People tell you never to pay for a job when you’re looking for work online. So, you’re probably wondering if you can trust the Flexjobs.com reviews you’ve been reading around the internet and if you should really be paying for their service.
I wasn’t sure either! So I actually joined as a paying member to dig inside and find out what it was all about, and if it was even worth the money to pay for job listings.
Summary: Flexjobs.com is a completely legit online job board membership site that sifts through all the shady/scam postings within the work at home industry. Common advice may be to “never pay for a job” but in the case of Flex Jobs, you are actually paying for their service in providing you with a SAFE space to look for work, where you don’t have to worry about giving your information out to the wrong people or just wasting your time. Use code SAVE30 here to get 30% off and get your membership for less than $10.
So, what exactly is Flexjobs.com?
Flexjobs is a comprehensive database that provides job seekers access to prescreened work at home and part-time, flexible schedule job openings. It’s actually widely recognized and a leader in the flexible job movement- it was founded in 2007 by Sarah Sutton.
Every job you find on Flexjobs meets this set criteria:
- It has flexible scheduling – whether it’s work from home, freelance, or contract work
- Professional, career-oriented
- Legitimate – companies are hand-screened
You won’t encounter any of the rampant ads, scams, or clutter from normal jobs posting sites, especially within the telecommuting sector.
It’s important to note that you are not paying for them to land you a job. You are paying for a service they provide you that keeps you safe from scams when you’re searching for legitimate remote/flexible schedule work.
It’s all too easy to waste your time and give out your information to the wrong people (and end up with non-stop spam/robocalls!) Or worse yet, you actually get scammed!
There are also additional benefits provided like job tips, skill testing and discounts at partner websites. It requires a monthly fee, which is why some people question the service.
Who is using it this service – is it really popular?
According to the company, over 1 million people have used Flexjobs to look for employment (they’ve been around since 2007). However, they don’t publicly disclose the number of current members.
They have been featured on many news outlets, including Forbes, NBC, WSJ, CNN and USA Today. You can read more about their press coverage here.
What type of work will you be able to find?
There is a pretty broad spectrum of jobs listed within the Flexjobs database. They have jobs that are 100% at home, some that are just partly at home, and others that require a lot of travel.
Positions range from freelance to independent contractor, to employed with benefits within Flexjobs.
A few of the top companies offering flexible employment opportunities (according to Flexjobs database)
| Kelly Services | UnitedHealth Group | Allergan |
| Aetna | Robert Half Int. | K12 |
| CyberCoders | Pearson | Humana |
| Dell | SAP | Thermo Fisher Scientific |
| Kforce | Anthem, Inc. | Amazon |
| Real Staffing | AFIRM | Stryker |
| OnwardSearch | Retail Data | Syneos Health |
| Pearson | Red Hat | Hilton |
| Sales Force | Adecco | Wells Fargo |
What I found searching through these job listing is that there is a pretty big emphasis on higher-paying career-type positions – many jobs require advanced degrees and several years of experience.
However, they do still have a few entry-level positions so it isn’t exclusively for those with degrees.
It has a lot of benefits of a regular job board but is entirely dedicated to those looking for a more flexible work schedule than the 9-5.
A look inside the Flexjobs listings…
This job board isn’t made up entirely of true work at home positions. At the time of my search, you can see the number of 100% remote work positions that are listed is 6,765 (this is with no restricting factors).
Narrowing down for entry-level, 100% remote-based work, the number of listings falls down to 546.
The biggest benefit of using a service like Flexjobs for most people is most likely the ease of access to LEGIT telecommuting or work at home job openings.
These are jobs where you are actually an employee for a company or an independent contractor. You have an hourly pay (or salary) arrangement.
In the work at home industry, these postings are flooded with total scams or shady listings, so access to a service like this could actually make your life a heck of a lot easier if you’re truly searching for this type of work.
They go through a lot of effort to vet the postings to make sure they’re 100% legit. You won’t find scams using a website like Flex Jobs!
A sample of current entry-level jobs listed…
There are a decent amount of job listings, and they update it extremely often.
