Times are hard, so we have to work harder. After all, a certain ex-deputy minister said that Malaysians should have two jobs to cope with the rising costs of living. Of course, that makes perfect sense doesn’t it?
And so that’s what we Malaysians do. We moonlight, in our own innovative ways.
1. Sharing posts on social media
Vincent, an events executive, used to share posts for an online publication in Malaysia. He’d earn a little bit of money for every unique click.
What does this mean?
Basically Vincent has to share articles from online portals. He shares it on his Facebook, Twitter, and blog. He earns a measly 20 cents every time someone clicks on the post.
However, he doesn’t earn anything if the same person clicked twice. He only gets paid for that first click, hence the name unique clicks.
Naturally, it doesn’t pay well. He only managed to earn a paltry 50 ringgit for two months’ work. He decided to quit because of the low pay, as well as the fact it encourages spamming, something he’s against.
2. Part-time recruiter
David, a business development executive, dabbled in freelance recruitment. It’s basically a headhunting gig. He’d look for qualified candidates and invite them to interview for a role or position.
He earns a commission once the candidate successfully completes his/her probation and is accepted into the position. While it sounds simple, the success rate is pretty low.
From 20 candidates which he refers, only two to three make it to the interview. If he’s lucky, maybe one will be accepted.
Because he receives many applications,he has to vet through them efficiently. If the resume is below par (which could mean insufficient or irrelevant information and spelling mistakes), or the candidates don’t even bother to contact him directly, he wouldn’t waste his time seeing them.
However, if a resume is around 4/10 (according to his own standard), he would still give it a shot and judge the candidate through a phone interview. If he’s convinced, only then would he invite the candidate for a face-to-face interview.
On average, he will choose the five best candidates for a job opening. The process, as explained above, will take approximately one to two weeks. Once a candidate has been hired, David will receive between 20 to 35% of the annual salary.
3. Mystery shopper
Muiz, an online trader, was surprised to find out about the ‘mystery shopper’ gig when told by his friend. What are ’mystery shoppers’ you ask? Well ‘mystery shoppers’ are people hired by companies to do surprise visits to certain stores.You pretend to be a shopper or a customer, visit a store, and then report your experience afterwards.
When Muiz found out about it, he got hooked! Imagine staying in an all paid expenses hotel and getting paid extra on top of it? However, the downside to it would be he cannot repeat the jobs with the same company, as mysterious shopping require different experiences to improve the company’s products.
One of the experience Muiz had was staying at a hotel near KLIA airport, which was quite far from where he lives. However, he decided to take up the offer because he still earns 80 ringgit per visit. It’s decent compensation for an in exchange for staying at a fully paid-for hotel.
Still, there’s still a lot of work to be done. Muiz is given a checklist to fill and share his experience as a customer. It involves observing things such as the reservation process (whether the staff(s) are helpful, friendly, do a follow-up), the hotel’s environment (cleanliness, the security guard’s appearance and performance), check-in and check-out process (whether the staff(s) are properly dressed with name tags, any delay) and the condition of many facilities in the hotel. These are among the many things Muiz has to report.
Once Muiz had completed the hotel stay and submitted the checklist, Muiz has to wait a few days before getting his compensation.
Overall, Muiz thinks it’s a good way to make a little side income, but he won’t be doing mystery shopping anymore once his income becomes more stable in the future. Mystery shopping sounds good, but still requires a lot of time and travelling for a small amount of money.
4. Making healthy breakfast
Khairie, an editor, used to work in Putrajaya. He noticed the food in the cafeteria was unhealthy, which is a bummer for health-conscious people.
So he started selling simple breakfasts to his colleagues, a menu consisting half boiled eggs or a tuna sandwich or scrambled eggs.
There were some challenges – for example, he had to wake up earlier to go to work, just to prepare the food ahead of time. Also, he discovered that not everyone wanted the same healthy breakfast, so his customers weren’t regular.
On a good month, he made around 300 to 400 ringgit, which was enough to cover the petrol costs. However, the earnings weren’t consistent. Most of the time, the money and time spent were not worth the effort, so he gave it up after a while.
5. Car advertisement
Jamil owns two cars. He uses his Alza for his daily commute, while the Honda is used for long distance travelling. He chanced upon an opportunity to earn extra income when he visited a job exhibition at Im4u Sentral, Puchong.
There, he saw a company’s booth which advertises income opportunity for car owners.
Wow, but how does this work? Can one make money just by owning a car?
Well, ever notice how some taxis have an advertisement sticker on the body of its vehicle? Well, this company uses a similar model. In this scenario, car owners are known as brand ambassadors who advertise brands using a vehicle.
On average, an ambassador can receive compensation ranging from 100 ringgit and above as well as some freebies and vouchers / discount codes, depending on the particular campaign by the brand.
Is there a catch?
Well, sometimes, a brand is also looking for certain routes as well as different demographics. For example, a babies milk company would prefer the brand ambassadors to be female drivers in Subang Jaya (who can act as an opinion leader / walking billboard), hence the specific drivers will be selected from the drivers’ database for that specific campaign
He cautioned that a car which has been repainted is not suitable for this job, as it may affect the colour once the sticker has been peeled off.
So are you moonlighting now? Tells us of your experience in the comments below!
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