Fed up with the daily grind? These are the skills you need if you want to work from home

By Elizabeth Anderson | Telegraph – Thu, Oct 30, 2014 09:55 GMT

The number of people working from home has surged in recent years. The economic downturn, coupled with changes in work patterns, means that freelancers have become the fastest growing group in the UK labour market.

There are now 4.2m home workers – a rise of 30pc from 1998, according to the Office for National Statistics.

Elance-oDesk, a jobs website which businesses use to hire freelancers across the world, says that 2.7m jobs are posted each year on its platform.

It has identifed the top 10 most lucrative freelance occupations in the UK, by hourly rate.

1. Voice talent – £68.16 per hour

Voiceover artists are most commonly used for how-to videos, help guides and adverts. While some travel to a main studio to record scripts, many work from a home studio and send files electronically.

2. Infographic design – £44.72 per hour

The skill of presenting complex information in a sharable way is highly sought after, says Elance.

3. Finance writing – £37.95 per hour

Financial writers compile analysis or market commentary for publications. They can also write blog posts for companies, write up annual reports and even pen books.

4. Contract drafting – £34.55 per hour

Contract drafters incorporate a business deal into a contract. This skill is highly paid as it requires a detailed knowledge of the industry to make sure the deal is legally sound.

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5. Recruiting – £32.51 per hour

Many firms pass the complex task of hiring new staff over to freelancers. They will take over the process of attracting, selecting and appointing suitable candidates for vacant posts.

6. Financial forecasting – £26.82 per hour

Businesses are increasingly employing freelancers to predict a company’s financial turnover within a given time period, usually one year. The work involves looking over a firm’s internal accounting and sales data, together with analysing external market and economic trends.

7. Electronic engineers – £26.16 per hour

These programmers plan the layout of the latest software and operating systems on your phones, tablets and laptops.

8. Spanish-English translation – £24.57 per hour

Translation is one of the fastest-growing skills required from businesses.

9. CV writing – £24.42 per hour

With the UK employment market on the up, job seekers have been outsourcing the job of sprucing up their CV to freelancers.

10. Pay per click – £23.97 per hour

This is an internet advertising model used to direct traffic to websites. Freelancers earn income by becoming an advertiser who delivers pay per click traffic to different websites.

– All figures complied from January to September 2014.