Have you ever heard the phrase, “Finding a job is a job within itself”? It’s so true! Think about it… you have to find the opportunities and sell yourself to an employer over and over again without pay until you’ve secure a solid job offer. This could take days, weeks and sometimes months depending on how thorough the job search is.
The year 2020 got 99 problems, but securing the bag shouldn’t be one. There are numerous ways to bring in some substantial income within the Phoenix area. Just one of the many perks of big city living. Income can be generated one of two ways. You could go get a job as an employee or you can go make a job as an employer. In this article, you’ll learn about three easy-to-land jobs and four simple-to-start business ideas.
Local Jobs
Call Centers
A call center is a business in which the majority of the employees service the company’s customer base by phone, email, and chat. Securing a job at a call center has got to be by far the easiest job to land to date. It’s almost like the valley is where call centers are born, there are a lot of call centers here.
Why are there so many? ?
Let’s think about it. A call center is a line of communication between a company and their customers. In order for a company to survive, they need to keep that line of communication open as much as possible. Where’s the best place to keep a company working all year round, you ask? A place with great weather like Arizona that’s where.
In a call center, you can expect to be at a desk in front of 1-3 monitors servicing customers for the duration of each and every shift. You can also expect some type of call metrics in place and a stricter attendance policy. This is for people who prefer mentally challenging work and are looking for work conditions that generally in comfortable environments.
Open positions at a call center are found by searching the online job boards like Indeed and LinkedIn or by reaching out to the local temp agencies like Adecco and Randstad.
The majority of this positions are entry level or require a year or two of previous customer service experience. In the interview, they’ll be mindful of how you communicate and how open to learning you are. One positive from quarantine is that majority of the call center roles have shifted to a work from home capacity. Most employers even provide the equipment necessary to complete the job and are reimbursing the cost of internet.
Retail
Customer service in retail is the equivalent of that in a call center, but the representative is not attached to a desk or computer through their shift and they interact with the customer in person majority of the time.
This type of role isn’t as sought out, considering the times, it’s understandable. Companies are usually looking for individuals, who are out going and not afraid to sell a product or service to a stranger. This face-to-face interaction amongst customer and company representative, with way more mobility throughout the work building, allow more freedom within the role. This type of role is for people like a mixture of physical and mental work throughout their work days.
These positions can be found on the job boards and temp agencies mentioned above. In my experience, the chances of landing these jobs are better for applicants, who can inquire and apply in person. Look for now hiring advertisements and ask some of your peers. You could also search hiring events or ‘virtual hiring events’ in your area. Another way to stumble upon these roles is by looking into the companies in your area that interest you. Go to their website and look for their ‘careers’ or ‘job opportunities’ page. Some companies don’t use third party platform to help advertise openings within their company. You might have to put some leg work in to find a position with a company that interests you.
Warehouse
Warehouse work is also really big in the valley and with the rise of online ordering the hours available are certainly plentiful. It can come in various forms; assembly, order picker, and production being the most prevalent. Not only are these positions plentiful, but they ofter allow for the quickest start date. Warehouse jobs are a lifesaver in a pinch.
These types of roles are for the people who prefer physical labor over mental work and who doesn’t mind working in what I’ll refer to as uncomfortable work conditions. You might accept these conditions as a trade off for no longer dealing with customer service interactions. The degree of physicality of a position could vary from role to role, but expect to get physical nonetheless. More often than not these positions are repetitive, you’ll be doing the same task over and over again.
It could be as simple as pulling and boxing candles for Gold Canyon or it could also get quite complex, like assembling truck lights from start to finish.
The best way to find open warehouse job positions, if you are looking for quick placement, is by applying through a temp agency. They can get you placed in a new position as soon as next day. If you have the ability to apply in person do it quickly, they can fill up fast. You can also find warehouse jobs through the online job boards, but the vast majority are found via temp agency. I would recommend only using the job boards as a reference to locate current ‘urgently hiring’ positions that being offered by a temp agency. These companies prefer to not have a contract with employees directly as most times just need temporary help.
Business Ideas
This section is for the go getters, the bosses, and the entrepreneurs. Those looking for income that’s not promised but always available. Read that again!
These are positions in which you are ‘the company’ and the employee.
You have to find your own customer everyday.
You have to obtain the tools to complete the job.
You assume 100% of the risks.
You can control 100% of the profits!
Ride Share/Delivery
Yes, you could sign up for one of the big already established platforms; Uber, Postmates or Doordash and essentially pay them to use their customer base. You could also become your own platform and attract your own customers. All you need is a car, a smartphone, some organization and some drive. You can find clients daily on platforms like Craigslist and TaskRabbit. Craigslist is heavily slept on! Every day your potential customers are out there looking for someone to help them. There are people looking for rides and people looking for help with small tasks and errands.
Mover
If you have a truck, pick up or box truck preferably, you have a way to make money daily. There are constantly people in the valley always looking for someone with a truck to help them. These people are willing to pay for help getting big purchases home, to help them move from one residence to the next, or to help them by renting out their truck. A good way to find these potential customers would be by searching platforms like mentioned above.
Social Media Manager
With the rise in technology came huge developments in social media. It has never been so easy to access strangers from where ever in the world as it is today. Businesses are growing astronomically with the help of a strong online presence. If you have experience working with the latest platforms and you can show proof of your abilities to grow brand reach & bring in sales you can secure some serious money. The trick is in your portfolio and your pitch in your skills. You can access potential customers from the platforms mentioned above, you can find them on social media, and you can find them by looking around at local businesses, who have no online presence.
Models
Another plus of year round nice weather, the ability to shoot photos & videos year round. Depending on what you are willing to do on camera, you can make money daily! I’ll be honest the wholesome gigs are hard to come by, but you can come across photographers willing to pay a model to help build their portfolio or for special projects they are working on. You can also come across companies looking for models to help with marketing materials like a brand ambassador. There are companies sprouting up looking for personalities to add in front of their audiences. In addition to platforms like Craigslist and social media, you can look on platforms like Fiverr to find these clients.
Conclusion
This year has been one big challenge, but also one big opportunity. There’s so much money on the table and they say with more money comes more problems. We are all making an adjustment, do you want to come out on the low end or high end?
Recognize what your strong suits are to pick the best field and maximize your income. There is something for everyone, what are you willing to do or sacrifice to see your goals through. Will you hold down a job or chase some gigs?
Submit job openings and business opportunities to be featured.
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