If you really want to work at home but you have little to no past experience in anything, it can sometimes be hard to get your foot in the door for the jobs you want. Fortunately, there are some options. We all have to start somewhere! Today, we are talking about work from home jobs for beginners.
Do keep in mind that work from home jobs for beginners also come with lower pay rates in most cases. In fact, sometimes you may even need to juggle two or three of these jobs at one time in order to make anything close to a livable wage. This is something I had to do when first starting out!
The great thing is you gain valuable experience that helps ensure you can land higher-paying jobs down the line!
Work From Home Jobs That Accept Beginners
Below are some different industries and companies in each industry that may be willing to work with you as a beginner:
Transcription
As a work from home transcriber, you will listen to audio files and type out what you hear. While this may sound easy, there is a learning curve.
Also, most transcription companies have very specific formatting rules that you need to follow and these will not necessarily be the same from company to company.
Transcription can pay well, but the higher-paying companies generally want proof of past experience.
The companies I've linked below for you are not known for paying well, but they will consider beginners who pass their skills tests.
If you are interested in transcription training, I recommend General Transcription: Theory & Practice created by Janet Shaugnessy.
Translation
As a translator who works from home, you will convert information (written or otherwise) from one language to another. So if you are fluent in more than one language, this could be a viable work at home option for you since this work can be done remotely.
Just as it is with transcription, you earn more as a work at home translator with past experience. But if you're just starting out, there are still some options for you to start gaining that experience.
The companies below will consider workers with no past experience in translation, although you may be required to take a skills test prior to acceptance.
- Proz – Create a free profile and begin accepting freelance clients!
- Translate.com
- Stepes
Virtual Assisting
As a virtual assistant, you are a Jack or Jill of all trades. What your job involves could change drastically from one day to the next just depending on what your client(s) are asking of you.
Many companies that hire virtual assistants do prefer workers with past admin or virtual assisting experience, but not all!
Below, I've linked some companies that are very open to virtual assistants who have never done the work before.
My e-book, Your Quick Guide to Working From Home as a Virtual Assistant, lists 50 companies that hire and some of those do accept beginners as well. It also explains how you might go into business for yourself as a virtual assistant.
ESL Tutoring
ESL tutoring is teaching the English language to people who do not speak it.
While this was a booming industry for a time with companies in China hiring many people from English-speaking countries to teach/tutor children in the English language, it has come to a bit of a standstill. China has recently banned for-profit tutoring in their country.
Despite this, there are still a few sites you can join as a tutor that are not based in China and do still have a need for workers.
Some of these companies only require that you speak English as your native language, but most do want a language certification — such as TEFL or TESOL. You can get this training online pretty quickly and easily, but again, not all companies require it.
Below, I've listed the few ESL tutoring opportunities I do know about that you can still work for as a beginner.
Academic Tutoring
As an academic tutor, you will be tutoring elementary, middle, high school, or even college students in various subjects and/or offering homework help.
While most companies do prefer to hire people who are either pursuing or already have college degrees, you can still often get work even if you've never done any tutoring before.
The companies listed below are frequently looking for online academic tutors, and they are open to people without experience.
Freelance Writing
Freelance writing is what I did years ago to earn an income from home, and I managed to earn an income with no prior experience or even a degree!
Many companies will consider applicants based on skill alone — your past experience won't always matter if you can prove you are an average-to-good writer.
The companies below do not pay well, but you have a shot at acceptance with them if you can write.
Another option is of course striking out on your own as a freelancer and finding high-paying clients to write for directly. You can do this if you're a good writer — past experience or not — and you will earn more than what the content sites above would ever pay you. But this takes time.
Phone Jobs
Work at home phone jobs involve providing customer service, sales, tech support, and more for companies that need it. While many companies don't like to hire people without proven experience, you can still find a handful that are open to entry-level workers.
Phone jobs aren't ideal for everyone. Most of the companies you might work for require no background noise. This is almost impossible to guarantee if you have kids or loud pets.
If you think phone work may be for you, check out the companies below that might hire you even if you are totally new to it:
Task Sites
Task sites are mostly good for a little side money, and I often recommend these as something to do in between better-paying work.
I used to do search evaluation and task work in between my freelance writing gigs back in the day, and it helped to supplement my other income.
It's pretty easy to get accepted to do work for task sites, and the work you do will vary just depending on what is posted.
Below are the sites you should check out if this interests you.
Proofreading & Editing
If you are good at proofreading and editing but you've never done it professionally, it can truthfully be a little hard to find a company that will pay you for it. But all hope isn't lost — after a lot of digging, I have found a handful of companies that will hire you without past experience.
Keep in mind they will test your skills before allowing you to proofread, and (usually) a college degree is required.
Just like with freelance writing, you can run your own business or side gig as a proofreader or editor. It takes time to build up a base of well-paying clients who trust you and your skills, but in the long run this will pay you the most.
When people ask me about training for proofreading as a side gig, I always send them to Caitlin Pyle and her resources.
I've known Caitlin since 2014 when she first launched her transcript proofreading e-course after managing to ditch her day job and earn more than she had been at her day job just proofreading transcripts for court reporters!
She has since created an e-course for proofreading as a side business in general, and if that interests you, you can watch her 76-minute webinar that explains a lot about it.
In Conclusion
So as you can see, you do have some work from home options as someone who is a beginner in most industries — although some of the companies above still will not accept your application without proven skills.
As always, I wish you good luck in whatever you choose to pursue.
Featured Image Credit – © enginakyurt, 123RF Free Images
Anna Thurman is a work at home blogger and mom of two. She has been researching and reviewing remote jobs for over 13 years. Her findings are published weekly here at Real Ways to Earn.