Additional Features of Flexjobs
Job search resources
You’re also going to have access to some pretty helpful resources for your job search. These range from preparing you on how to use the Flexjobs site, building your resume, applying for jobs, and through the interview process.
Skills tests
You’ll also have access to over 170 skill tests that you can take to enhance your resume on Flexjobs. They’ll only post results on your resume if you score higher than 70%.
“Exclusive” member discounts???
This is the one perk I don’t find so great. They also advertise “exclusive discounts” for services like Grammarly, Lynda.com, and Quickbooks Self-Employed + Turbo Tax (plus a lot more).
The only thing is, these discounts are not exclusive to being a Flexjobs member. For example, they offer an “exclusive” discount for 50% off per month for Quickbooks Self Employed, but a Google search showed the discount was openly available for anyone to use with a coupon code.
For Lynda.com, they offered a 10-day free trial, but even going directly to Lynda’s website will show that they offer the 10-day free trial to everyone.
Now, you wouldn’t sign up for their service for these bonus offers anyway, but it should be pointed out these are not that great
How much does it cost?
You have the option to sign up for 1 month, 3 months, or 1 year. (They recently had a 1-week option available too, but I am not currently seeing it)
You can get your first month for less than $10 if you use the discount code SAVE30.
Signing up for an entire year subscription seems like the best deal, but unless you plan to be job searching for a year, you’ll be better off paying for a shorter term.
It’s super easy to cancel anytime
Fortunately, Flex Jobs makes it super easy to cancel. You can do so directly from your online account and don’t have to deal with calling a phone number or anything. No questions asked, simple.
Why bother paying for it?
- Keep updated listings of current work at home job openings
- Screen for scams/business opportunities
- Saves a lot of time because you don’t have to do all the work of finding these jobs
- Lists jobs that may not otherwise be listed as “telecommuting” positions
- Won’t sell your information (you won’t get spammed through your inbox or phone)
Keep in mind a lot of these jobs are hard to find or aren’t listed in a highly public space, so if you don’t know where to look or just want to save time, it may be worth it.
The Good vs Bad of Flexjobs.com
The Good
- You get easy access to up to date, legit job listings for flexible/at home work
- You don’t have to weed through scams or dead job postings
- Easy options to narrow down your search – can screen by level of flexibility to only view the home positions
- Saves time
- Can take the skills test in relevant areas for employers to see
- You can grab a one week deal for only a few bucks
- Cancelling is easy and can be done directly from your online profile – you don’t have to deal with calling a customer service line (that’s the WORST!!!)
- They offer a 30-day money-back guarantee
The Bad
- Most people don’t want to pay for a service to find a job
- It is only worth it to use the service for a month or two if you’re actively looking for flexible work, but it’s tempting to buy the year subscription since it’s such a discounted rate!
- If you’re looking for entry-level work, it’s more difficult to find here
Conclusion – Would I recommend Flexjobs?
Many think it’s silly to pay to find a job, but in the case of Flexjobs I would say it may be worth it for certain people. For those seriously trying to find an at home or flexible position, who don’t have a lot of extra time to try and weed through everything themselves, and who are experienced in a particular field may find it extremely helpful with their job search.
Even those looking for basic entry-level customer service positions may find some good leads.
But at the end of the day, it’s important to understand what you are paying for with your Flexjobs membership and decide if it’d be worth it for you. You are not paying for them to find you a job, you are paying for them to provide you with up to date job postings that are guaranteed to be legitimate.
Sign up here and get 30% off your first month with code SAVE30
Finding work is hard, and there’s no guarantee you’ll land a position by signing up. If you don’t have a degree or tons of experience, you are going to be hard-pressed to find anything that isn’t customer service.
Interested in learning how you can start earning passive income from home? Check out this entirely free starter training for $0 and no credit card.
If you have any experience using Flexjobs, share it in the comments section!
How can I receive the month for $7.50, I’m trying to find it unsuccessfully.
Quinn,
It seems the 50% offer is not currently valid. You can get 30% off with code saving30 and get 1 month for $9.95
Do the skills tests really prove anything to an employer? I took the skills tests in areas I am familiar with. I had a perfect score in the English/Grammar but some other ones like office skills and content writing had some rather difficult questions.
