketplace since its beginning in 2009, you may be certain that it is completely real and not a fraud. If you are a new member, you will receive initially 6 bids per month and win more as you participate in contests. However, you will pay $8 for more bids monthly or annually.

7. Remote.co

Remote.co is a free online job portal that lists positions for remote workers such as developers, customer service agents, designers, sales professionals, and editors. Job postings range from part-time to full-time. The portal will connect you to the firms' internal job postings if you want to apply.

8. FreeUp

FreeUp is a network for freelancers with e-commerce skills, including customer service, social media management, SEO, email marketing, data entry, and other services. Candidates must go through a verification process and interviews before being granted access to the site. When applying, you must include a résumé, portfolio, internet speed test results, and information about your services.

Although FreeUp is a challenging site to join, accepted freelancers will have access to basic, mid-level, and expert level work that may pay anywhere from $5 to $75 per hour. In addition, payments are paid on a weekly basis.

9. Outsourcely

Outsourcely is a platform that links remote freelancers with firms searching for part-time and full-time employees in a variety of fields, including customer service and data entry, as well as project managers, virtual assistants, and email marketers. Outsourcely has a significant edge in that it works with organizations searching for long-term employees rather than those looking for short-term projects. Creating a profile is free, and once done, users may browse job posts.

10. We Work Remotely

We Work Remotely advertises includes full-time and part-time remote employment in a variety of areas, including sales and marketing, design, writing, and education. It is free to use the internet job board. Users may also sign up to have fresh postings in certain sectors delivered straight to their email inbox on a daily basis.

11. Boldly

Boldly links individuals with W-2 work-from-home opportunities, which means that those employed will be classified as staff workers and will enjoy Boldly corporate benefits rather than being contractors. Part-time and full-time opportunities are available, however, Boldly asks employees to be accessible during normal business hours and to work 20 hours each week.

Individuals interested in the Boldly platform must apply and then go through an interview process before being paired with appropriate businesses. Individuals must have at least seven years of work experience in their professional industry or field of specialization, as well as a fast and stable internet connection and solid time management skills, in order to qualify. Following acceptance, Boldly pairs individuals with compatible businesses based on their skillset and expertise.

12. Dice

Dice is a free online job board for anyone working in or looking for jobs in technology. Full-time and contract positions are available. Dice allows users to search for jobs by job title, skill (such as Django or JavaScript), and category (remote jobs is a category). Users may also build free profiles in order to obtain customised job ads based on their likes and skillsets.

13. Textbroker

Textbroker is a free employment network designed exclusively for writers searching for freelance work in content marketing, such as work for companies, small company owners, e-commerce, and social media. To get access to the site, prospective users must first finish a brief piece that assesses their writing abilities. Textbroker then allows users to pick their own tasks on their own time and finished work is paid weekly (as soon as $10 or more is achieved).

14. Remote Jobs Club

Remote Jobs Club is a fortnightly email newsletter that features remote employment in a number of areas, including marketing, content writing, and user experience (UX). If the thought of sifting through hundreds of job advertisements overwhelms you, signing up for their newsletter can reduce the amount of time you'll need to spend looking for remote employment.

15. TranscribeMe

TranscribeMe is a renowned information technology and services firm that specializes in global translation services. It was created in 2011. TranscribeMe pays $20 each audio hour at the moment. Thousands of transcribers have already joined and begun making money by transcribing audio and video files. PayPal sends payment to you promptly. You may request payment whenever you hit $20, and they are handed out every Thursday.

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