Great Pajama Jobs. Kerry E. Hannon

you may be entitled to traditional employee benefits: health insurance, paid vacation time, an employer-sponsored retirement plan. The only difference is where you do your work.

      The second type of remote work comes under the umbrella of freelance, consultant, or contractor positions. Typically, you have more control over when and where you work and how much, but you are in charge of paying your quarterly taxes and shelling out for health insurance. And when you go on vacation, you don't get paid. Pay can be project-based or hourly.

      In the following pages, you'll find a plethora of professional occupations, some that may demand retraining and adding a degree or certificate. And you'll also find a selection of jobs geared for someone who wants a little income but doesn't want a full-blown commitment on a daily basis.

      There are adaptable schedules, from a few days a week to a few months a year to a steady gig, or even one you might consider launching as a home-based business. Each job description follows this format: the nitty-gritty, pay range, and qualifications needed, with a smattering of job-hunting tips tossed in.

      I’ve structured the snapshots roughly by career field: creative, financial, education, tech, and healthcare. Of course, pay will depend on myriad factors from the employer to your own negotiating moxie, but I've provided averages to give you a sense of current demand.

      While remote work exists in most career fields, it is growing more quickly in some fields than in others. With that in mind, FlexJobs analyzed more than 50 career categories in its database to figure out which remote career categories have grown at a high rate.

      Seven of the fastest-growing remote job fields are art and creative, bookkeeping, internet and ecommerce, K–12 education, graphic design, translation, math, and economics. Leading job titles include accountant, engineer (civil, mechanical, electrical, etc.), teacher or faculty, writer, consultant, program manager, project manager, customer service representative, business development manager, account manager, and executive.

In the following chapter you will find snapshots of remote jobs that allow you to work from home either entirely or part of the time. Remote jobs are also known as telecommuting jobs, virtual jobs, and work-from-home jobs. This list is culled from ones from my extensive research on legitimate remote positions.

      My aim is to help you explore remote jobs that suit your goals, ambitions, and life stage. It is by no means a definitive list, but a starter kit for you to begin your personal exploration. As employers accept the power and possibilities that remote teams can add to their success, great new pajama jobs are popping up all the time. Let's roll.