As an average person who just signed up for FlexJobs I would like to add one con. It is more useful to someone with a bachelor’s degree and higher or someone already in a professional field. The average person may find ways to make extra money but will probably not find a way to make a living from joining the site. I am a average person with over 9 years of customers service experience. I worked at a bakery cafe for 9 years and have an associate’s degree. I also have taken a few courses in accounting and have the MOS MS Word 2013 certification. I found my job options were very limited.
I appreciate this honest review. Seems like it may be worthwhile to at least give a month a try based off of your feedback.
I joined flex jobs for about two months. I finally gave up and requested my money back. It seems to me that flex jobs offer you the world but when you apply for a job you don’t stand a chance. I was really disappointed as I have been in the workforce for 25 years and have so many skills to offer but no one will give you a look in, even if you’ve updated your skills. What a shame.
I would never waste my money or time again on such a ludicrous scheme.
Thanks for sharing your experience with FlexJobs, Natalie. I think it may not be much different than trying to apply for any job, these days it’s pretty much a crap shoot. The service will search and find legitimate jobs for you, but actually getting hired by these companies may be a whole other story!
It was unclear, Wendy, from this exchange with Natalie whether she was suggesting that something about FlexJobs -and I am still considering signing up, so have not done all the research on it that I probably will- was to blame beyond the discouraging job market in her areas of expertise. Almost like there was a way for an application from someone who obtained info from FlexJobs would be put at the bottom of the pile. (That’s not quite what I mean but you get the idea.) Could you please comment on that possibility – it doesn’t seem logical that a prospective employer would know or care where the applicant saw the info, except for the purpose of using that avenue again to attract incumbents.
BIGGER QUESTION –
Step #1 is choose an interest and, as in Natalie’s case, I have high level of legal expertise specifically in an area where very large numbers of consumers need help -debt collection defense bc I practiced law solely in that area for the last decade. I’ve retired and cannot formally give legal advice but the educational information I can provide is priceless –most people across the country can successfully act as their own lawyer because it’s really not that complicated. I want to form a non-profit educational program w/a good website presence because SO MUCH of what is out there is incorrect and exploitive of people already being bullied by debt collectors who rarely have the legal right to collect in court. But it doesn’t stop them from trying and winning about 85% of the time simply because the defendants are confused, afraid and have no money for lawyer and so do not appear in court. Ok, all that to say – do you suggest any sources to consult or review before starting Step 1 bc my idea could be developed, presented, offered in so many different ways -as materials a person can download and read, as forms they can use if they defend themselves, sample law memorandums dealing with the most likely issues in each case… It could be used by a consumer. It could be tweaked a little bit to be a resource for new lawyers looking for help in this under-served area of law. It is a very amorphous idea right now and I’d like to find some source to help me clarify it into something flowing and cohesive, so I can get the most possible out of the 7 day free trial and go forward with joining WA.
Oh, and I need to come across as completely legit and credible w/my personal experience and expertise is based on a 10 yr litigation win/loss record of over 95% in these cases. I need to generate trust but by the same token must be ethically careful not to represent that they will win but only that they can trust the source to be far better educated in the area than other online sites. THX.
No there is nothing about Flexjobs that would discourage employers from hiring you – that isn’t how it works. It’s basically like a job board for work at home jobs. It can be extremely difficult to know where to look for jobs like this, or to know if they aren’t scams and Flexjobs does a good job of finding current job listings that are guaranteed to be real. They really just connect you to the job postings so the employer would have no idea you applied through Flexjobs.
As for your second question, I think that you have an excellent idea and certainly can develop it into a niche website to help these types of people. One suggestion is you could create a website with quality articles (as per the training at WA) to rank in search engines and gain traffic, and then create a high quality digital product (like an ebook, or multiple ebooks) that people could purchase and download to read and get more information. This way you would get paid for people downloading and reading your information. As for appearing credible, you can put your credentials into the sidebar or footer and in your about page so people know your background and experience in the field.
This was just what I came up with off the top of my head, so definitely let me know if you have any further questions or if I am not making sense!
