Entry-level jobs can be a great way to get your foot in the door and start making money. But they’re not always easy to find, and once you land one, it can be difficult to move up as quickly as you’d like.
Fortunately, there are some tips and tricks you can use to make sure that your entry level job is a stepping stone—not a dead end.
- Know Your Worth
The first thing you need to do is figure out what kind of salary you should be aiming for when looking at entry-level positions. This isn’t just about what other people in similar positions make—it’s also about what other people in similar positions with your experience are making. If you know how much experience matters in terms of salary, then you’ll know whether or not it’s worth it for someone with your background to take the job on offer.
- Don’t Be Afraid To Ask For More Money
If the position offers more than what the market seems to dictate for someone with your experience level, don’t be afraid to ask for more money! Just because someone else is willing to work for less doesn’t mean that they’re worth less than you are—and if they
Entry Level Jobs 20 An Hour
1. Proofreader
Quick summary: Becoming a proofreader entails reviewing written content for grammatical, typographical, syntax, spelling, punctuation and formatting mistakes.
If you can diagram a sentence in your sleep, have strong feelings about the Oxford comma, and are looking for a way to make money from home, proofreading might be your dream gig.
Education requirements: Finding a work-at-home job for a large employer in the proofreading industry may require a bachelor’s degree in English, journalism or another related field. But if you’re willing to work as a freelance proofreader, a college degree may not be necessary.
Average median salary: The average median salary for proofreaders is $42,860 per year.
How to get started: If proofreading appeals to the introvert in you, Caitlin Pyle of Proofread Anywhere has created a free workshop designed to teach you the skills you need to start making money as a freelance proofreader.
Of all the jobs that pay $20 an hour on this list, proofreading may be the one with the most opportunities, because there are nearly 2 billion websites out there and many proofreading jobs are for web content.
2. Virtual Assistant
Quick summary: Virtual assistants do most of the same things in-person assistants do: write and answer emails, manage schedules, make travel arrangements, and generally serve as a Jack of all trades. If you have experience as an assistant, the transition to being a virtual assistant is almost seamless.
Education requirements: Being a virtual assistant doesn’t require a degree, but most employers will be looking for someone with experience who is a self-starter (since the boss isn’t on-site to provide training and direction).
Average median salary: The median salary for virtual assistants is $39,531 per year.
How to get started: There are hundreds of different services you can provide as a virtual assistant, so it’s important to consider your skills and strengths, as well as what the market demands. What you’re looking for is a job where you can get paid well that also has a need for skilled VAs like yourself. Read through our beginner’s guide to becoming a virtual assistant to jumpstart your career.
3. Small Business Marketer
Quick summary: Lots of things fall under the umbrella of small business marketing, including search engine optimization (SEO), content marketing, and managing a company’s online advertising on platforms like Facebook and Google.
If you know what sells and how to sell it, and can deliver results, there are small business owners desperate for your services.
Education requirements: A corporate job in marketing typically requires a degree, but small business owners often have less stringent requirements; they just want someone who gets fast results. Knowing what works and what doesn’t isn’t rocket science, but it does take a little bit of research and learning.
There are a number of certifications (some of which are free, such as the Fundamentals of Digital Marketing Course offered by Google), that you can earn to show potential clients that you’re a master with a particular platform.
Average median salary: The average median salary for those in small business marketing is $64,156 per year.
How to get started: If you’re brand new to small business marketing, Facebook advertising is a great place to start. There’s strong demand for marketers who understand how to run successful campaigns on the platform, and freelancers can get paid $1,000 to $2,000 per month per client to manage an account.
To learn more, check out our guide: The Best Social Media Jobs (And How to Apply).
4. Bookkeeper
Quick summary: Every business needs a bookkeeper to record expenses and income, to reconcile accounts, and to prepare financial statements. If you need money today and are good with numbers, bookkeeping is a solid career choice.
Education requirements: Contrary to what you might think, bookkeepers aren’t required to have a college degree, pass the GMAT, or be a CPA.
You will need to know how to use relevant computer software, however, and getting certification can allow you to earn more money for your work. There are a number of great training programs available online.
Average median salary: The median salary for bookkeepers is $41,806 per year.
