There is a popular myth many people in Morocco (and everywhere) still believe: “You cannot work and earn money while you are a student.” And the source of it, is another popular myth: “You cannot work unless you have an academic degree. Students have no degrees yet, which means no skills, and therefore they cannot work.” I guess you can detect a third myth, which is “degrees = skills.” All of those myths show the absence of an updated and appropriate career education in Morocco.
The rest who believe students can work, while pursuing their education, tend to think the only available options are call centers and shops. While the above examples are good, I believe that working from home is one of the best options for students.
Remote work allows you to manage your schedule better than any other type of work, making it less likely to negatively affect your studies or any other area of your life.
I am not saying it is easy to start. No, you need to put a lot of time and effort at first to land a suitable remote job as a Moroccan student.
My journey of online work started while being a university student. During this journey, I learned there are ways to earn money by doing what you already know or what you love and enjoy doing. There are also jobs that require you to learn new skills, but it’s always better to start with what you already know.
Today, I am going to show you an opportunity for remote work that can be a great start for many students, specifically those who love reading and are fluent in English.
To start working, all you need is:
- English: you must be good at English. (In fact, most remote jobs require English fluency.)
- Writing: you must be able to write articles (of 400 words at least) that are engaging and grammatically correct.
- Love for reading: reading must be one of your hobbies.
- And of course, you need a computer (or maybe just a smartphone) with an internet connection.
Sounds great, right?
What is it?
OnlineBookCLub.org is a platform that pays you to write book reviews. How does this work? Your task is to choose a book, read it, and then write an honest review about it.
The books are in English (there are some Spanish books if you are fluent in Spanish), and the review you write must also be in English. Also, it should be at least 400 words.
There is no specific schedule; you can work anytime and anywhere. However, there are some rules you need to take into consideration:
- You have an “update” section where you need to inform them whenever you download a book or finish reading it. (Check their guidelines to understand this well)
- Payment for each review is between 5$-60$
As a beginner, you will usually start at 5$. But as you increase your reviewer score and your performance, you will get paid 10$, and then 15$… until you reach the level of 60$ per review.
At this level, you will be able to earn up to 200$-300$ per month, which is a decent income for a student (by Moroccan standards). It takes some time and effort to get to this level, but you can do it!
They pay through PayPal. So, you need to have your PayPal account, which is not hard to create. And then you need to link your bank account to PayPal in order to receive your money.
How to apply?
Apply using this link: https://onlinebookclub.org/free-books-for-reviews.php
And then, just follow their instructions: confirm your email, complete your profile, choose your first book… etc.
The process is quite easy; you don’t need any resume or cover letter. You just need to register, and they will accept or reject you based on the book review you will provide.
Advices to kick-start your journey
- Use Grammarly to check your writing and grammar. Remember that an experienced Editor will check your review. They must not find major typos or grammar mistakes in your writing.
- Read the guidelines very well, before even picking your first book. It is crucial to accept every rule in their instructions.
- Please take a look at their published book reviews; this will give you an idea about the required writing style. Here is a random example.
- Read all the published reviews about the same book you chose; this can help you get an idea of exactly what you should write.
- You are supposed to read the whole book in 2 weeks, but you can still review the book without reading all of it. You can read some parts of it and then read all the reviews about it (Google will help you with this) and then write your own review with your own opinions and expressions (Please, avoid plagiarism). I know some people submitted 2 or 3 book reviews in one week, which helped them earn more.
- Comment on other people’s reviews and topics; this helps you increase your reviewer score.
As they mentioned in their application page, this is not a way to get rich quick. But it is a great start where you can use your language fluency to work and earn money as a Moroccan student.
Good luck everyone!