The short version: Customer service, data entry, virtual assistance, content moderation, and transcription are the fastest routes into remote work with no background needed. Most hire in 2-4 weeks and pay 16 to 22 pounds per hour to start. You need a laptop, stable internet, and the ability to follow process.
I spent five years rebuilding my business after a crash. This taught me something hard: experience is nice, but hunger matters more.
When I say "no experience," I mean it. Not "three years in a related field." Not "strong communication skills required." I mean you can be a school-leaver, a parent returning to work after a decade, someone leaving a completely different career, or just broke and needing a paycheque by next month. I'm talking about the jobs that exist precisely because companies need bodies in seats, fast, and are willing to train them.
I've hired remote staff. I've also been the person who needed that job desperately. Both perspectives matter here.
The jobs that hire people with zero background
Customer service representative (16-19 pounds per hour)
This is the gateway drug of remote work. Companies like Amazon, Teleperformance, TTEC, and Sitel hire hundreds of customer service reps monthly with no prior experience. You'll handle email, chat, or phone support for customers. It's tedious. It's repetitive. It's soul-crushing some days. But it's a job that exists, pays on time, and teaches you how to work remotely without your mum shouting about the wifi.
How to apply: Search "remote customer service" on Indeed, LinkedIn, and Glassdoor and filter by entry-level. Teleperformance has an open portal at teleperformance.co.uk. Expect the hiring process to take 2-3 weeks including a typing test and a mock call. I've known people hired within 10 days.
Real detail: You'll usually need to be available 5 days a week in a set shift (like 9am-5pm), and training is 2-3 weeks unpaid. Some companies offer paid training. Ask before you accept.
Data entry clerk (15-17 pounds per hour)
Entering information into spreadsheets, databases, or company systems. It's not glamorous but it's mechanical enough that a child could do it, which is precisely why they hire people with no experience. Companies like Concentrix, Appen, and various temp agencies staff these roles constantly.
How to apply: Reed.co.uk, Indeed, and Heidrick & Struggles' temp division all list data entry work regularly. The barrier to entry is just: can you type? Can you follow instructions? Do you show up?
Real detail: Accuracy matters. You'll often have a 98% or 99% accuracy requirement. One job I know of (inputting patient records for a private hospital) paid 16 pounds per hour and the hire process was three days.
Virtual assistant / administrative support (17-21 pounds per hour)
This is slightly higher on the experience ladder but companies still hire people with no background. You'll do scheduling, email management, data organisation, and basic bookkeeping support. The difference between this and data entry is that you're thinking about *why* you're entering the data, not just entering it.
Companies like Belay Solutions, Time Etc, and Fancy Hands hire remote VAs without experience. Belay's website has a whole section for "entry-level" VAs and they train you.
How to apply: Belay.com, Fancyhands.com, and TimeEtc.com have open applications. You'll also find these on Indeed. The hiring process is 2-4 weeks because they'll ask you to do a test task (like: "please organise this calendar and flag conflicts").
Real detail: These roles often start at 16-17 pounds but move to 20+ if you stay 12 months and prove reliable. This matters: some VA roles are project-based and pay per task rather than per hour.
Content moderator (16-18 pounds per hour)
Reading comments, posts, or user-generated content and deciding what violates platform rules. It's a job that exists because AI can't do it yet (well, not entirely). Meta, TikTok, YouTube, and Cognizant hire content moderators constantly.
How to apply: Meta's careers page lists "content moderator" roles. Cognizant (cognizant.com) is a major content moderation contractor. You can also search "content moderator remote" on Indeed. The hiring process is usually 1-2 weeks.
Real detail: This job can be mentally taxing because you see the worst of the internet. Some people last three months. Some stay years. Know yourself. The pay is decent but it's not worth your sanity.
Transcriptionist (18-25 pounds per hour or piece rate)
Listening to audio files and typing what you hear. Companies like Rev, Scribie, GoTranscript, and Trint hire transcriptionists with no experience (though they do have a small test first). It's quieter work than customer service, which some people prefer.
