Editor’s Note: This story originally appeared on Point2.
Remote working is now more common than ever – a simple convenience born out of a very inconvenient pandemic. Although there are many more remote work opportunities than ever before, there is much more competition for these jobs.
Experience is important in an office or online. It proves you can do the job and it helps you stand out from the crowd. But not all home jobs require a lot of experience.
For these remote jobs, skills and willingness to learn tend to matter more than years of service.
1. Customer Service Representative
It’s not hard to tell if someone has good interpersonal skills and is an effective communicator. Employers looking for customer service representatives can find out if you have these skills through interviews and tests.
Any missing experience can be compensated by on-the-job training. These jobs often provide you with a script and digital resources to help you answer any relevant questions clients ask you during your phone call, video call, or chat session.
All kinds of businesses need brand ambassadors to help customers use and understand products and services. So you can find a job as a customer service representative almost anywhere.
Associated roles: Concierge, Member Services Specialist, Technical Support Agent
2. Writer
Are you an effective written communicator? Do you have a good command of grammar? If so, you can find writing jobs in almost any industry. Many entry-level jobs will happily hire you, even if you’re fresh out of school and have no professional writing experience.
While more advanced writing assignments will require experience and a college degree, many entry-level jobs and freelance opportunities only require you to take writing tests and provide examples of things you have already written.
Associated roles: Content Writer, Journalist, Proofreader, Service Writer
3. Data entry clerk
If you have a high school diploma and can pass a typing test, you are in a good position to try your hand at a data entry job.
The role of the data entry clerk or specialist is as simple as the title suggests. In this entry-level role, you may also be asked to review, retrieve, reformat or reorganize recordings.
Although many data entry clerk roles require little or no prior experience, you will need an eye for detail in addition to quick fingers. So, in addition to a typing test, you may also be asked to take proofreading exercises and other tests that prove your attention to detail.
Associated roles: Report Writer, Service Writer, Proofreader
4. Graphic designer
If you have an amazing portfolio of graphic design work, many employers offering entry-level positions in design work will just want you to tell them how you created some of your best pieces.
What tools, filters and techniques did you use? How long did it take you? What influenced your design choices?
If they like your answers, you’ll probably be tested with a few design assignments to prove you can create quality art on time.
Associated roles: UX designer, web designer, illustrator
5. Software engineer
This role requires the ability to code and manipulate software programs, usually in more than one programming language. You must therefore be able to demonstrate your understanding of the languages used by a potential employer, whether Java and C++ or HTML and CSS.
While you probably wouldn’t walk into a job at Google or another tech titan without an epic resume, many small businesses and startups will just want to see your certifications and other proof of your skills as a software engineer.
Associated roles: Web designer, data engineer, computer scientist
6. Online Community Manager
Can you tell when someone pushes the boundaries, posts the rules, or seems to ignore online community guidelines? Can you communicate the rules without making the situation worse?
Even with the rise of virtual assistants moderating online interactions, most communities still need a human touch. Community managers need perception, patience, interpersonal skills and the ability to grasp abstract ideas more than they need experience in moderating an online community.
As a community manager, you’ll need to learn everything users can and can’t do in your company’s online community. You will need to be able to punish violators without turning them into active enemies of your business.
You may also be asked to conduct online surveys and review feedback from your community’s interactions with virtual assistants.
Associated roles: Social Media Moderators, Social Media Managers, Forum Moderators
7. Insurance Agent
Like other jobs that were once based in call centers, insurance jobs were shifting towards flexibility and working online long before the pandemic made them the most common thing to do.
You will need a license to become an insurance agent, but most insurance companies are happy to help you if you already have good people skills.
You’ll go through a few weeks of paid training, in many cases, before you can finally sell insurance products to customers.
Associated roles: Loan officer, banker, broker
8. Tutor
Tutoring is one of the most flexible remote jobs around. You will be able to set your own hours in many cases and work with near and far students.
Many online tutoring companies and platforms offer training courses and digital training tools to make your lessons easier. Some of them will even put you in contact with students, so you won’t even have to look for work.
Although tutoring does not require any professional experience, academic experience will greatly contribute to your success as a tutor. Companies varied greatly in their requirements to work as a tutor for them. Some only require a high school diploma, while others require graduate degrees.
Associated roles: Assistant, trainer, coach, consultant
9. Outbound Call Agent
Even if you’re not cold calling, you’ll need more advanced skills as an outbound call agent than you would as a customer service representative.
Although the two roles are closely related, outgoing calls require you to get strangers to let their guard down and be receptive to what you have to offer. Inbound call agents answer calls from people who already want to talk.
Still, you don’t usually need a lot of experience, if any, to work as an outbound call agent. Like customer service representatives, you’ll receive training, call scripts, and digital resources to help people open up to you.
Outbound call agents can fall into a variety of categories, such as telemarketing, political outreach, customer retention, and sales.
Associated roles: Customer Service Representative, Sales Advisor
Tips for landing a remote job
Here are some tips to help increase your chances of finding an online job with little or no prior experience:
- Review job descriptions to determine what skills are in demand.
- Any experience is always better than no experience – consider taking online courses to gain experience in a desirable program or skill.
- Cultivate your communication skills. You will likely need strong communication skills to work remotely.
- Develop technical skills online.
- Consider jobs with flexible working hours. These jobs may allow you a certain number of work-from-home days each week.
- Reach out to your connections on professional sites like LinkedIn.
- Consider going freelance for a while to gain experience.
- Consider going to a business school.
- Check out out-of-state jobs. Just because a company is based in a particular area doesn’t mean you have to be too.
