MICRO-JOBS ARE THE NEW BLACK!
What is a micro-job?
It’s a small, temporary job or task that can be completed in a few minutes, hours or days. Micro-jobs encompass all types of tasks:In person
- Maintenance and gardening
- Dog walking
- Running errands
- Sewing and mending
- Childcare
On line
- Website design
- Data entry
- Online editing and copywriting
- Virtual administration
- Research and data collection
- Surveys and questionnaires
Micro-jobs are flexible enough to allow people to earn money while they’re studying, or between full-time jobs, although some people rely on them for a living.
Advantages of micro-jobs
Micro-jobs offer some advantages in an uncertain job market, especially for people who are happy to freelance.
Micro-jobs:
- Are a step towards independence
- Build a reputation
- Fill a resume
- Involve little to no investment
- Provide networks and work or business relationships
- Provide extra cash
- Match tasks with skills or interests
- Allow people to develop and practice their skills
- Offer flexibility
Note: As independent contractors, micro-job workers have to make their own tax arrangements and they are legally responsible for their actions.
If students need a little extra cash and they have time over the holidays, a skill, a reliable computer or personal device, they might want to explore the micro-job industry. It’s surprising just what’s out there. But they do need to be disciplined and prepared for hard work.
IN PERSON MICRO-JOBS – imagination, skills and interests
- If students enjoy gardening, love the outdoors, and have access to a lawnmower – they could offer a gardening service
- If they have spare time in the afternoons and evenings, and if they like kids – they might consider childminding
- Perhaps they have a way with words, or after years of writing essays, have developed fine editing skills – why not try paid blogging, online editing or helping people write up resumes?
- Some people are a whiz at assembling flat-pack furniture – other people need people with those skills!
How?
Going the traditional route of the letterbox drop, or posting fliers on the noticeboard of the local supermarket can be effective. So can spreading the word on social media pages. Students can also visit sites such as SEEK, or join up to one of the many micro-job websites that match freelance labour with local demand. But they need to do the research to find a reputable site that best suits their needs.
ONLINE MICRO-JOBS – working from home, or from anywhere
There are thousands of online micro-jobs available, and many of the tasks don’t require any particular skill – just time and thought. These tasks range from participating in research surveys and focus groups, taking questionnaires, commenting on websites and data entry work.
How?
Once again, research. Most specific online micro-job sites give examples and descriptions of the type of work they require, the time expected to complete each task, rates of pay and payment methods.
Note: It usually takes a lot of tasks to earn a decent amount of money!
Some of the micro-job websites
Airtasker is an Australian company based in Sydney.
It provides a platform that enables users to outsource everyday tasks, (both online and in person). Workers (Airtaskers) bid for the task that suits, and the most appropriate person for the job is hired. The list of tasks is huge and varied.
Funds are securely held with Airtasker Pay, and released when the task is complete.
Spidermetrix is an Australian based platform for online work.
Spidernetrix pays workers (spiders) to take questionnaires and surveys.
Each task earns spider points, which can be redeemed as cash and paid through Paypal.
Mechanical Turk is based in the US, but offers tasks internationally.
Human Intelligence Tasks (HITs) come from consumer and product groups, universities, researchers, bloggers and small business owners. The tasks include data entry, transcribing audio, video or handwritten documentation, and categorisation and classification of a variety of information.
On completion of each task, payment is made into the worker’s (MTurker) Amazon account. This can be transferred into a personal account or used on Amazon.
THE DEVIL WEARS A HARD HAT
It’s not often engineers are portrayed on the big screen and television in the glamorous way of doctors, lawyers and magazine editors. But that doesn’t make the engineering world any less exciting!
In our movie, The Devil Wears a Hard Hat, a naïve young university graduate, moves to the city and lands the job that any girl would kill for: an engineer in one of the city’s most successful mining companies.
We’ve swapped catty models for driven designers, planners and supervisors, and high heels for hard hats. Say goodbye to the fashion world…and hello to the exciting world of engineering!
Forget the stereotype - engineering is not so much about getting your hands dirty and driving big yellow trucks. In fact engineers these days do a lot of their work from the comfort of an office! Engineers are problem solvers who use skills in maths and science to get the job done. To engineer literally means ‘to make things happen’. Engineering includes anything from designing, planning and development to testing, production and management.
Types of engineers
There are countless career opportunities in engineering:
- Aerospace engineering
- Agricultural engineering
- Biomedical engineering
- Chemical engineering
- Civil engineering
- Computer hardware engineering
- Electrical engineering
- Environmental engineering
- Industrial engineering
- Materials engineering
- Mechanical engineering
- Mining and geological engineering
- Nuclear engineering
- Petroleum engineering
If students are looking for a career that is diverse, exciting and will enable them to achieve great things, engineering could be just the thing! Engineers from all sectors are in high demand across Australia, which means graduate salaries are higher and there is greater job security.
So what are they waiting for? Time to swap those high heels for a hard hat and give engineering a go!
There are other jobs becoming very interesting.
