The 10 Best Remote Career Fields For New College Grads

Mark C. Perna

As companies ramp up their hiring, college grads are entering a job market replete with opportunities—especially in remote work. Here’s who is hiring and what you need to do to land that first job.

Let me extend an early congratulations to the graduating class of 2021. You’ve all persevered through an incredibly trying time in order to cross this threshold. So what’s next? The good news is that, while hiring isn’t quite back to pre-pandemic levels, the overall job market is building steam. According to a report from the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), employers are projecting that they’ll be hiring 7.2% more new college graduates from the Class of 2021 than they hired from the Class of 2020.

“While hiring isn’t yet back to pre-pandemic levels,” said Sara Sutton, founder and CEO of FlexJobs, “the overall job market is gaining momentum, and that includes a stronger remote job market as well.”

What’s interesting is that when FlexJobs surveyed soon-to-graduate workers about their job preferences, some 32% of participants reported that they would give up some vacation time for the opportunity to work remotely as much as they wanted to, while 24% said they would take less pay for the chance to work outside the office. As the world of work evolves, being willing to work remotely can help a new grad land their first job.  

“Remote work can remove the geographic limitations to a job search, so focusing on work-from-home jobs can also significantly increase access to potential job opportunities,” says Sutton.

That means members of the 2021 graduating class (unlike those from a year earlier) have a great shot at starting their professional career sooner rather than later. 

10 hot remote job categories

FlexJobs has identified the top 10 career categories that currently have the greatest number of remote entry-level positions. Among these categories, HR & Recruiting, sales and call center entry-level remote listings have grown at least 25% since January 2021.

6.    Bilingual 

7.    Sales 

8.    Data Entry 

9.    Computer & IT 

10. HR & Recruiting

4 tips for landing that new job

When it comes to getting hired, the FlexJobs Career Coaching Team suggests the following four tips:

 1. Make time to focus

The best way to get hired is to get focused and organized. For example, make daily to-do lists that might include tasks like: Revising a cover letter, sending out three applications and spending a half-hour on LinkedIn exploring connections. 

2. Update your resume

If you’ve been making the time to update your skills, update your resume to reflect that. Don’t forget to include any internships, volunteer activities and school-based activities you engaged in as well. And, if you want to work remotely, add any experience you’ve had with remote classes, remote group projects or remote internships and jobs.

See all 10 job categories + all 4 tips for landing the job AND the complete Forbes article