The pandemic has disrupted the workplace and broadened access to remote jobs across most career fields. In fact, more than half of companies have hired new staff remotely during the pandemic. U.S. Census data also found that in major metro areas such as San Francisco, Washington DC, Boston, and Seattle, more than half of the labor force is working from home.
That said, remote work is growing more quickly in some fields than in others. With that in mind, FlexJobs analyzed the more than 50 career categories in its database, comparing the number of remote jobs posted in March 2020 vs. December 2020 to determine which 10 career categories offering remote jobs have grown at a high rate (more than 25%) since the pandemic started, indicating they will be promising fields for remote job seekers in 2021.
“While a number of factors contribute to remote job growth, including the influence of the pandemic, all of these fields are naturally highly compatible with remote work,” said Sara Sutton, founder and CEO of FlexJobs. “But because of the unprecedented focus on remote work, we’ve seen a big increase in people looking for jobs that let them work from home, as well as more companies than ever allowing remote work and hiring for remote positions across a variety of fields,” Sutton concluded.
The 10 career categories below have seen remote work job listings grow more than 25% when comparing the number of jobs created in March 2020 compared to December 2020. A “remote job” is defined as a professional-level job that allows the worker to work from home either entirely or part of the time. Remote jobs are also known as telecommuting jobs, virtual jobs, and work-from-home jobs.
These are in order from highest to lowest growth, with each category having grown more than 25% from March 2020 to December 2020.
- Marketing
- Administrative
- HR & Recruiting
- Accounting & Financing
- Graphic Design
- Customer Service
- Writing
- Mortgage & Real Estate
- Internet & Ecommerce
- Project Management
In order to secure a remote job, the FlexJobs Career Coaching Team recommends job seekers frame their application materials (resume, cover letter) very specifically when applying to a remote job vs non-remote jobs.
On your resume and in cover letters, highlight any previous experience you have working remotely. If you’ve worked at a distance from your coworkers, across time zones or physical distances, that counts. If you’ve worked from home occasionally or regularly, that counts. If you earned a degree or certification online, that counts. If you volunteered on a project where you did most of the work from your home office, that counts. Remote work skills and experience can come in many forms and they should be mentioned on your resume if you want to land a remote job.
Three ways to highlight your remote work experience and talents on your resume:
1) State it clearly. List “Remote Work” next to your job title. For example, Director of Marketing (100% Remote Work)
2) Include it in the descriptions of your past jobs. For example, “Led a team of five customer service reps in a completely remote work environment, and successfully earned an average team satisfaction rating of 94%.”
3) Build it into your skills section. For example, make sure you talk about the types of skills it takes to be a successful remote worker – time and task management, communication, self-management, the ability to work independently, and comfort with technology are some of the top skills employers like to see when hiring for remote jobs.
FlexJobs is a premium online job service for professionals seeking flexible work, specializing in full-time and part-time remote jobs, employee and freelance jobs, and on-site jobs with flexible, part-time, and alternative schedules. Since its start in 2007, FlexJobs has helped more than 4 million people in their job searches and has created the largest vetted database of legitimate flexible job opportunities in over 50 career categories. In addition, FlexJobs provides robust ongoing career support including curated expert resources and career coaching services to partner with job seekers in all phases of their journey.
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