This came as a bit of a surprise to me as well. Enough that I thought I would do a blog post about it. A friend mind who just recently joined college at about 18 years of age seems to be getting job offers to work from home that enables her to make over $1000 every month.
I remember looking for work and actually working while still in college. But they were not ‘tech’ jobs that certainly not the kind you could do from home. So these are the 2 big changes I am noticing.
You can be studying somewhere and working for someone another state altogether. You can have a flexible schedule, with a rather decent pay that doesn’t require much prior formal work experience.
Most of the jobs can be found on a respectable online networking and jobs website like LinkedIn. In fact, I notice the clout and the effect of having a profile on LinkedIn now because more and more people seem to be using it to good effect.
When I say no formal work experience is required, itis because most of the interviews happen over the phone and then the potential hirers send a sample project for completion. So what one needs is a basic portfolio of showing what you are capable of doing, but the actual hiring happens fairly quickly over the phone and a sample project.
I should point out that most of these job openings for college students are labelled as openings for internship.
The job offer that my friend received and has now taken up is not even something that qualifies as one of a kind offer.
She seems to be in the position to choose from a few such offers. She has people reaching out to her from her online job profile at LinkedIn.. So what does she do and why is she getting these job offers?
Let me talk about the kind of work she has been able to find. This work is in the field of social media content generation. The content includes written, photographic as well as video and graphic content. Most of you already be familiar with creating your own content for your personal social media accounts such as Instagram reels.
The only difference is that businesses want to do the same thing with the intent of creating promotional material for their products and services. And they usually hire professional companies to take care of their social media accounts who in turn hire individuals for making and managing content.
There are other things to be done as well such as learning to handle email marketing services where you can be asked to schedule newsletters and e-mailers.
If you are adept at writing, creating content for newsletters is a very real work option as well. These jobs are known as copyrighting jobs. They pay well, but they need you to learn how to write professional content to suit different purposes.
For example, an e-mailer can be marketing material, or it can be a way to keep in touch with potential customers. Usually its both because usually it takes good communication to make someone convert to a sale. And if someone is taking the effort and expense of sending out e-mailers, then its safe to assume they have something to sell at some point of time.
The following are the 3 kinds of social media jobs that are available to beginners.
Social Media Managers: Responsible for overseeing a company’s social media strategy, creating content, and engaging with the audience.
Content Creators: Specialize in producing high-quality content, such as blog posts, videos, and graphics, for social media platforms.
Community Managers: Foster online communities and build relationships with customers and followers.
Out of this the last two, i.e. the content creators as well as community managers is open to beginners where one can get hired for a paid internship.
The skills you need to be a social media content creator
- Creating Visuals: You’ll design a variety of graphics, including images, illustrations, infographics, and videos, tailored to specific social media platforms (e.g., Instagram, Facebook, Twitter).
This aspect of the work surprised me somewhat as to how far it has come from a few years ago. I see a most people using apps like Canva to design content, which in turn has a lot of ready made content and tie up with other content resources such as Unsplash for images and others for templates. - Brand Awareness: Since the content creator is usually creating content for different brands, they are often asked to adhere to the ‘feel’ of the brand such as using signature colors, tone of messaging etc.
- Understanding Platforms: Familiarity with the technical requirements and best practices of each platform to optimise content for visibility and engagement. Engagement is the key metric for any kind of promotion. So the better is at understanding what draws the audience, the better the design content, which is what the employers want to pay for.
- Collaborating with Teams: Working closely with copywriters, marketing managers, and other team members to develop integrated campaigns. One needs to work along the guidelines and even build on top of existing messaging and content to create a successful content campaign.
The promoters might already have an idea as to the direction they want their messaging to take. But that said, one of the advantages of creating social media content is that there is a fair amount of freedom involved, given the transient nature of the each post. However, the larger the brand, the more seriously they have to take what they put out there.
This post is not really a job description for what a content creating social media job is all about. Rather it is about the tangibility of a possibility that I did not know existed. Finding remote online jobs at a very young age that allow you to pursue other goals as well. Of course there are challenges.
Other kinds of jobs available online for remote working and tele-commuting
LinkedIn has turned out to a be a reliable place for finding work. There are quite a few interesting leads present there for both the employers and work seekers. And what surprised me was how common the telecommuting jobs are on the listing. Employers seem to prefer people willing to work from home.
The reason is that with the advent of several services and tools communication and productivity doesn’t suffer if the worker is working from home. And the employers get to reduce their overheads.
Challenges of working a job as a young adult / teenager
Balancing college life with a job can be challenging for anyone, but it can pose unique obstacles for young women. Here are some common challenges:
1. Time Management:
- Juggling academics and work: Managing coursework, exams, assignments, and a job can be overwhelming. There are many times when you sign for an internship and even though you make your situation about limited timing clear. The work load might require you to give more time to it than you are able to, creating stress and a detrimental result for your studies.
- Social commitments: Maintaining a social life while working can be difficult, especially if your friends are not working. The fact is that you will have to devote serious time to work alongside studying. This works the best if you truly enjoy the work you are doing and are alright with keeping a lighter social calendar than other students might possibly have.
I have learnt that there are some great ways to enjoy working, such as taking your work outdoors, to your favourite cafe etc.
2. Financial Strain:
- Low wages: Part-time jobs often offer low pay, making it difficult to cover expenses like tuition, textbooks, and living costs. But this doesn’t have to be the case. There are jobs that pay more and ones that pay less. Keep looking. And the good thing about internships is that you can switch quickly and to another offer without creating friction. Just make sure you finish all your current projects and give due notice.
- Debt: Student loans and other financial obligations can add to the stress of balancing work and school. But generally the idea behind working is to ease the financial strain during college, alongside getting a jumpstart with work experience.
3. Mental and Physical Health:
- Stress and burnout: The demands of work and school can lead to high levels of stress and burnout.
- Lack of sleep: Balancing a job with school often means sacrificing sleep, which can negatively impact mental and physical health.
Tips for Balancing Work and School:
- Create a schedule: Plan your time carefully to allocate time for classes, studying, work, and personal activities.
- Prioritize tasks: Focus on the most important tasks first to avoid feeling overwhelmed.
- Set realistic goals: Set achievable goals for your academic and work life.
- Seek support: Talk to friends, family, or a counselor about the challenges you’re facing.
- Take care of yourself: Make sure to get enough sleep, eat healthy, and exercise regularly.
By understanding these challenges and taking proactive steps, young women can successfully balance work and school while achieving their academic and career goals.
