If you enjoy working for yourself, a freelance job (also known as contract work) may be the ideal fit for career goals. Fortunately, the freelance job marketplace has experienced strong and steady growth over the past several years. But how do you find freelance success in such a competitive job market?
To help job seekers best position themselves to pursue freelance careers, FlexJobs teamed with PAIRIN, the trusted technology partner to today’s leading workforce programs, governments, and education systems, to identify the skills job seekers need to succeed in specific job categories.
Dr. Dan Hawthorne, Director of Industrial and Organizational Psychology and Head of Research at PAIRIN, conducted the research and analysis to identify the essential skills needed for each career category.
“At PAIRIN, our science-based skill development tools focus on measuring essential behavioral skills, also known as soft skills, because they are proven to have the most impact on someone’s ability to be successful in a career and in life,” said Dr. Hawthorne.
“For this research, we collected jobs that are representative of the career paths identified by FlexJobs as high-growth and examined the common top behavioral skills that 65% of employers say are necessary for success in those career paths and that 73% of employers say applicants are lacking,” Hawthorne concluded.
These are the top 10 career categories for freelance jobs that have grown at least 10% from January 1, 2021, through April 1, 2021. Ordered from highest to lowest growth, below each category are the most important soft skills—as identified through PAIRIN’s personalized, science-based research—that professionals need to thrive in that respective career.
Top 10 Career Fields and Soft Skills for Freelance Jobs
1. Therapy
– Supportiveness
The drive to assist, protect, and provide for others in emotional or physical need.
– Influential Leadership
The ability to positively persuade others’ choices by focusing on what is important to them and building consensus.
– Flamboyance
The drive to impress or excite—to stir others through words or actions.
– Service Orientation
The ability to anticipate, identify, and meet people’s often unspoken needs through assistance, products, or services. The drive to generate customer satisfaction and loyalty.
– Relationship Management
To use awareness of one’s own emotions and those of others to navigate interactions successfully. (Includes: Inspiration, Influence, Enriching Others, Cooperation, Change, and Conflict Management).
– Originality
The ability to invent or independently conceive of ideas, methods, or products of the first order (underived), regardless of their usefulness.
– Social Awareness
To relate and respond to the feelings, needs, and concerns of individuals or broader societal groups. (Includes: Empathy, Organizational Awareness, and Service Orientation).
2. Data Entry
– Compliance
Global tendencies to maintain self-discipline and conform to another’s plan, rules, will, or direction.
– Relationship Management
To use awareness of one’s own emotions and those of others to navigate interactions successfully. (Includes: Inspiration, Influence, Enriching Others, Cooperation, Change, and Conflict Management).
– Order
The drive to organize tasks or spaces with planning, precision, and efficiency.
– Equilibrium
The ability to maintain emotional balance through accepting, adapting, or bringing change to a troubling situation or environment.
– Productivity
To set and meet goals, even in the face of obstacles and competing pressures. To prioritize, plan, and manage work to achieve the intended results.
– Service Orientation
The ability to anticipate, identify, and meet people’s often unspoken needs through assistance, products, or services. The drive to generate customer satisfaction and loyalty.
3. Bookkeeping
– Social Awareness
To relate and respond to the feelings, needs, and concerns of individuals or broader societal groups. (Includes: Empathy, Organizational Awareness, and Service Orientation).
– Service Orientation
The ability to anticipate, identify, and meet people’s often unspoken needs through assistance, products, or services. The drive to generate customer satisfaction and loyalty.
– Supportiveness
The drive to assist, protect, and provide for others in emotional or physical need.
– Compliance
Global tendencies to maintain self-discipline and conform to another’s plan, rules, will, or direction.
– Flamboyance
The drive to impress or excite—to stir others through words or actions.
– Relationship Management
To use awareness of one’s own emotions and those of others to navigate interactions successfully. (Includes: Inspiration, Influence, Enriching Others, Cooperation, Change, and Conflict Management).
4. Medical & Health
– Service Orientation
The ability to anticipate, identify, and meet people’s often unspoken needs through assistance, products, or services. The drive to generate customer satisfaction and loyalty.
– Supportiveness
The drive to assist, protect, and provide for others in emotional or physical need.
– Social Awareness
To relate and respond to the feelings, needs, and concerns of individuals or broader societal groups. (Includes: Empathy, Organizational Awareness, and Service Orientation).
– Accountability
To be answerable. To take responsibility for outcomes through appropriate use of resources, personal integrity, and self-monitoring.
– Compliance
Global tendencies to maintain self-discipline and conform to another’s plan, rules, will, or direction.