How to get started: Bookkeeping is one of the best online jobs because if you’re good at it, you’ll get a lot of word-of-mouth referrals. If you’re new to the field, the training at Bookkeeper Business Launch, which includes a free three-class series, will help get you up to speed fast and free.
Free Video Series
How to Start a Virtual Bookkeeping Business
How to Start a Virtual Bookkeeping Business
Learn how to launch a work-from-home bookkeeping business in 90 days, even with no accounting experience.
Register Here
See also: Our complete beginner’s guide to becoming an online bookkeeper.
5. Website Developer
Quick summary: Web developers use coding and markup to create websites. Computer programmers use various computer languages to write software programs. These jobs are technical by nature, but learning to code is nowhere near as difficult as you might think.
And while jobs that pay $20 per hour are great, keep reading if you’d like to make several times that, as these are among the most lucrative fields out there.
Education requirements: Web developers and computer programmers often have a degree in graphic design or computer science, but a degree isn’t required and plenty of people have been hired after learning on their own or completing online coding classes.
Average median salary: The average median salary is $58,999 per year for web developers and $61,833 for computer programmers.
How to get started: Codecademy offers a number of free coding courses. For those looking for a more structured and intense program, there are coding boot camps available (both online and in-person) and some offer job placement services.
6. Freelance Writer
Quick summary: Freelance writers write about anything and everything, for all kinds of publications including websites, blogs, magazines and newspapers. A freelance writer may also be contracted to write (or ghostwrite) books.
And you don’t need to be a creative genius to land these jobs, because clients aren’t looking for the next F. Scott Fitzgerald — they just want writing that’s clear, concise and well-researched.
Education requirements: Freelance writing jobs don’t require a degree, but most freelancers are well-versed in one or a few specific topics and target clients who also specialize in those areas.
Average median salary: The median salary for freelance writers is $39,706 per year.
How to get started: I side hustled as a freelance writer for a few years. And like many people, I got off to a slow start. But with some experience I started to land high-paying contracts. It was a lucrative source of side income, which I pursued on and off before launching The Ways To Wealth. Be sure to check out our complete guide to getting started as a freelance writer, which offers a step-by-step process for launching a successful freelance writing business.
7. Online Tutor
Quick summary: I have a friend of a friend who stumbled upon online tutoring when looking for side income ideas and found it so enjoyable and lucrative that she quit her day job to do it full time.
There are a lot of online tutoring jobs out there. One of the most popular options right now is teaching ESL (English as a second language) to students of all ages, although most will be children ages 4 through 12.
If you love teaching but don’t want to stand in front of a class or dedicate yourself to pursuing it as a traditional career, you’ll find this type of one-on-one tutoring quite enjoyable.
Education requirements: Many online tutoring sites require a bachelor’s degree in any field; it doesn’t have to be in education or language arts. If you don’t have a bachelor’s degree, consider applying for another online tutoring role where education requirements differ.
Average median salary: The average median salary for an online tutor is $36,857 per year, which comes out to about $19 per hour for a 40-hour workweek.
How to get started: Scan our list of online tutoring sites to see where your skills and education are most in demand.
8. Website Tester
Quick summary: Website owners need feedback on the look and functionality of their sites so they understand what’s working as desired and what could be improved. This is valuable information, and they’re willing to pay for it.
Website testers get paid to provide honest feedback about their experience using a site. If you have a knack for providing constructive criticism, testing websites can be a great side hustle.
Education requirements: You don’t need a degree to test websites, but clients are often seeking testers from a certain demographic (which you may or may not fall into).
Average median salary: The median salary for full-time website testers is $68,727 per year. That’s based on per-job rates, however, and it might be difficult to find enough work to hit that mark.
How to get started: UserTesting.com connects website testers and clients. This is a good place to start to gain experience, and once you do, you can begin to pursue different paths within the field.
9. Medical Transcriptionist
Quick summary: Jokes about doctors’ poor handwriting have been around for decades — and for good reason: insurance companies, caseworkers, and others in the medical field need readable medical records.
That’s where medical transcribers come in. They turn spoken medical notes into typed documents. If you have some knowledge of medical terminology and type at lightning speeds, medical transcription is a great fit for you.
Education requirements: Medical transcription doesn’t require a degree, but some background in the medical field is helpful as many of the terms in a doctor’s voice notes aren’t common in everyday language.
