Finding a Temp Job During the COVID-19 Pandemic and Beyond

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed many of our lives. Depending on your employment situation, you may have been moved to part-time work, asked to work remotely, or have lost your job.

Whether you are seeking a temporary job to hold you over until your company can hire you back full-time, or you’re looking for a way to get a little extra cash on the side, you might wonder how to navigate the temporary employment landscape in the current pandemic, as well as what things will look like afterward.

In this article, we discuss which places are hiring more people right now, even as many other places institute massive layoffs, what types of gig jobs are available, and what to expect in the employment landscape after this pandemic passes.

While many places have been cutting back and laying off portions of their workforce due to the pandemic, other places have been amping up their hiring. If you are looking for temporary or part-time work, you can look into any of the industries below:

• Delivery services: Any place that delivers or hires delivery drivers — like Amazon and Instacart — has been looking for workers who can help them meet the increased demand they are seeing as a result of fewer people wanting to leave their homes.
• Online order fulfillment: For the same reason that delivery services are in demand, so is online order fulfillment. Someone needs to package orders from online stores, and grocery stores need people who can fulfill online orders.
• Grocery stores: Due to fewer people eating out and periodic panic-buying sprees, grocery stores are looking to hire more people. Aside from meeting the demand from shoppers, these workers are also needed to implement sanitizing procedures and social distancing regulations. Check with your local grocery stores to see if they are hiring.
• Stores that sell essential supplies: Stores that sell groceries and other household supplies, like Walmart, are also seeing a surge of shoppers and experiencing a need for additional job assignments related to sanitization. Many of these places are hiring right now, too.
• Healthcare: Particularly in places where the pandemic is poorly contained, the need for healthcare workers is great. Check with local hospitals and elder care facilities to see if they are hiring if you have experience in this field.
• Technical support: With so many people working from home, and students learning remotely, the need for technical support in many places has increased. Check with local technical support companies or employment centers to see if there are openings in your area.

Joblist makes it easy to search for temporary jobs in multiple industries, whether you’re interested in delivery, order fulfillment, or healthcare. Instead of checking multiple places for temporary employment, like local employment agencies, newspapers, online job ads, or having to contact employers directly, you can view all job listings across the top job boards on our website.

For those unfamiliar, the gig economy consists of freelance work and short-term jobs where the worker is an independent contractor. This includes everything from freelance writers, programmers, and educators, to Uber drivers and DoorDash deliverers.

Once a small minority of all jobs, gig work has seen a considerable rise in recent years. It is currently estimated that over a third of all workers participate in the gig economy, and this number is expected to grow.

For anyone wanting to supplement their income with side work, gig work can provide a great opportunity. It is often flexible, and you can do as much or as little as you want. As full-time work, however, there are many pluses and minuses that should be considered. In particular, as a gig worker, you do not have an employer making sure taxes get paid or providing you with benefits, job security, and steady work.

Pros of gig work include:

• The ability to set your own schedule
• The ability to take on as much or as little work as you’d like
• Independence
• Flexibility
• Depending on the type of work, you may be able to set your own pay rates at a higher price

Cons of gig work include:

• No benefits, such as health insurance or retirement, since you are an independent contractor
• You are responsible for paying quarterly taxes, as these are not taken out of your pay
• You are responsible for all of your overhead – gas, internet, computer, etc.
• Lack of job security or consistent income, as the amount of work available can sometimes fluctuate significantly

Gig work has been under scrutiny recently and for a good reason. So, make sure you fully understand what you are getting into. That said, many people have had great success doing gig work and can build a nice lifestyle around it.

Given the nature of the COVID-19 pandemic, many people seeking temporary work are looking for it online and in remote-work environments to avoid personal contact and risk infection. Luckily, there are a lot of gig jobs that work this way. Consider making a list of your skills to get an idea of what you might be qualified for.

Among the types of gig work available to those who can work remotely are:

• Programming
• Coding
• Web design
• Graphic design
• Tutoring
• Accounting
• Personal assistant
• Transcription
• Technical support
• Writing
• Editing
• Data entry
• Marketing
• Journalism

These jobs can be found in any number of places, either by doing web searches for remote work, visiting websites that specifically list openings in a particular field, or through various online platforms. We recommend using Joblist’s search page, however, since we bring all of the openings from the leading job boards together in one place, allowing you to find a gig that’s right for you with a single search.

