Remote jobs that don’t require a degree?

August 7, 2022 1:47 PM

I’m trying to help my sister find a full- or part-time remote job that doesn’t require a degree, has health insurance benefits, and isn’t too stressful. So many listings online seem scammy. Where can we find legit remote job listings for people without degrees these days? Links to specific jobs also welcome.

Experience: She’s worked in many offices but doesn’t have specific experience other than that. Lots of front desk reception, office management type stuff.

posted by woodvine to Work & Money (13 answers total)

I have a friend (high school diploma) who makes pretty good money remote doing Medicare billing processing for some sort of company that does mobile health services. It’s not exactly thrilling, but the pay and benefits are good and it’s chill. The key skill he learned on the job is using SQL.
posted by forkisbetter at 2:00 PM on August 7, 2022 [4 favorites]

Virtual personal assistant jobs full- and part-time are absolutely a thing, and most don't require a degree. Her previous experience will help.
posted by hydropsyche at 2:02 PM on August 7, 2022 [1 favorite]

I like the job site called idealist.org. The postings are all from public-good centered companies and organizations and they're usually very clearly marked & sorted about remote, pt/ft, benefits and sometimes salary range.

She might want to look into boosting her career options with a little bit of certification training in things like project management and grant writer, which are great part time jobs and can almost always be done remotely. (And often have a higher wage than clerk type jobs.)

Other career options (not necessarily listed on that site) would be metadata coordinator which is just transferring data from different systems to conform to other databases, for the most part. A solid skillset of language proficiency and attention to detail is needed, but no need for a degree as long as she can demonstrate those skills during the interview process.
posted by typetive at 2:04 PM on August 7, 2022 [3 favorites]

One of my first jobs was in an insurance call center. I don’t have any leads for you on which ones aren’t scammy, but insurance is a great industry if you want a decent career without much stress. Once you’ve gotten a start, there are a lot of career paths, and most of them don’t require much in the way of credentials. To the extent they do (i.e., a sales license), employers are likely to assist with that process. If you look at the websites of insurance-related companies you’ve heard of, you should be able to find some that have remote call centers or document processors.
posted by kevinbelt at 2:04 PM on August 7, 2022 [3 favorites]

Keep an eye on usajobs.gov. There are a decent number of GS-7 (doesn’t require a college degree) level admin jobs, and more and more of them are set up as remote.
posted by rockindata at 2:27 PM on August 7, 2022 [7 favorites]

Virtual Gurus is an Indigenous owned, Canadian-based company that is currently expanding across America.
posted by Juniper Toast at 2:42 PM on August 7, 2022 [2 favorites]

Our state has a TON of remote jobs doing various office administrative work for so many departments, including the DMV, Dept of Revenue, etc. Really amazing benefits and decent compensation, too. State, fed, and local government could all be good options.
posted by MonsieurBon at 2:50 PM on August 7, 2022 [2 favorites]

I found mmy remote job through indeed.com. It has all kinds of jobs. Put "remote" in the location part of the search area.
posted by NotLost at 3:21 PM on August 7, 2022 [1 favorite]

Customer service/support in tech is a great remote opportunity. In the interest of diversity and inclusivity, many tech companies have dropped unnecessary requirements for college degrees for these types of roles, and they tend to offer quality healthcare, time off, etc. The jobs are going to mostly involve responding to customer emails/chats through ticketing systems, though some may have phone support options as well, or they may require other administrative tasks. The training tends to be very thorough for all the internal systems, but familiarity with current software like Slack, Google Suite, and task management systems (Airtable, Asana, Confluence, etc.) will improve an application's attractiveness. Depending on where the tech company is based, type of role, expected experience, etc., the salaries will probably range from ~$40k-50k to start, though of course there may be outliers. Most roles are probably going to be non-exempt (over-time eligible), but you might come across some salaried ones, depending on the skills required.

Here are some great places to look:
+ https://startup.jobs/ (tick the box for remote, and search for customer service and/or support in the text box)
+ https://weworkremotely.com/categories/remote-customer-support-jobs
+ https://remote.co/remote-jobs/customer-service/

You might also have some luck looking for titles like admin assistant, office assistant, and office support, though there are fewer of these in tech companies that are 100% remote. Also, sales roles like business development representative are entry level, and may not require a degree. If there are specific companies/hobbies your sister likes, she should look for jobs on those companies websites to see if they have any jobs that she would be qualified for so that she has more of a connection to the work.

Finally, if you are concerned about whether something is real or not, Google the company to make sure they actually exist and have a reasonable website. Then, look for the job posting on their careers page. Apply directly through there instead of through the aggregator sites listed above. There are some known scams where people post a fake job and pretend to interview someone over chat/messenger, and then ask them to send money to purchase the laptop or other equipment to get started. Real companies will never have you pay them any money for equipment, and they will conduct interviews over Zoom/video/telephone. If it seems suspicious, disengage and do not send any $$ to anyone. Also, if it seems too good to be true, don't hesitate to search for employee reviews of the company on Glassdoor or Reddit to see if others have intel. Good luck!
posted by luzdeluna at 7:22 PM on August 7, 2022

Rat Race Rebellion and Flexjobs.
posted by stormyteal at 8:16 PM on August 7, 2022 [2 favorites]

My husband started working at CCI this past spring designing where new fiber optics lines will go for telecom companies. He's enjoyed working there so far. The work doesn't require a degree (my husband's degrees are in natural resources and biology, so not related) and they have a 8-ish week long training period. I don't see his specific job level currently posted, but that could be something to keep an eye on if interested.
posted by abeja bicicleta at 3:37 AM on August 8, 2022

check out medical billing, coding, insurance follow-up and customer service.

GetixHealth job postings.
posted by dpx.mfx at 7:55 AM on August 8, 2022

LinkedIn job postings are all going to be legit, because it's expensive af to post on there. You can filter for remote roles.
posted by radioamy at 10:53 AM on August 8, 2022