While hiring hasn’t yet rebounded to pre-pandemic levels, the overall job market is gaining momentum—and that means stronger prospects for anyone looking for an entry-level position, including recent graduates.
In fact, according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), employers estimate that they’ll hire 7.2% more new college graduates from the Class of 2021 than they previously hired from the Class of 2020.
We analyzed our database to identify the top 10 career categories that currently have the most remote entry-level positions suitable for new graduates and job seekers with less professional experience. Among these, entry-level remote listings in the HR & Recruiting, Sales, and Call Center categories have grown at least 25% since Jan 2021!
The job categories below are ordered from highest to lowest in terms of having the most remote entry-level positions.
Top 10 Entry-Level Career Fields
1. Customer Service
Customer service representatives work with many different types of companies to serve as the direct point of contact for customers, providing support and helping with their questions and concerns. Representatives may communicate with customers by telephone, email, chat, or mail.
2. Call Center
Similar to customer service positions, call center jobs involve finding solutions to meet customers’ needs. Some call centers handle only incoming calls, while others include calling people, businesses, and organizations for marketing, research surveys, appointment setting, collections, and more.
3. Administrative
Administrative jobs require people who can manage responsibilities, multi-task, and support executive personnel in meeting company objectives. Administrative assistants may manage a busy office, handle personnel matters, process incoming and outgoing communications, manage projects, and assist customers.
4. Accounting & Finance
Accounting and finance careers involve the processing of financial data, handling accounts payables and receivables, organizing records, and helping with tax preparation. Accounting and finance professionals often help customers with their accounting records, bill paying, and collections.
5. Medical & Health
Health and medical careers involve working in health sciences or healthcare, providing medical research and services or lifestyle management. Many health occupations involve giving medical care or support to people as well as providing health information services like insurance, billing, coding, transcription, and scheduling.
6. Bilingual
Bilingual professionals work in a variety of jobs for a wide range of companies, helping to eliminate communication and diversity barriers between people from different countries or regions.
7. Sales
Since many products and services can be complex, sales professionals work closely with customers to help them identify needs and introduce them to products or services. Sales careers often involve networking and lead generation to locate additional clients.
8. Data Entry
Data Entry professionals play an important role in organizations by ensuring the smooth and efficient processing of large amounts of information and data. Most data entry jobs include entering data into a computer system or some type of a secure file system and may include other types of clerical activities.
9. Computer & IT
Computer and IT jobs can include computer repairs, website maintenance, internet security, and in-house support for internal computer systems. Companies hiring for computer and IT jobs are in a variety of industries, like information security, digital marketing, cloud solutions, business consulting, education, healthcare, communications, and media.
10. HR & Recruiting
Human resources and recruiting jobs involve matching people with the right job and providing continuous training and support to employees. HR professionals can be generalists or they may work with a specific aspect of human resources, while recruiters seek out qualified candidates for contract or permanent job placement.
Skills Development During the Pandemic
For new grads just entering the workforce, continuously developing job skills can give job seekers an edge in getting hired for entry-level work.
According to FlexJobs’ recent survey of 400 entry-level workers, this demographic has stayed career-focused during the pandemic, with four out of five engaging in the following skill development activities:
- 41% took online courses for professional development
- 36% learned new professional skills
- 36% learned new remote working skills
- 29% studied for or earned a new certification
- 27% attended virtual professional development events
- 25% did volunteer work, internships, projects, or side jobs to strengthen skills and experience
Job Priorities for Entry-Level Workers
Survey respondents also listed remote work as an important priority in their careers. In fact, 32% of entry-level workers say they would give up some vacation time for the opportunity to work remotely as much as they wanted to. And nearly a quarter (24%) would be willing to take a pay cut for the opportunity to work from home.
These are the most important factors that entry-level workers consider when evaluating a job:
- Salary: 76%
- Remote work options: 71%
- Work-life balance: 71%
- Flexible schedule options: 58%
- Meaningful work: 56%
- Skills training and education options: 49%
- Work schedule: 45%
- Company culture: 42%
- Career progression: 40%
- Location: 39%
- Health insurance: 39%
- Company reputation: 37%
- Vacation time: 34%
- 401(k)/retirement benefits: 29%
- Special company perks (i.e., tuition reimbursement, unlimited vacation time, paying for travel or sabbaticals, gym memberships, free food, etc.): 27%
- Professional challenge: 26%
- Amount of travel required: 23%
- Paid maternity/paternity leave: 16%
How to Find a Remote Entry-Level Job
The FlexJobs Career Coaching team offers the following advice for any new or recent grads who are interested in landing a remote job.
1. Organize Your Job Search
You can help yourself stay organized in your job search by blocking out time to focus and creating a job search plan. Make daily to-do lists spelling out what you’d like to accomplish, such as customizing a cover letter, sending out three applications, and spending a half-hour on LinkedIn exploring connections.
2. Update Your Resume
When you’re applying for entry-level jobs, it’s important to include internships, volunteer activities, and school-based activities in your chosen career fields on your resume. If you want to work remotely, you should also highlight any remote experience you have with virtual classes, group projects, or internships or jobs.
3. Try Informational Interviews
See if you can connect with alums from your school or make new connections on LinkedIn to gather information on companies and jobs. These informal chats will help you learn more about which roles you should target, potential openings, and how to run a successful search from people who’ve been there before.
4. Be Patient
It takes, on average, three to six months to land a job, so expect to spend a lot of quality time searching for your new role. Get into a rhythm and routine for your search, and stay consistent for the best results.