I had heard of this company before but wasn’t sure about it, glad to see such a comprehensive review on it.. I think even signing up for a month or two may be worth it to find a part time job you can do from home..Another avenue for me to explore to make extra income.
This is an interesting article. I never heard of flexjobs. I want to thank you because that may be something I would use in the future. Anyway, your article was thorough and entertaining. I like how you said that you are not paying for a job but paying for them to find you up to date postings and there is some scam protection and etc. along wit it. Great Article!
WendyJane,
Thank you for letting us know that FlexJobs and MyFlexJobs are not 1 and the same and that FlexJobs is legit while MyFlexJobs isn’t.
1,000,000 users since 2007 seems like such a high number, It would be nice to know how many of those upgraded and how many are current members.
I agree with you that the FlexJobs seems like such a bargain for a year except that how many will still be looking for a job for a year.
Then again in today’s economy you never know ….
Thank you also for mentioning the different discounts that we can enjoy if we were to become upgraded members at FlexJobs.
Your review is very informative and gives us helpful information to decide if we would like to use their services or not.
Thank You Wendy Jane,
Tony
You blog review of Flex jobs is fantastic. I am so glad you highlighted the fact they are not MyFlexJobs which I know are a scam.
You covered all the questions I would ask and more. And you review appears to very honest without pushing another offer. I am thinking seriously of joining Flex Jobs. Thank You.
Cheers Kev
Interesting review you have here on flexjobs. I have personally never heard about it, so it was an eye opening post for me. It certainly is comforting to know that a website with legitimate job offers exists. It is quite difficult these days to distinguish the scams that seem to be everywhere. Thanks for giving us a thorough review of something trustworthy.
Hi Wendy, and thanks for introducing me to Flexjobs. I’d never coma cross this site before, and that is possibly due to the fact that it is primarily USA based. You have been absolutely candid in your review of the services offered by this site, especially when you mention that at the end of the day there are only some 3%full time home based jobs regularly advertised there. And that brings me to my next question, one which many others will have asked you, I’m sure. Why should the job seeker pay them a membership fee? Surely shouldn’t it be the prospective employer to pay them for advertise their vacancies? I have come across many more sites, either online based recruitment agencies or database formatted ones, where again it is not the job seeker to pay, but the employer. Do you know how Flexjobs is structured?
Thank you. Giulia
Thank you for the valuable information. Wendy you are truly a blessing with these articles you’ve shed light on me plenty of times and stopped me from joining some really cruddy companies. Me being a college student i follow your site very much. I look forward to each article you write. Because i know it’s going to be some good stuff.
Do they really not guarantee jobs?
Hi Wendy! I like how informative and straight forth your website is, You seem like you really gave an honest review. Great job with all the percentages and statistics on that page too, overall very helpful review. I was wondering if all the jobs on flexjobs are temporary or just some of them?
Hi Wendy, my time is valuable and not having to sort through the vast amount of flexible jobs listed online is worth a small fee. Flexjobs would do the work for me and save me time. I have not joined but I think flexjobs would be worth the money when looking for work.
Becky
Wendy,
Thank you for bringing clarity to FlexJobs and making it simple to understand in a nutshell.
I often thought about joining because it sounds like a positive experience but I didn’t want to pay for it!
After reading your review, I think it sounds like a legit company and I have decided to try it out for at least a month and see how it goes! I will try to report back my experience. Thanks!
Rachel
Wendy you’re my hero – I appreciate that you signedup to this so you can give an honest and full ‘insider take’.
Before reading this review I felt exactly the same about Flexjobs – why pay for something that doesn’t guarantee a job?
But you’ve convinced me – I think I’ll just go for the first month for now with the discount – hopefully this is a long enough time to get me started. Thanks for the heads up!
This is a great review of Flexjobs. I have been going back and forth, debating whether or not I should sign up. I really want something flexible, ideally working from home full time.
I really don’t want to start my own business, at least not right now. I am fine getting paid to work for someone else.
I do have a university degree (2 actually) but that is not the area I want to work in.
I think I might give a one month membership a try. Especially if I can get it for $7.50.
One thing I am wondering about before paying is do I need to be a US resident for these jobs? I live in Canada so I would need something that is applicable for Canadians.
Thanks