If you’re one of the 38.6 million Americans who’s filed for unemployment benefits since March, you may be looking for permanent or temporary work opportunities to make ends meet amid the COVID-19 outbreak. While companies such as Amazon, Walmart, and Kroger have continued to hire workers to meet growing consumer demands, additional employment opportunities are available outside of retail. For instance, you could use your skills to make ends meet through side-gigging, freelancing, or launching a startup. For some tips on making ends meet as you look for full-time work opportunities, read on.
Try a Side Gig
To make money as you look for full-time employment opportunities, you could use your professional skills, interests, and passions to pursue a flexible side job that allows you to work on your own terms during the pandemic. A variety of side gigs are available to help you make ends meet during the coronavirus crisis, including part-time opportunities in content writing, online tutoring, transcribing, and many other fields.
If you’re a great listener and comfortable with repetition, for instance, a side gig as an audio and video transcriber could be an excellent way to bring in some cash. If you have skills in writing and editing and can meet deadlines, a part-time gig as a writer could be a good fit for you. Or, an online tutoring job could be a great option if you’re an expert in one or more subjects. Since the working hours are usually flexible for these types of jobs, you could even keep your side gig once you return to full-time employment.
Pursue Freelance Work
Depending on your career skills and background, freelancing could be another great option for making ends meet when you’re out of work due to COVID-19. Work from home freelance jobs are available in a wide variety of industries such as sales and marketing, customer service, data science, software development, writing, and admin support, just to name a few. Plus, online job board sites like Upwork simplify the process of finding and landing freelance work. Through Upwork, you can easily create an online profile that helps you to find and land freelance opportunities that fit your skills, background, and pay expectations.
Launch a Startup
If you’re out of work and looking for a long-term solution, the pandemic could be the perfect time to start a business in growing industries like home improvement, pet products, home beauty, gaming, and health and fitness. According to a CNBC, these industries are thriving amid the coronavirus crisis — and entrepreneurs could take advantage of this moment by starting a business of their own during the pandemic.
Depending on your skills, interests, and passions, a few ideas for your startup could include:
- Launching a food truck. While many popular restaurant chains struggled during the COVID-19 crisis, food trucks thrived.
- Starting an online grocery store. With grocery delivery services thriving amid the coronavirus pandemic, you could put your tech skills to good use by developing your own online grocery store that sells popular items like milk and bread.
- Building a health and fitness app. Even as gyms plan to reopen, many health and fitness enthusiasts will feel more comfortable exercising at home or outdoors — especially if they’re not comfortable wearing a mask while working out.
As the U.S. economy slowly reopens and stay-at-home restrictions loosen throughout the nation, new opportunities are popping up, but a few important skills will be needed to succeed in a post-pandemic world. As such, you may choose to learn a new career skill or two when you’re between jobs and looking for full-time employment opportunities.
According to Forbes, tech-savviness, adaptability, creativity, data literacy, critical thinking, coding, leadership, and emotional intelligence are some of the skills that will be most important once the pandemic ends. Plus, many free learning opportunities are available amid the coronavirus crisis, making it the perfect time to expand your skill set and set yourself up for post-pandemic success.
