Until fairly recently, options for side jobs to bring in extra income were fairly limited. Bartending, waiting tables, working retail jobs, and babysitting were the standard choices, each requiring a set schedule, extra commute time, and the abandonment of your nights and weekends. The good news is that, if you’re already working a full-time job, your options for working a second job have greatly expanded in recent years. There are a growing number of part-time options that offer flexible schedules and the ability to work from home.
Here are five surprising side jobs to help supplement your full-time paycheck with extra income.
Search Engine Evaluator
Spend a lot of time browsing the interwebs? In this role, you’ll actually be paid to perform Internet searches, and then evaluate the results presented to you. Your work will be based on assigned topics like culture, media, sports, news, and business, and if you’re fluent in multiple languages, you may evaluate search engine results in any of them. Also known as web search evaluating, these part-time jobs are usually virtual and flexible, meaning you’ll work from home and set your own schedule.
Virtual Tutor
As the name suggests, this part-time job allows you to tutor students over the Internet in a variety of subjects. You’ll typically need a college degree in the field(s) you want to tutor in, and subjects include languages, writing, math, science, reading, history, economics, computer science, and standardized tests like the ACT and SAT. Because students using virtual tutor services are located around the world, you can work odd hours (early mornings, late evenings, sometimes overnight) and set your own schedule for when you’re available.
Community Manager
With online and mobile communities available for every interest and hobby, community managers are needed to monitor, moderate, and assist with interactions between community members. In this part-time, work-from-home job, common tasks include processing flagged comments, moderating virtual worlds and forums, and answering questions posted by community members. You must have experience participating in online communities, and communication skills are, of course, hugely important in these roles.
Freelance Photographer
While being a part-time photographer is nothing new, there has been an increase in recent years in the demand for freelance photographers to help with all kinds of assignments. You might work with a real estate company photographing apartment complexes and communities for their website. Or work with a travel website to visit and tour hotels, taking photographs and writing your assessment of each location. These roles are definitely for people with photography experience and an interest in freelance assignments. As the demand for real-time, online photographs grow, so will the need for part-time photographers.
User Tester
Similar to a web search evaluator, a user tester works with a client website for usability and quality assurance. Rather than searching the entire Internet, however, you’re assigned to one website, or a portion of a website. Testers are needed for both desktop and mobile website testing. User testers use an online screen recorder to capture video of mouse movements, clicks, keystrokes, and spoken comments so website managers can see where their sites are confusing or broken. This part-time job is paid per website tested, so there’s no time commitment and you can set your own hours.
If you need to find extra sources for income but don’t want to schlep to a second job after you’re done with your first, consider jobs like these. The bonus is that these are professional-level part-time jobs, meaning you might be able to use them on your resume as more than just space fillers. Working from home and flexible scheduling are easier benefits to find today, so you don’t need to limit yourself to traditional part-time jobs.
Featured photo credit: Matthew Pearce – iPad Skype via flickr.com
