How to find the perfect work from home jobs for seniors

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You may need or want to make some extra money after you’ve retired, but it can be tough to find full-time, in-person work after being away from the employment scene for a while. Not only are jobs hard to come by, but competition is stiff.

Luckily, if you’re a senior looking for part-time or full-time employment, you don’t need to worry about finding an office job. There are plenty of available online jobs — from virtual assistants to online tutors — that will allow you to earn some extra cash from the comfort of your home.

Let’s look at the best online jobs for seniors, accommodating part- or full-time schedules and fitting a wide range of skills and expertise. This tip is brought to you by our sponsor, LinkedIn.

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Bookkeeper

Do you have a computer, internet access, and a penchant for billing and accounts receivable and payable? In that case, try out a bookkeeping job.

Bookkeeper duties often include keeping track of financial documents, preparing cash flow statements, performing bank reconciliations, and other finance-related tasks. Plenty of part-time and full-time bookkeeping positions are available, and you may even be able to work from home.

Average pay: $18 to $23 per hour

ESL instructor

There are tons of jobs available to help teach English to non-native speakers. You can often do them remotely through specialized platforms. They have built-in tools that help you teach English to adults or children. Plus, the pay is excellent, too.

This could be a wise option for retired teachers who are already used to the ins and outs of teaching. There are also opportunities to teach English to children or adults, so if teaching young kids English seems intimidating, you may even be able to snag a job in adult ESL.

Average pay: $14 to $18 per hour

Marketing Coordinator

If you have experience in marketing or PR, you may be able to snag a job as a marketing coordinator. In this role, you’ll be preparing marketing and advertising strategies, plans, and objectives, and you may even be able to do it from the comfort of your home.

You need a clear understanding of marketing basics and the right equipment to get the job done. You should also be comfortable with brainstorming, creating, and rolling out marketing or advertising campaigns, which is the primary focus for most marketing coordinators.

Average pay: $18 to $25 per hour

Resume writer

Are you comfortable formatting documents, editing text, and writing short blurbs highlighting a person’s marketable skills? You may want to look into resume writing gigs, which can easily be done from home and are in high demand as more people look to return to work.

Resume writers are responsible for creating and refining client resumes, so they make a good impression on employers when they land on their desks (or inboxes). Resume writing is a good fit for retired teachers, editors, writers, HR employees, or anyone with a keen eye for written copy.

You’ll also need to be comfortable typing and proofreading and have basic computer knowledge.

Average pay: $17 to $24 per hour

Career coach

What could be more rewarding than helping someone else find a new job or return to employment after a long time away? If you’re a natural leader, like to strategize and enjoy assisting people in meeting their goals, a career coach position could fit you.

The day-to-day responsibilities of a career coach can include helping clients find new employment opportunities, offering resume feedback, or helping someone prepare for a job interview, all of which can be done from home.

Average pay: $15.56 per hour

Data entry

If you’re comfortable with a computer and can type quickly, you may want to look into data entry positions. These jobs are suitable for organized, detail-oriented people who enjoy repetition and understand basic software and computer programs.

This could be a good fit for someone who worked as an administrative assistant or receptionist before retirement, as most of the skills for these positions are used in data entry.

Average pay: $19 per hour

Online juror

You may not be familiar with the term online juror, but it is pretty much what it sounds like: online mock jury companies pay people to sit on mock juries to give legal experts (attorneys, etc.) feedback on mock cases. The work can be sporadic, so if you’re looking for more of a full-time gig, this probably isn’t it.

Tap or click here for direct links to sites that let you join a jury online.

If you’re looking to earn some extra cash, this could be a good opportunity. The general requirements are pretty lax: you can’t be indicted or have a certain misdemeanor or felony charge on your record. You’ll also need to be comfortable giving written feedback and have access to a computer and the internet.

Average pay: $10 to $100 per case; varies by case and company

Customer service transcriber

If you’re looking for a solid at-home gig, you might want to look into customer service transcription. As a customer service transcriber, you’re responsible for transcribing recordings of customer service calls from various companies into text format.

This job is a good fit for strong listeners, accurate typists, proficient with Word or similar applications, and a keen eye for editing and proofreading. These positions are often available for part- or full-time work and can be done from home as long as you meet the company’s technical requirements.

Average pay: $15.18 per hour

Tutor

Online tutoring may be a good fit if you know math, writing, English, science, or other academic subjects. You’ll also need to be creative and a good communicator. You’ll be explaining complicated topics to people on the other end of the computer and need to find innovative, out-of-the-box ways to help people understand the subject matter.

This type of job would be a good fit for a retired teacher or professor — or anyone with a solid understanding of high-level educational concepts.

Average pay: $19.65 per hour

Consultant (based on your previous field)

Were you at a high level in your career before retirement? Then you may be a good fit for consulting, which can be done online for companies and clients across the globe.

To be a good fit for this job, you’ll need to be comfortable leading and coaching high-level management in your areas of expertise while providing advice, offering creative strategies, and making recommendations for improving workflow and revenue. In return, you can expect a high hourly rate, which can help you pad that nest egg.

Average pay: Varies by industry

Virtual personal assistant

The demand for virtual personal assistants vastly increased after work and home life became intertwined during the COVID-19 pandemic.

People need help completing administrative tasks that other people in the office were once helping with: scheduling, booking travel, making appointments, answering emails, transcribing documents, or any other task that can be outsourced.

The nice part about this kind of job is that it can be done from home and you don’t need any particular skills. It’s a good fit for people comfortable with administrative duties and could work well for retired executive or office assistants.

Average pay: $15.79 per hour

How to avoid job scams

Before you start narrowing down the jobs that could be a good fit for you, it’s important to understand that there are a ton of job scams on the internet — and many of them target senior people. It’s easy to get duped — these scams are often the work of crime groups, not individuals, and people of all ages and experiences can fall for them.

You’ll need to keep an eye out for the red flags that come with these scams, which include:

Asking you to pay for anything upfront: office equipment, software, training fees, or “investments” into products you’ll sell.
Sending you money: this often happens under the guise of a stipend for equipment, but the check or transfer won’t clear after it’s deposited.
Pay to play: if a job is asking you to pay for applying or working, it’s a scam.
Requesting bank or credit card information: this may seem obvious, but scammers are sophisticated and can get this information out of people in clever ways.
Asking for your Social Security number: you’ll need to provide this on your employee paperwork, but if a company asks for it during the application process, you should be wary.
Unprofessional interview tactics: if you’re being asked to interview on messenger, chat, or another text platform, or if you’re not required to interview at all, it’s probably a scam.
Unprofessional email addresses or emails: if the address on the email you receive isn’t from a professional website/company, or if the emails you receive are full of grammar issues, it could be a scam.
No online presence: if you can’t find the company online, it’s possibly a scam.

Now that you know what to look out for, here are a few concrete steps to protect yourself.

Don’t forget this

To avoid being targeted by scammers, there are a few things you should do, including:

Only apply on reputable job sites: LinkedIn, Indeed, or other job boards — avoid Craigslist or other scammy sites.
Don’t offer personal information: not until you’ve had a video meeting or face-to-face chat with the potential employer, anyway.
Verify the company exists: look online to make sure it’s a real company and verify that the person you’re speaking to works there.
Follow your gut: if it feels wrong, it probably is.

If you follow these tips, you’ll cut down on your chances of being scammed. The goal is to get employed, not get duped by fake employers or companies. The best thing you can do to avoid online job scams is to be aware, be educated, and follow your gut.

If it feels like a scam, it could be, so don’t offer personal information and verify everything.