I am a single parent with a child 7 year old. Studying full time on Centerlink as the only source of income but I am looking for work with flexibility in hours and schedule. Since child is in shared care with complicated schedule changing based on events and # of weekends.
I need advise on what options do i have to work given my circumstances.
Go get a job at a large venue such as a stadium/racecourse etc. Really flexible work and they pay pretty well!
I second this Spotless is pretty good
dependent on their contractor…
They're in the news right now. They get contracted a job, which they then subcontract to someone else, who then underpays the cleaners…
Domestic tasks like pet sitting, cleaning, cooking, ironing?
Start some sort of online business like an eBay store?
If you are looking after a child anyway, maybe child minding or babysitting?
Larger retailers with flexible hours (with many people to take over shifts if needed) like Bunnings, Kmart, Target or Big W?
loving the gender role comments
Not sure I see these the same as you?
House cleaning? I suppose you could view this as belonging to a particular gender, but I can assure you both men and women need to clean their houses, and both genders work at it for others.
Stadium/Racecourse? Perhaps you might view these as male dominated, but I don't think that is fair as most roles could be carried out readily by a male or female.
Domestic tasks like pet sitting (unisex, surely?) cleaning (as above), cooking, ironing (maybe predominantly performed by women, but I don't see any reason if the OP is male he couldn't do it).
Ebay store (surely unisex?)
Child minding (since the OP says they are doing child minding already, this doesn't seem gender driven).
Large retailers (unisex?)
Maybe you are seeing gender roles because there is a higher number of one gender seeking these types of roles needing flexible hours etc. rather than people assuming one gender or another? If sparkles had added lawn mowing after cooking, ironing, would that have squared it up?
And for the record, the OP username is sydmom and the profile says Sydney, so a guess the OP might be a mother would be a reasonable conclusion.
Because that's such a bad thing?
I don't see any of the above as being specifically gender focused..
Maybe you do, and therefore have constructive suggestions of your own, rather than simply putting other people's suggestions down without contributing anything of value.
Op: Aside from odd-jobs on Airtasker, do you have any specific skills? i.e. can you teach piano? Or service computers?
And in saying this you are discriminating on the basis of gender.
My rich mates, hire a professional cleaner for 3hrs once a week…
The cleaner is male… they pay him $300 for those 3 hours
I'd recommend phone based market research (and by this, I mean conducting surveys over the telephone, NOT telemarketing, which is completely different). There are plenty of companies in Australia that offer casual evening and weekend shifts that suit students, and as long as your grasp of English is reasonable, you'll find it easy to get a job. As long as you choose a reputable company that adheres to the AMSRO agreement, the pay is regulated and at a good hourly rate. You'll find that most call centres are reasonably comfortable and the subject matter can be interesting.
Where are you located? Happy to send you some suggestions based on your location.
Thanks for your advice I am located just 15 min from CBD in a suburb which is inner west of Sydney. Would be happy to explore the option you mentioned kindly share some link or contact information
There are heaps of catering companies/venues that are understaffed. Become a casual at a venue place. They'll call you and ask if you can work…
Summer is coming so there will be heaps of people having weddings and parties.
Otherwise +1 on airtasker. There are heaps of easy tasks you could carry out like going shopping for people, cleaning their house etc. Just had a look and
Have you got any experience in anything? What are you studying?
kindly accept my apology for not replying specifically to your comment honestly I didn't know until today that reply to specific comment is possible.
I am doing Bachelor or Art with another major in International Relations. But I feel much more comfortable with photography, fashion clothing design, and probably sales person for the same.
will it be possible for you to share some link or contact to the catering companies.
Be careful on income vs payments, sometimes you need to weigh up how much you'll earn, vs what you'll lose.
Obviously 30-40hrs per week working negates the loss of Centrelink payments, but 5-10hrs per week can sometimes actually mean you're not 'making' any money at the end of it all.
The PC crowd will come along and say 'well at least she's trying to get a job etc', but in reality it's a tough call on an income under $20k.
I fear this from income perspective it may end up making nothing additional but at least the experience that I will earn will help securing future job / business oportunities
Good for you. With that attitude you should do well.
Glad to see input to help all suggestions are welcome. Since I am new to Ozbargain my input may come slow initially.
Doing bachelor of fine arts mainly photography
Basic computer skills like emails MS Word power point and yes photo editing skills on MAC
Kindly share some links where I can apply
Due to shared care arrangements can't share exact location but I can share that I live 15 min to CBD. Have a small old but feasibly working condition car donated by some generous lady
Once again thanks for the valuable input
I assume you have access to reasonable camera gear and some facility with it. How about:
- dropping some flyers around local businesses offering to do new product photos/web site photos for them. Many places use old shots that look dated and could benefit. You might want to make up a demo portfolio to showcase your skills until you get your first paying clients.
- if you have visibility of your complex schedule ahead of time could you run a photography course/guided tour once or twice a month. Think ideas like walk through the produce markets, or along rock pools at the beach or the flower beds in the Botanic Gardens. I have seen people doing just this selling on Groupon etc.
- Can you talk to local wedding photographers, offer to work with them on the day (under their instruction) and split proceeds from any sales of the images you capture 50/50. I know a wedding photographer and his biggest headache is covering everything going on at once without having extreme labour costs.
- Offer photoshop editing services on Fiverr.com. If you can offer quick turn around you can do something like $5 picture re-touch, add another $5 for 3 hour turn-around or similar.
Or try a scatter gun approach and do a few of these and see which is lucrative. Make sure you report any earnings - you don't want Centrelink on your back.
THIS.
Use a free website creator to display some of your photography work.
Asking local businesses is a great idea. If you are confident with video editing you could offer to do promotional videos.
There some legit online pay survey (Your Voice, Value Opinion, My View, My Survey" etc) that would pay out gift card such as Coles Card or Myer
If you have time and access to internet I would suggest doing them when you are free.
I hope these would help a bit in term of living expense
Good to see the community help us whenever they can.
I have a few mum friends finding work on AirTasker
Sometimes simple things are around you but due to your circumstances you tend to miss out. After yesterday's post so many encouraging and supporting responses I feel good energy surrounding me. AirTasker seems to be the first thing I would try but long term goal is to post studies either work for some large corporations or do my own business preferably in photography or fashion clothing.
Looking forward to exciting times ahead will share my experience on this forum from time to time hopefully in few months time I will be able to help someone with similar situation.
I can teach you (for free & remotely) how you can get a free website (mainly what good options you can select from). You may find lot of areas where you could showcase your Photography or fashion work, but I will only get you started with the best (practices & free hosting providers) and the areas where you can have your own work published in a Professional look and I will walk you through the process. If that sounds interesting to you please let me know..
I taught CS subject for more than 5 years before becoming a PhD student and I have two little kids so you have my support and prayers.
All the best!
Do some house cleaning and get clients via Gumtree and Airtasker?