Have you always wanted to travel the world and not get stuck in a 9 to 5 cubicle? What if there was a way to make money and have time to travel?
Buckle up your seat belts and pack your bags, because you’re about to get a major dose of job motivation!
Ever since I got my first internship, I’ve been giving people job advice (both solicited and unsolicited). Now as a travel blogger, I’ve collected a list of companies and jobs to make it easier to find your next job. The first section is divided into flexible US-based jobs and jobs that are available in different countries. The second section is a list of websites that you can use to pick up gigs– or even become a temporary/permanent freelancer.
Ready? Let’s go!
United States-Based Jobs
There’s a statistic floating around that says a good chunk of jobs will be somewhat or fully remote by the year 2020. Looks like the companies listed below have already jumped on the trend, so why not jump along with them?
Just a word of caution for my international readers: many of the jobs require US citizenship, so check before applying!
Aetna- A great resource for nurses or those in the medical field who want to work from home, but Aetna hires in other areas as well! For example- you can work from home being a Clinical Consultant, Case Manager, and Project Manager. Details here.
Apple– For those who have experience in customer service and troubleshooting, Apple is looking for you! They have a couple of work from home positions like an At Home Advisor, Team Manager, and Area Manager. You’ll be responsible for helping customers with their products, and you can find more information here.
American Express– If you have an AmEx Delta card, you might have noticed that American Express has their own travel site. If you love to plan itineraries and have some experience as a travel agent, check out some of the jobs on their virtual career page. ** International locations also available! **
Dell– Similar to Apple, but with more variety in technology-related jobs. Their virtual job board can be found here.
The New Teachers Project– TNTP is helping bring equality to schools across the United States, and you can join them! Visit their job board and check “Flexible Location” under Location. Some examples of jobs you might be doing include an Analyst, Site Advisor, and Business Development.
Walden University– Walden is looking for people who have experience teaching to be part of their faculty. Some examples are Professors, Teacher’s Assistants, and even an On-call Reference Librarian! To see open jobs, visit their job board and search for “virtual” in the keyword box.
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<< Non- company specific >>
Advertisement Rating Jobs– No, you don’t need to have a Bachelor’s in Advertising to be an Ads Rater. ;) You’ll be responsible for going through ads and seeing if the content is relevant, interesting, and useful to others. Appen frequently hires Social Media Evaluators (pays around $13/hr) and ZeroChaos hires Ads Evaluators (pays around $15/hr).
Transcribing Jobs– Transcribers listen to audio or videos files, and then type out what was said. TranscribeMe is a good place to start, and you can also check out the Top 20 Transcription companies here.
Virtual Assistant– A virtual assistant takes care of administrative work such as billing, calling, setting schedules, data entry, customer service, and much more. Here is a great job board, but you can find tons of jobs by googling “Virtual Assistant jobs”.
Jobs You Can Do Anywhere
Scuba Instructor – If you’re in the water more often than you are anywhere else, consider a career as a Diver or Scuba Instructor. You have to be certified before working for most places, but this job can take you to exotic destinations like Greece, the Caribbean, and the Philippines! To get a sense of what some of these jobs do, read an in-depth article here, and check out DiveZone’s job board here.
Teaching English– Yo, you like kids? Do you want to teach them the wonders of the English language? Okay, maybe not that poem, but one of the most popular jobs you can do abroad is teach English. Granted it’s not for everyone, and most places require some sort of degree or TOEFL certification– but if this sounds like a job for you, Dave has an excellent job board for English teachers.
Some of the locations available (to inspire wanderlust ) – Japan, Russia, UAE, and Chile!
Au Pair- Hey, do you still like kids? Like, even more than teaching them English? You might be the perfect au pair. You’ll be responsible for childcare and some housekeeping, and in exchange get accommodation, a stipend, and go on activities with the family. Check out some of the families you can be an au pair for at GreatAuPair,
Yoga Teacher– Say “ommm” to opportunities. As a yoga teacher, you have many opportunities to teach: at a hotel, hostel, yoga retreat, or at private practices. See avaliable positions at YogaTravelJobs. You can also try Yoga Trade, but they require a paid membership ($18/yr or $30/two years).
Resort Jobs– Have you ever been on a resort and thought, “how did she get such a cool job?” Well, now you know. Resorts are especially looking to hire bilingual (or even trilingual) employees to interact with guests. For example: When we went to a resort in the Dominican Republic, the Restaurant Reservations Manager was a girl from Russia and was hired because there was a huge boost in tourism from Eastern Europe. ResortJobs is a great place to start your search (Click “Search Jobs” on the left menu bar).
General Job Boards – Gigs/Freelancing
If you don’t want to stick to just one job, consider freelancing in your chosen field(s). This can mean setting up social media accounts for brands, designing web pages, or writing content for a small business blog. But… Where can you find these gigs? Check out some of my favorite sites here!
Flexjobs- This requires you to pay $14/month to see the full listing, but it also offers companies who are looking for both one-off jobs and permanent employees. Website here.
Freelancer.com– Although it’s free to use, you get 8 “bids” per month to bid on projects you’d like to work on. You can buy extra bids for a fee. Website here.
oDesk / Upwork– Bunching these together since they’re similar. You can also bid on freelancing projects. Website links: oDesk and Upwork
PeoplePerHour-Do you want to build a 7 day itinerary for someone traveling to the Philippines, design jewelry, or create a menu for a restaurant? People Per Hour has an interesting mix of jobs such as these and more. Website here.
BackpackerJobBoard– Just throwing this out there if you’re in Australia or New Zealand ;) Job board specifically catered to those two countries that include gigs as a bartender, strawberry picker, and Italian tutors. Website here.
Anyway, that’s it for now! I’ll update this page as I find more remote/telecommute companies, so keep checking back! As always, thanks for reading :)
Great post Luda! I worked as an English Teacher in Brazil for six months and then continued on teaching two students on Skype for the next year while I bounced around between Australia, USA and Brazil. I am just about to try and get into freelancing so this was a great article for resources. Thanks!
Thank you, That sounds like a great idea! If you’re still interested in teaching English over the internet, check out Cafetalk.com or an app called Tandem (I work for them :p). Good luck with freelancing! :)
Hello Luda, Nice post.You have given me very good ideas.I will work on this.Really happy while reading your article. Thanks for your amazing thoughts.