Working Internationally – Without Leaving the United States

Working abroad can be a great option, especially if you’re having a hard time finding a job in your home country. However, there are both pros and cons to working abroad – getting an international job isn’t for everyone. If this option interests you, but you want to stay in the United States (or your home country, whatever that may be), why not instead consider a virtual job? Virtual jobs allow you to work from home or from a local office, but you’ll work with clients or customers from around the work.

Let’s take a look at some of the virtual job options you have if you want to work in a global position without leaving your country of origin:

Working as a Virtual Assistant

Virtual assistants are like administrative assistants, but you’ll work purely through phone and email, performing tasks such as checking and answering emails, updating spreadsheets, building websites, and scheduling meetings. Virtual assistants can work for a single client or they can work part-time for multiple clients. In this career, being a self-starter is a must, and you must also be extremely organized. Keep in mind that if you work with international clients, you’ll be dealing with people from lots of different time zones, so this is a good options for those who want to work a traditional 9-to-5 job, but don’t necessarily want to work between the hours of 9 and 5.

Working as a Writer

Freelance writers don’t necessarily need to live and work in the same location as their clients. If you’re interested in working as a writer, it helps to specialize in one kind of writing, such as blogging, search engine optimization writing, or ebook writing. You can also pick a specific niche, such as parenting or technology, as a way to specialize your services as a writer. One of the best things about being a freelance writer is that you can make your own schedule, which allows you to have flexibility to also care for a family or enjoy a social life, but you also must be extremely disciplined, making sure to set aside enough time to work during the day.

Working as a Social Media Consultant

Social media consultants work with businesses to leverage their social media marketing. You could help with anything from gaining a following on Facebook to using Twitter correctly to reach more customers to uploading how-to videos on YouTube. Social media is a n extremely important part of the marketing campaign for most businesses, and great social media efforts are also imperative for quality customer service. Social media is global, so it doesn’t matter where you live to work in this field.

Working as a Teacher

If you love to teach but don’t necessarily want to work as an international ESL teacher or religious teacher/missionary, you can still tutor students from around the world as an online tutor or online school teacher. Working at an online school is not much different from working with students face-to-face, though there are some specific challenges depending on the subject you teach. Typically, at an online school, you’ll have a smaller class size, which allows you to do more one-on-one work with each student, and one of the biggest advantages is that you won’t have to manage a classroom if you work online.

Working in Online Banking

Online banking is an industry that is growing every year, with more and more people seeing the advantages of monitoring their accounts online and paying bills through paperless bill. Working for an online bank is more of a traditional office environment – few online bank employees work from home like freelance writers or online teachers. However, instead of helping bank customers in a face-to-face situation, you will be responding to problems or requests via email and phone. Online banks are often international, so it could benefit you to know at least one foreign language if you want to work for one.