“How can I work?” is one of the hardest questions I get. My own experience hasn’t given me much advice to share, so I’ve been researching. Here are some resources for keeping a job you have and for finding a new flexible job. If you know of any others, please share in a comment.
If you already have a job and are trying to figure out how to make it work given your illness, Women, Work, and Autoimmune Disease: Keep Working Girlfriend
If you’re looking for a job, here are some sites that post flexible, work-at-home, or freelance jobs. I’ve chosen only the sites that appear to be reputable, but do not have first-hand experience.
FlexJobs consistently gets rave reviews as a source for legitimate, usually professional, flexible job opportunities. Many are telecommuting positions, but the site also lists jobs with flexible hours or that are short-term engagements. There are more than 50 categories of jobs and Fortune 500 companies are on the roster of companies posting jobs on Flexjobs. The downside is a monthly fee required to search the job listings. While I have no personal experience with the site, reputable media sources say the fee is reasonable given the high quality jobs on the site.
Rat Race Rebellion screens work-at-home jobs and shares legitimate offerings in a daily email and on Facebook. Most jobs pay up to $20 and the number of jobs are limited each day. Work-at-home job offerings often seem like scams; Rat Race Rebellion claims to only post jobs that they have verified to be on the up and up.
You have many choices if you’re looking for freelance work. These are typically short-term or project-based jobs and do not offer benefits like health insurance. You’re best off poking around different sites to see if the opportunities would work for you. Sites run the gamut from focusing on niche professions to offering opportunities across a wide spectrum, some handle the payment processing and others don’t, some have freelance jobs you can pursue and others allow freelancers to post portfolios or resumes. Some freelance websites include:
Have you found a job you can do from home or that accommodates your need for flexible work? Have you tried any of these websites (with success or without)? Please leave a comment sharing your experience so readers can learn from one another.