The way people work nowadays has totally changed. Once, it was guaranteed a person would be in an office cubicle from morning to evening if they were employed. And just as recently as 10 years ago, a person working from a remote location was quite rare.
Now it seems that more and more people are freelancing to make a buck, and a lot of companies are hiring employees on a contractual basis in more specialized areas of work.
In 2012, working from home or freelancing is rather normal, and with the constant growth of technology, more jobs are created as companies have increasing needs.
A survey conducted by the job site Freelancer.com showed that companies and brands that utilize technology for expansion are hiring freelancers in the largest numbers.
"The most lucrative [jobs] are those where specialist technical knowledge is required in high demand areas, at the cutting edge of technology and very few freelancers," said Freelance.com's Chief Executive Matt Barrie in an interview with ConsumerAffairs.
"For example at the cutting edge of mobile phone apps, there's a premium. Where there is not a premium are areas like data entry etc. i.e. jobs anyone can do," he said.
Fastest-growing jobs
The Freelancer.com survey released the 50 fastest growing online jobs for Q2 in 2012. It found that if you can build an iPhone app, you're on top of the heap, with 5,112 new jobs for app builders this year.
Andoird trails markedly, with 3,444 employment opportunities. There are more Android phones but not as many apps being written.
"We are not predicting a comeback for Android next quarter, on the contrary" said Barrie. "Previously (2 quarters ago), Android was growing at a faster pace than the iPhone for new applications. We expected that by the end of this year for Android to overtake for new apps."
"However, in the last two quarters, Apple has slingshot itself back into the lead for grow with staggering increases. With the iPhone5 and mini-pad rumored to be coming out soon, we expect further acceleration of the Apple platforms over Android as new functionality comes on out the hardware platforms. We think that possibly Android might be running out of steam," he predicted.
Internet marketing
The report also found that Internet marketing jobs, especially through Facebook, are dramatically down, as companies are no longer sure of the effectiveness of social media marketing. Marketing jobs involving Facebook for example, dropped 14 percent this quarter, to 6,150 jobs.
"Internet marketing jobs across the board are down -- this is one of the biggest trends this quarter," Barrie explained. "The main reason for this is that Google and Facebook have created huge uncertainty in the space -- Google with their ever changing algorithm has completely changed the SEO industry and caused it to go into a spin while marketers figure out what they can really do to increase a site's rank."
The survey also details how leery companies are of Facebook, and have chosen to lower their spending amounts until the social site can really prove it can increase brand awareness.
"With Facebook, many people don't understand that the best way to use Facebook is for distribution -- reaching lots of people about your product or service quickly," said Barrie.
He also noted if companies aren't using Facebook in the correct way to reach a certain demographic, jobs through social media sites will continue to decline, providing employment seekers in that area of specialty with fewer opportunities.
"Facebook still remains an amazing platform for marketers if you know how to use it right, but all the negative press that came out during the IPO has caused confusion with [employers] who have pulled back their spend this quarter," said Barrie.
Open standards
The survey also reveals that open standards dominate the 50 fastest-growing job list. Results show that interactive web technology jobs are up by 17 percent and have added 2,247 in the second quarter.
In addition, user interface jobs grew by 42 percent, as 1,756 freelance positions were offered. Microsoft.net jobs saw a dramatic decline in job opportunities, dropping 39 percent with only 2,919 freelance positions being available.
In terms of what job seekers should do to stay in the know when it comes to online freelance jobs, Barrie says: "Stay ahead of upcoming open standards that will have a huge effect on the industry, the latest updates to the mobile phone and tablet hardware platforms, new tools and so on."
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