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Having a job is one thing, but having a job and having fun is something that we all dream of. It’s surely one of the building blocks to a happy life: getting up in the morning and looking forward to going to work.

The pandemic has changed a lot of things across the world, and the way we work is one of them. The crisis has reinforced the fact that life is too short for us to have a job we hate, so many people are looking for a labour of love instead. After all, what’s better than getting paid to enjoy yourself?

Here are 5 interesting careers that are hot right now.

Event planner

If you’re a person that hates a dull moment, then event planning is for you. Event planners manage every aspect of a public occasion, from booking venues through picking the best lighting right down to personally testing the food and drinks.

The relaxing of Covid restrictions in many parts of the world has led to a huge demand for all types of events. Weddings, corporate dinners, and business conferences are three types of occasions that are enjoying a resurgence, and businesses are busy recruiting people who thrive in high-pressure, stimulating environments. 

Experience or qualifications in a related area is a big plus, especially for the high-paying roles, but even basic job packages in event planning are likely to come with a competitive salary.

iGaming customer service agent

One trend that has been fuelled by the stay-at-home lifestyle brought on by the pandemic is iGaming. The boom in online casino play is one of the stories of the last few years as experts predict global revenue to soar to $100 billion by 2025. 

As the number of gambling sites rise, so do job opportunities. With so much competition, it’s in a casino’s best interests to follow strict licensing requirements and deliver impeccable customer service. Failure to do so might mean a black mark to their reputation that they struggle to recover from. 

For this reason, many sites are employing specialized customer service agents who handle customer issues, from casino bonus errors to browser problems. The sector is especially prominent in South Africa, where many big companies are on the lookout for customer service specialists.

Getting clued up on the subject to help your chances of landing an iGaming job is straightforward, too. Casino Guru is a leading online resource that offers free training via its academy, for budding iGaming customer service specialists. Upon graduating, students will have a fundamental base knowledge that will help them enter one of the hottest industries around at the moment.

Data detective

We live in a world driven by data. According to Statista, the world will produce 74 zettabytes (ZB) of it in 2021 – that’s 74 trillion gigabytes, to be clear. For comparison, we only produced 41 ZB just two years ago. 

So, how are we going to manage it all? Well, the explosion in data has led to several offshoot industries, one of which is data analysis which requires sophisticated methods to ensure that we use data in the right way. 

A data detective, then, is someone trained to find the interesting bits of data, something that gives us a new insight – a bit like looking for specks of gold in a river of information.

The ideal detective will be someone who loves numbers, naturally, and is great at spotting patterns and trends. They also need to be open-minded, and to be able to embrace new ideas in a constantly changing environment. It’s a different type of detective that we’re used to reading about in crime novels, but an interesting one all the same.

Voiceover Artist

Have a thing for acting but not so keen on performing in front of a live audience? The answer to your dilemma might be closer than you think.

A voiceover artist combines the freedom of taking on new roles and bringing characters to life with the privacy of working in a closed studio. Many voice actors do the work from the comfort of their own homes, very much in keeping with the modern teleworking trend.

Like with normal acting roles, you must audition to land a gig, but once you do then the money’s good. Also, if you’re a hit in your first few performances, then your pay is likely to rocket.

The work is diverse, too: audiobook narration, voiceovers for commercials and cartoons are just three possibilities when it comes to voice acting.

Professional video gamer

In a similar vein to iGaming, video games are also more popular than ever before with an eye-popping variety of titles and genres hitting your favourite consoles. Pro video gamers come in two forms: the testers and the players. 

In testing, developers need the thoughts of gaming experts so that they can finetune any glitches before general release. If you’re an avid gamer, this is where you come in. Your knowledge helps them put out the best possible version of their game and keep their reputation high.

For pro playing, consider this. Esports is a booming industry where gaming experts pit their wits against each other in leading games such as Fortnite and Fifa. While only the crème de la crème earn millions, it can also earn a nice pay packet for winners of smaller tournaments, meaning you can put those thousands of hours of playing time to good use.