How to apply: Rev.com, Scribie.com, GoTranscript.com. You'll do a transcription test (usually 10-15 minutes of audio). If you pass, you're in. The whole process takes 3-5 days.
Real detail: These are often piece-rate jobs, not hourly. You earn per audio minute transcribed. Someone fast can make 20-25 pounds per hour. Someone slower might make 14. There's flexibility (work whenever) but zero guaranteed income.
Tutor (20-40 pounds per hour)
If you can speak English and you're patient, companies will pay you to teach it to non-native speakers. Cambly, VIPKid, Italki, and Preply all hire tutors with zero teaching experience. They train you. I've known people earn 25-30 pounds per hour within three months of starting.
How to apply: Cambly.com, VIPKid.com, Italki.com, Preply.com. You'll record a short video of yourself teaching a sample lesson. If they like it, you're hired. This takes 1-2 weeks.
Real detail: You need to be a native English speaker (or very near it). You need a quiet room and a decent webcam. Most platforms want you available during evening or weekend hours (their "peak times" for students). But the pay is good compared to other no-experience roles.
Social media content creator (variable)
Some companies hire people to create TikToks, Instagram Reels, or YouTube shorts without experience. Billo, Insense, and some influencer networks will hire content creators and teach them the platform's rules. This is less "stable job" and more "gig work" but it's worth mentioning because the barrier to entry is literally: do you have a phone?
How to apply: Billo.app, Insense.com, or search "content creator" on Upwork. The hiring process is instant (you post a sample video).
Real detail: Pay is wildly inconsistent. You might earn 5 pounds per video or 50 pounds. You might earn nothing if your videos don't hit the platform's rules. This is high-risk, high-flexibility work.
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What employers care about if you have no experience
I've reviewed hundreds of CVs and job applications. When you have no experience, these three things determine whether you get hired:
- Reliability: Can you start Monday and show up on Monday? Can you work the shift without calling in sick every other week? Companies would rather hire someone unremarkable who's reliable than someone brilliant who's flaky.
- Literacy: Can you read and follow written instructions? Most remote work is async and text-based. If the training document says "do X by 9am," can you do X?
- Speed of learning: Can you figure out a clunky system in 30 minutes or will you ask 14 questions? Remote training is fast and expensive for employers. They want people who can problem-solve independently.
None of these require years of experience. They require showing up as an adult.
The practical steps to get hired
Stop scrolling job sites passively. This is what works:
- Write a basic CV: name, contact, work history (even if it's just "Tesco checkout, 2019-2021" and "freelance dog-walking"), key skills (computer literacy, reliability, communication). One page. Done.
- Apply to 10-15 jobs per week: Not 100. Not 2. Ten to fifteen. The odds matter.
- Tailor your cover letter to each job in 3 sentences max: "I'm applying because [specific reason related to company]. I'm reliable and learn fast. I'm available to start [date]."
- Do the test if they ask: If they send you a typing test, a mock call, or a sample task, do it that day. Employers notice speed.
- Ring them on day four: If it's been four days and you haven't heard back, call the number they provided. Human beings who call stand out.
What to expect on your first week
Your first remote job will feel strange. You'll have 10 meetings about how to use Slack. You'll get 50 passwords. You'll be confused by internal acronyms. This is normal. Everyone feels this way. The people who survive are the ones who say "I don't understand, can you explain again?" rather than giving up.
You'll also probably feel lonely. Remote work removes the ambient human presence of an office. If you're not someone who enjoys their own company, this job might feel isolating. That's not a character flaw. That's data about yourself. Use it to decide if remote work suits you long-term.
The money question: can you live on this?
A full-time customer service job at 17 pounds per hour, 40 hours per week, is roughly 650 pounds per week before tax. That's about 2,600 pounds monthly. In London, that's tight. In Nottingham or Cardiff, it's liveable. You won't get rich. You'll pay your rent and eat. That matters.
