Between jobs? Traveling? Need a break from the 9-to-5? Not everybody can afford to stay out of the office, but with temporary jobs online, you can. Temporary jobs online can keep you financially afloat while you get things in order.
There’s plenty of options to explore and work with, depending on your skills and experience. Degree and non-degree holders alike depend on temporary jobs online for a convenient and relaxed work lifestyle.
What Does In-Between Jobs Mean?
In-Between jobs, or between jobs, describes someone who is currently unemployed because she has been fired, laid off, quit her previous position or her last temporary job has finished— and she has not found a new job yet. It’s a euphemism that looks like a friendly way to say someone doesn’t have a job.
A person between jobs has been working for some time and is currently unemployed and looking for a job for different reasons.
Someone unemployed may think using this expression “between jobs” will emphasize they are looking for another job or trying to soften their embarrassment by being unemployed.
How To Make Money In Between Jobs?
The answer is simple. You can make money in-between jobs by working on temporary works or projects. A big plus point to working temporary jobs online is the freedom to work where, when, and how you want.
The time and space flexibility allows you to work at your own pace, leaving you free to do other stuff during the day.
Many busy people can balance their work and personal life while maintaining an income within online temporary jobs. Some examples are Globetrotters, students, mothers with young children, and other busybodies.
The most appealing thing about freelancing is the freedom to work when you want and where you want. Having no boss to answer to, you can pick and choose as many clients as you’re comfortable with and still be in control.
Here are the leading suggestions for you to work while in-between jobs:
1) Freelance Writing
Before you say, “Well, I can’t write, what’s the next option?” you need to know freelance writing depends less upon fancy words and more upon knowledge and content.
Turn your city knowledge into a tourism blog, your love for baking into becoming a cooking magazine contributor, or even your parenting skills into a new fun parent guest post. The possibilities are endless.
You can write for yourself or somebody else through temporary jobs online. While you have more creative freedom in writing for yourself, it doesn’t instantly generate money and takes a while to become profitable.
Contributing to an established publication through temporary jobs online is a better choice for people who want to be paid quicker.
Do a quick Google search for websites and blogs with content you’re familiar with, and apply to the first 20 sites with a brief introduction of yourself and what you’re good at. Be specific in naming the different things you have experience with or knowledge of in your application. Better still, send a sample of what you can offer.
Another way to find temporary jobs online in writing is through freelance websites like Upwork, Guru, Fiverr, or Freelancer. Sites and publications looking for writers often post job postings here or directly contact freelancers on the site who mention their areas of specialization in their profile.
So if you are familiar with real estate, gardening, finance, or anything else, list those words in your freelancer profile to get matched quicker.
2) Design Gurus
Creative professionals can find a world of temporary jobs online. Graphic designers, Photoshop experts, video editing gurus, and more have turned to freelance their skills to break free of restrictions inherent in the workplace.
There are dozens of websites and apps that provide platforms that connect businesses and designers through traditional job posts and the increasingly popular crowdsourcing.
Freelancing sites like the previously mentioned Upwork, Guru, Fiverr, or Freelancer offer space for companies and individuals to post openings for temporary jobs online in graphic and web design which freelancers apply to with a sample of their portfolio.
Crowdsourcing platforms like 99Designs and DesignCrowd help expand your portfolio as you have to design to compete for a job. The winning design gets the job. Crowdsourcing is a good way for digital artists and web developers to find countless clients and build their freelance careers from the start.
3) Translation
If you know a second language, you’re in luck! Human translators are in high demand in today’s globalized world as many companies prefer them to computer-generated translations. Through temporary jobs online in translation, you can work on a project-to-project basis without the fear of getting entangled in any long-term work.
Some websites that focus exclusively on translation, like One Hour Translation, require translators to take an online exam and get certified before being given any work. They provide a steady career of flow depending on the demand of your language. Freelancing websites also offer translation services but do not screen candidates for language proficiency, leading to lower-paying jobs.
4) Transcription
Temporary jobs online in transcription require no technical skills and are perhaps the easiest of them all. Voice-to-text technology isn’t perfect and always has issues with different accents and speedy conversations.
Most large companies look to freelancers or sites specializing in transcription to deliver accurate, word-by-word transcriptions of interviews, podcasts, YouTube videos, and more.
All you have to do is type down everything you hear in an audio or video file provided by a client. These kinds of temporary jobs online are great for rusty people not working for a while or looking to make easy money without any technical skills.
Websites specializing in transcription like Scribie require you to submit an application and take an online test before registering in their database. You earn according to the number of hours or minutes the audio file is – the longer it is, the more you get paid.
Transcription might be a tedious job for some, but it’s an easy one.
5) Data Entry
Many old companies have yet to go digital and have piles of paper records languishing in storage. A quick search for “data entry jobs” on Google will reveal many temporary jobs online that you can do from home. All you need is a computer and a lot of time. You can also find data entry jobs on local job sites and freelance platforms.
People with quicker typing speeds and an understanding of Microsoft Office are preferred.
Data entry jobs are limited to digitalizing paper records and involve entering and organizing large amounts of data into spreadsheets, databases, and files.
These are tasks that don’t require much brainpower but need time and the skill to type quickly.
Guru is an excellent platform that offers temporary jobs. In a quick search, we found fifty freelance data entry jobs.
6) Web Development
Web developing is a growing career and a futuristic type of work. Companies are growing their space online, building eCommerce platforms and mobile applications at a fast pace. If you decide to go this path, there are ways to learn at a rapid pace, here we list three options:
- Boot Camps: A widespread form of learning, the Bootcamp is an intensive course, from three to five days a week, with weekly project deliveries, you start building your portfolio while studying. After 3 to 6 months, depending on the pace you choose, you become a full-stack developer.
- Online courses: For those who don’t have the budget or the time to invest in classes every week and prefer creating their own pace, online courses, such as Udemy, can be a better solution.
- Self-Learn: The most obvious resource is self-learning. Many free YouTube videos allow you to learn by yourself, at your own pace.
Toptal offers you all the possibilities to be hired as a freelance developer.
What are the most popular code languages according to the TIOBE index:
- Python
- C
- Java
- C++
- C#
- Visual Basic
- JavaScript
- SQL
- PHP
- ASM
Totempool also lists the most popular technologies on the web. Here are the 20 first, with the number of websites using it:
- Apache: 59,305,025
- Google Adsense: 39,321,436
- PHP: 37,937,791
- Google Analytics: 34,621,248
- WordPress: 30,999,031
- Amazon: 20,182,120
- Google Apps For Business: 13,241,221
- ASP.NET: 11,439,967
- Cart Functionality: 6,761,063
- New Relic: 5,734,513
- Shopify: 4,961,820
- WooCommerce: 4,821,266
- Wix: 4,611,313
- Squarespace: 4,052,954
- Angular JS: 3,973,467
- MailChimp: 3,758,800
- Ruby On Rails: 2,249,130
- Joomla!: 2,232,061
- ASP.NET MVC: 1,861,012
- Stripe: 1,837,498
If you want to see the complete ranking with the first 60, click here.
In Conclusion
Being between jobs can open many opportunities to grow, make an income and even change careers.
In this article, more than defining the expression “between jobs,” we also gave some concrete alternatives to make money besides learning when looking for a job.
The main opportunities rely on jobs used to hire freelancers, such as writing, graphic design, transcription, translation, data entry, and web development.
Here we listed and explained the possibilities and presented a few websites that may help you get there. Good luck!
Christian has over ten years of experience in marketing agencies. Currently, he has been dedicating his time to a tech startup and also writing for major publications. He loves podcasts and reading to keep up with the latest trends in marketing.