A couple of decades ago, ‘going to work’ had a sense of weight attached to it. If you were not leaving home at 8 am and coming back home with a tired, dishevelled look on your face, you were not doing it right. But what if one did not have the amenities or possible opportunity to physically be present and work at a place, yet needed or wanted to earn their living?
Work from home, right?
But at that time, it was not so easy. A vast majority of work from home jobs were far from being nearly profitable, let alone run a house. They were mostly data-entry jobs, where you had to fill in the right information in the right place. The task loads were huge and mostly drab and monotonous, and the pay was little. Also, half of them were scams and frauds.
But things have changed. Rather, the world as people knew it, changed. Internet emerged and opened up innumerable opportunities at various fronts. Employment was obviously one of them. With employment and job positions being such a major issue, especially in India, quite a lot of educated young people turned to online working, either part-time or full-time to earn their living.
Here are five work from home jobs other than data-entry that gives ample job opportunity as well as good pay:
- VIRTUAL ASSISTANT
The job of a virtual assistant is very much like a real one, only he/she works remotely through the internet and keeps track of the day-to-day business activities and management tasks, and keeping them organized, scheduled and up-to-date. Their daily tasks involve handling emails and replying to them, primary communication with the clients, creating power-point presentations and excel worksheets, answering basic business queries, content development, managing social media pages and much more.
There are no specific criteria or eligibility to become a virtual assistant unless the company specifically asks for it. But the candidate must have good communication skills, proficiency in basic office work related computer applications like MS Office package and using the internet and a good knowledge of English, both written and spoken.
- CONTENT WRITER
Content Writing is one of the most prominent and upcoming virtual professions. Almost every company and organization, both profit and non-profit kind, have their own website and social media pages. A content writer is responsible for the right words that need to show up on these platforms. His/her job description involves writing website content, product or idea descriptions, promotional messages, marketing content, blogs, captions and taglines on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram and so on. They basically give shape to the company’s objectives in the form of written words. The virtual jobs like blogging or social media management sometimes come under the umbrella of being a content writer, since the same has to create and upload content on social media and blog sites of the company.
A content writer needs to be fluent in the language the company operates, as well as in English, both writing and speaking. You can either be freelance and be working on individual projects or work as a hired employee of a company. In any case, one can earn from 20,000 – 40,000 is a content writer.
- ONLINE TUTOR
A large number of people have turned to online tutoring, both teachers, and students alike, in the last few years. Online tutoring is an interactive and digital process of learning. It includes video, audio, and a chat option. The video may or may not be live. In the case of live tutoring, the tutor and the student interact with the digital interface of the software and share a common work board for solving problems and exchanging relevant notes. There are pre-recorded videos also and an option to leave a query for the tutor to reply whenever convenient.
Many portals work as agents between online tutors and students. The students can choose a tutor for their required subject. The recorded videos are published via channels or apps. Even though almost all subjects are taught over the internet nowadays, learning different languages are kind of rage.
- TRANSLATOR
Almost everyone in India knows more than two languages, the basic one being English, and this opens up an array of opportunities for them. There are many publishers who look for competent translators with good language skills. Knowing a language does not guarantee the knowledge of its nuances, and translating is even more difficult because each language has its own essence.
So if you are fluent in two languages or more than that, you can easily opt for being an online translator. While the translations usually are for Indian languages, like English to Hindi, Marathi to Tamil, Bengali to English etc., sometimes the client might even ask for some knowledge in a foreign language like French or German. So if you have it, go for it!
- WEB DEVELOPER
Web Developing is way more difficult a job than it sounds. In the digital era, every small, medium and large company has its website, and it has become the most common form of communication between the organisation and the clients. So it is very important to keep the website clutter free, updated and most necessary, aesthetic. The look of a website speaks for the company when a potential client first checks it out.
So basically the job of a web developer is to purchase and create an entire website from scratch and maintain it. Updating, editing or deleting necessary information and continuously upgrading its look and overall appearance also falls under a web developer’s job profile. It is a difficult and demanding job, but if you know your codes and have a taste for designing, go for it! It pays in big numbers too.
Now if you think that earning from home opportunities have largely changed the employment market and opened up lots of opportunities for people who were otherwise unemployed or stuck in desk jobs they hated, you will be absolutely right in doing so.
The digital revolution is here. People are doing everything, from buying vegetables to getting married, all sitting from home with just a click.
Then why should the way we make our living stay back?