10 Flexible Job Ideas for Night Owls and Early Birds

ByAdrianne Bibby

Are you a morning person, or do you get into your work groove as the day (or night!) goes on? It turns out that your personal biological rhythm—called your chronotype—determines theoptimal time for your unique body to fall asleep and wake up. The problem is, up to 80% of people havework schedules that are at odds with their internal clocks, leading to lost productivity, fatigue, stress, and even health issues.

Over the last several years, employers have begun to realize thataligning work schedules with employees’ chronotypesleads to happier, healthier workers. Some even implemented flexible schedules to enable people to work whenever worked best for them. And with the pandemic sending more than half of Americans to work from home,flexible schedules are more prevalent than ever.

Increasingly, flexible work options allow for nontraditional work schedules that let you work, well, whenever. If your idea of agreat job includes work that falls outside of the traditional 9-to-5 schedule, there are lots of flexible jobs to consider.

TheU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics(BLS) took an in-depth look into job categories that are a good match for people who may prefer working in the evening, overnight, or in the early morning. Here are the best careers for nontraditional hours.

10 Careers With Early or Late Hours

1.EngineersandArchitects

According to the BLS, about one-third of engineers and architects are already hard at work by 7:00 a.m. This includes civil and petroleum engineering, as well as electronics, mechanical, energy, and cybersecurity engineers.

2.Food and Beverage Professionals

The hospitality industry in general, and food service in particular, often require professionals to work before or after (as well as during) traditional work hours—not only in food service jobs but also in managerial positions involving logistics and operations.

3.Healthcare Professionals

Physicians, nurses, and other medical professionals can be on call—or on duty—at all hours of the day or night. Although workers in this category can have a “standard office hours” schedule, there’s a steady demand for evening, overnight, and crack-of-dawn workers.

4.Journalists

The news never rests, and for some news reporters and editors, that means being at work to cover news whenever it happens. Many news organizations hire journalists to be on early morning, late into the evening, or weekend duty to report and edit breaking news stories.

5.Veterinary Professionals

Like medical professionals who provide healthcare for humans, veterinarians and veterinary technicians often work nontraditional hours to provide emergency care during off-hours for our animal companions.

6.Manufacturing Professionals

Manufacturing plants often schedule some of their higher-production periods during the early morning or later in the evening; work shifts from 7:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., as well as 3:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m., are not uncommon. Supervisory-level jobs involving logistics and worker oversight may also require morning or evening shifts.

7.Customer Service Representatives

Employers often give customer service specialists options to work nontraditional hours, including evenings or weekends. Since many companies promise their customers 24-hour customer service, it only makes sense that they need representatives standing by at all hours.

8.Sports and Fitness Specialists

Early morning workout, anyone? Fitness trainers, coaches, and sports professionals often work with clients and athletes who want to exercise before they head to their jobs or school, or in the evenings. Besides working in sports clubs, fitness professionals can be employed by private businesses, universities, hospitals, and in private homes.

9.Agriculture Professionals

This category includes not only farmers (who can work all hours on smaller farms or for giant agricultural companies) but also positions like agronomist, crop adjuster, and farm marketer. Forestry and fishing can also fall into this broad category.

10.Transcriptionists

A good fit inresults-only work environments, or ROWE,transcription jobsoften allow workers to complete work on their own schedule, as long as assignments are completed on time. The BLS lists transcription as a fast-growing job category over the long term.

Follow Your Clock

With so many people working from home, many companies are offeringflexible and alternative schedulesthat allow you tofollow your internal clock, whether you’re at your best in the morning, at high noon, or in the middle of the night.

Looking for more job opportunities that will give you the flexibility you need? We offer flexible and remote jobs in more than 50 career categories. Tour the FlexJobs platform today!

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