Additionally, never underestimate the power of social networking! Make sure you have a LinkedIn account, as many opportunities pop up there as well, and many places seeking skilled gig workers will want to check your work history easily. Social media platforms, such as Facebook, often also have freelancing groups specifically for posting jobs.

A whole host of gig work is available in the non-remote sector. If you are comfortable braving various amounts of human interaction during the outbreak, you might consider some of the following options:

• Childcare
• Elder care
• Errand running
• Delivery
• Dog walking or pet sitting
• Handyman services
• Tech support
• Ride-sharing
• Lawn care

Many of these types of jobs now have one or more platforms that you can sign up with to get jobs, such as Uber, DoorDash, Deliv, Amazon Flex, TaskRabbit, HelloTech, and many more. If there is a type of freelance work you’d like to do, search and see if there is an app or platform set up for it.

The existence of these platforms means you don’t have to search for clients on your own, giving you direct access to people seeking the services you provide. While doing gig work through a platform means that the platform takes some of the income, the amount of time and effort it saves you from finding clients on your own is often worth it.

That said, certain types of freelance work might be just as easy to do on your own. If you’ve previously offered childcare services, for example, the odds are that you won’t have too much trouble finding a parent who is unable to send their kids to day care or summer camp that would love to hire you right now.

Temp work has always existed and should still be around after the pandemic dust settles. The gig economy will likely still be intact and will continue to see additional growth. But another avenue to consider for temporary jobs is seasonal work.

With kids out of school, summer is also the time for summer camps, and summer camps need staff for child care and teaching. If you love nature or are good at science, you can put this passion to work and share your knowledge with kids in a camp setting.

When the winter holidays approach, many retail stores hire additional temporary workers, as do package delivery services. You may even be able to offer your services on a freelance basis as a gift wrapper or someone who can set up complicated “some assembly required” gifts.

Lastly, if you aren’t afraid of manual labor, many construction crews hire additional workers during certain times of the year when the weather makes it easier to tackle larger outdoor projects.

It’s difficult to say how much things will change long-term after this pandemic passes, but certain types of employment may see a boost as a result, and additional jobs that may exist where there were none before. After all, necessity is the mother of invention.

For example, as places begin to open back up, many are implementing health screenings. It may become commonplace to have health screeners for large events or even just at the front door of an office building.

The field of remote education is blooming, as many school districts and colleges have had to put all of their learning online. As many struggle to do this, anyone who is skilled at creating an online learning environment is in demand. Not only that but with all learners suddenly being forced online, many are discovering they prefer it.

What this means is that there might be many more opportunities to teach online. You don’t necessarily even need any sort of credentials to do this as long as you have some type of skill or knowledge you can impart. While an accredited online school will want you to have certain degrees or certifications, many platforms exist for more open learning types.

When it comes to kids, websites like Outschool.com offer a wide variety of academic and non-academic classes to children from all over the country. If you have something you can teach that you think kids would be interested in, you can apply to be part of their platform.

If you’d like to reach adult learners, places such as Coursera or Udemy are always looking for qualified instructors. And if you aren’t comfortable teaching a course, you might consider tutoring. Many kids and college students out of the classroom have been struggling with their learning and will seek additional help in the near future to catch up. There is likely to be serious growth in both remote and in-person tutoring.

If you have skills that would make you good at organizing crisis response or catastrophe plans, you might find a lot of businesses looking for a consultant to help with just that. No place is going to want to be caught by surprise the next time something like the COVID-19 pandemic comes around.

You might also expect a surge in online platforms for workflow and project management. Many of these tools are in demand right now and may continue to be utilized more frequently after the pandemic passes. With more people using them, there will be more competition in this market and a need for innovative programmers to help develop these tools.

Here at Joblist, we want to do everything in our power to make finding employment easy. We bring all of the jobs from the leading job boards together in one place so that you can perform a single search and find relevant results. Finding your next job on Joblist is easy and convenient with access to millions of jobs around the web. Browse career openings in your area today!