If you're strategic, you can stack two of these jobs (say, customer service during the day and transcription at night) and earn 35,000-40,000 pounds annually. I've known people do this for 18 months while learning a high-skill trade, then move on.
The move after six months
If this is your long-term goal, it shouldn't be. These jobs are starting points. After six months of customer service, you know how to work remotely. You can move to a specialist customer service role in tech (40,000 pounds). After six months of VA work, you can freelance on Upwork and set your own rates. After six months of transcription, you can move to closed-captioning or audio editing.
The point of entry-level remote work is that it's the entry. Not the destination.
What I Tell People Who Ask Me How to Get Past the "No Experience" Wall
I get messaged about this several times a month, usually by someone who has applied to 30 or 40 remote jobs and heard nothing back. Here is what changes the response rate: stop applying to generic "remote customer service" postings on the big job boards and start applying directly through the careers pages of companies that build remote work into their culture, like Working Solutions, Liveops, SiteStaff, and Concentrix. Those first two hire home-based agents specifically and are far less competitive than the postings that get reposted on Indeed a hundred times, because most applicants never look past the aggregator sites.
Second thing: your application needs a home office photo or a short screen recording, even when it is not asked for. When I was helping my youngest test the waters with virtual assistant work, we sent a 90 second Loom video alongside the application showing her desk setup, her internet speed test, and her reading a sample task back to confirm she understood it. She heard back from 4 out of 6 places she tried that method with. Employers hiring for no experience roles are mainly screening out people who will not show up reliably or cannot handle a quiet home environment with no supervisor in the room. A short video answers that worry before it is even asked.
Third, be specific about your available hours down to the time zone, not just "flexible." Postings for things like transcription review, chat support, and data entry often fill night shift and weekend shift slots fastest because fewer applicants want them. If you say "available Saturday and Sunday, 6am to 2pm Eastern" in your first message, you will get a faster reply than someone who says "flexible schedule."
A few numbers worth knowing before you commit time to this search:
- Working Solutions pays most agents $10 to $16 an hour depending on the client account, paid biweekly by direct deposit.
- Liveops work is 1099 contractor pay, so you are responsible for your own taxes, budget roughly 25 to 30 percent aside if you are in the US.
- Most legitimate no experience postings ask you to complete a paid or unpaid skills assessment lasting 15 to 45 minutes. If a "job" skips this step entirely and asks for banking details on day one, that is the clearest sign it is not real.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to buy anything to start working remotely?
A laptop (200-500 pounds), a stable internet connection (most jobs require at least 5Mbps download speed), and a quiet room where you can take calls. If you don't have a laptop, some libraries lend them. If your wifi is unreliable, your phone can sometimes tether to provide a backup. Most employers don't provide equipment to entry-level remote staff.
What if I'm rejected from 20 applications?
Rejection is the baseline. I'd expect a 10% success rate (two job offers from 20 applications). If you're hitting zero, something in your CV or cover letter is broken. Ask a trusted friend to read it. Apply to roles you're clearly overqualified for to build confidence. But keep applying.
Can I do two of these jobs at the same time?
Yes, but check your contracts. Some employers have non-compete clauses that prevent you from working for a competitor (e.g., two customer service roles for rival companies). Most don't. Data entry during the day and transcription at night is a common stack because they don't conflict. Tell each employer upfront.
What happens if I don't like the job after a month?
Most of these are probationary (3-6 months). You can usually leave with notice. You're not signing away your firstborn. If you hate it, start applying elsewhere while you're still employed. It's always easier to find a job when you have a job.
Related reading: Indeed Virtual Assistant Jobs: The Real Money, The Catch, And How To Land One and Virtual Assistant Remote Jobs: How I'm Making £2,500/Month From My Spare Bedroom.
For the full picture, see my guide to my main work from home jobs guide, with the honest read on which roles are growing and which AI is hollowing out.