5. Accounting & Finance
– Social Awareness
To relate and respond to the feelings, needs, and concerns of individuals or broader societal groups. (Includes: Empathy, Organizational Awareness, and Service Orientation).
– Compliance
Global tendencies to maintain self-discipline and conform to another’s plan, rules, will, or direction.
– Relationship
The drive to draw close and remain loyal to another person or people—to truly connect and enjoyably engage with them.
– Conflict Management
The ability to effectively negotiate and resolve disagreements.
– Critical Thinking
To gather and objectively assess key information as a guide to belief or action. An intellectual process that uses analysis, conceptualization, synthesis, and evaluation.
6. Education & Training
– Cooperative-Practical
The moderation of reason and feeling resulting in calm, commonsense thinking—upbeat, attentive, and realistic.
– Creativity
The desire to think, do, and express in ways that are different from the norm. This includes personal elaborations or variations on known or existing techniques.
– Social Awareness
To relate and respond to the feelings, needs, and concerns of individuals or broader societal groups. (Includes: Empathy, Organizational Awareness, and Service Orientation).
– Originality
The ability to invent or independently conceive of ideas, methods, or products of the first order (underived), regardless of their usefulness.
– Perspective
The ability to understand broadly, coordinate knowledge and experience, and provide clear-sighted and meaningful counsel to others. An aspect of wisdom.
7. Marketing
– Flamboyance
The drive to impress or excite—to stir others through words or actions.
– Influential Leadership
The ability to positively persuade others’ choices by focusing on what is important to them and building consensus.
– Assertiveness
Global tendencies to express and interact with boldness, enthusiasm, and confidence.
– Inspirational Leadership
The ability to uplift, enliven, fill, and empower people with a compelling vision.
– Relationship
The drive to draw close and remain loyal to another person or people—to truly connect and enjoyably engage with them.
8. Customer Service
– Supportiveness
The drive to assist, protect, and provide for others in emotional or physical need.
– Service Orientation
The ability to anticipate, identify, and meet people’s often unspoken needs through assistance, products, or services. The drive to generate customer satisfaction and loyalty.
– Conflict Management
The ability to effectively negotiate and resolve disagreements.
– Stress Tolerance
To endure pressure and uncertainty without becoming negative (e.g., hopeless, bitter, or hostile) toward self or others.
– Assertiveness
Global tendencies to express and interact with boldness, enthusiasm, and confidence.
9. Project Management
– Relationship Management
To use awareness of one’s own emotions and those of others to navigate interactions successfully. (Includes: Inspiration, Influence, Enriching Others, Cooperation, Change, and Conflict Management).
– Collaboration & Teamwork
To combine efforts and resources with others toward a common goal. To work effectively and respectfully with diverse teams.
– Dynamism
Global tendencies to generate results through intentional, resourceful, energetic mindsets and behaviors.
– Productivity
To set and meet goals, even in the face of obstacles and competing pressures. To prioritize, plan, and manage work to achieve the intended results.
– Stress Tolerance
To endure pressure or uncertainty without becoming negative (e.g., hopeless, bitter, or hostile) toward self or others.
10. Writing
– Assertiveness
Global tendencies to express and interact with boldness, enthusiasm, and confidence.
– Cooperative-Practical
The moderation of reason and feeling resulting in calm, commonsense thinking—upbeat, attentive, and realistic.
– Intuitive-Conceptual
The emphasis and synthesis of both instinct and rationale, suggesting versatility, unconventionality, and individuality.
– Order
The drive to organize tasks or spaces with planning, precision, and efficiency.
– Originality
The ability to invent or independently conceive of ideas, methods, or products of the first order (underived), regardless of their usefulness.
– Creativity
The desire to think, do, and express in ways that are different from the norm. This includes personal elaborations or variations on known or existing techniques.
– Problem Solving
To discover, analyze, and solve a range of unfamiliar problems in both conventional and creative ways.
It’s All About the Skills
According to a recent FlexJobs survey, most freelance workers are committed to building their skill sets to stay competitive in the freelance marketplace.
In fact, the overwhelming majority (89%) of freelancers took actionable steps to boost their skills during the pandemic. Freelancers reported engaging in the following skill development activities:
- 53% took online courses for professional development (vs. 44% of non-freelance professionals)
- 52% learned new professional skills (vs. 37% of non-freelancers)
- 50% learned new remote working tools (vs. 37% of non-freelancers)
- 41% attended virtual professional development events (vs. 35% of non-freelancers)
- 35% studied for or earned a new certification (vs. 26% of non-freelancers)
- 30% did volunteer work, internships, projects, or side jobs to strengthen skills and experience (vs. 21% of non-freelancers)
- 9% studied for or earned a new degree (vs. 7% of non-freelancers)