The worldwide COVID-19 pandemic has caused significant disruptions in many people’s employment and financial goals. Unemployment rates are at an all-time high with over 20 million Americans applying for unemployment benefits in the last month alone. Whether you find yourself suddenly jobless because of economic impacts of the virus or simply want to take advantage of the time at home to make extra cash, an online gig could be a solution to your financial stress. The good news is that more people are working online than ever before. Even during this pandemic, there are many ways that you can make extra cash online, from full-time remote roles to one-time gigs. Here are some ideas to get you started: Online customer service Large companies are still in operation and need temporary customer service representatives. Due to the quarantine, many of these jobs are now online. These include inbound and outbound call center jobs and jobs manning the customer service line for national companies like eBay. Some of these jobs require you to live nearby certain cities, so take note. Freelance work If you have writing, design, or any other marketable skills, you may be able to get hired to do some freelance work. Create a portfolio and start asking neighborhood businesses if they need any writing or design work done for their newsletter or website. You can also try your hand at finding gigs with online bidding agencies; these sites are competitive, but sometimes good work is to be found. Online tutoring If you are a subject matter expert, you may be able to sell your services as an online tutor for children and university students. With online services, your potential customer base can be extended nationally or even internationally, increasing your chance for success. If you are a native English speaker and love kids, consider applying to a company to teach English online to international students. The advantage of these jobs are that there is no need to market your services, you can set your own hours, and they pay relatively well. Finding these opportunities takes a bit of research. Job search engines, like Indeed.com and others, are increasingly adding a remote work filter for their results, so that job seekers can easily search only for jobs that can be done online. There are job search engines that are specifically geared towards finding remote work, such as FlexJobs; keep in mind that there is a subscription fee for most of these types of sites. Lastly, particularly for freelance work, don’t rule out your local Craigslist page; many people post gigs here.
