There’s never been a better time to find a remote job than now. The share of remote openings increased by 12% in 2021 over 2020 according to FlexJobs, a membership service for jobseekers with a database of roughly 57,000 companies.
The bulk of remote jobs are generally customer service or sales marketing jobs, which can be done pretty easily through telework. But as companies extend their work-from-home policies and, in some cases, adopt permanent ones, they’re seeing what other parts of their workforces can thrive remotely.
The biggest increase in remote listings are for HR and recruiting roles, says FlexJobs career services manager Brie Reynolds. There’s a huge need to hire HR workers who can hire other employees during record-high turnover of the Great Resignation.
Letting HR workers be remote means companies can hire them faster, they can expand their candidate pool beyond their usual geography and it can be a good sign that they’re invested in the future of remote work (who better to understand the needs of a remote worker than a remote HR business partner?).
The second fastest-growing field for remote listings on FlexJobs is accounting and finance jobs. Reynolds says this signals that businesses need numbers people to wrangle ever-changing budgets under pressure in the recovering pandemic economy. Many businesses are having to offer more money to hire and maintain employees — all while keeping pace with rising consumer demand for goods and services.
And not all of today’s remote jobs are concentrated in junior positions. According to the FlexJobs database, 11% of remote jobs are entry-level, 60% call for mid-level experience, 20% are at the manager level and 9% are for senior leaders.
“Businesses are changing at a rapid rate and trying to hire people to predict what will happen in the future, and how to plan accordingly,” Reynolds says.
Check out:
6 ways to figure out how much you should be getting paid—before negotiating your salary or a raise
4 signs a company is actually invested in remote work long-term
Economist: There’s ‘absolutely’ no sign pay hikes will slow anytime soon
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