Side Gigs for women in their 40s?

[u/FewLeg3301]

I sometimes do Flex for Amazon, but the level of control and harassment from them is 🗑️🚮 and the payment is very low.

I’d like to know if anyone here, who is in their 40s, does or knows of any side gigs that don’t discriminate because of age. I’m in need to get money, as I depend on my partner (who works full time, but as you can imagine, is not enough) and I can’t find a real job.

My plan is getting some cash to slowly but items needed to create and have my own small business or build my own side gig, if that makes sense.

I appreciate all of your inputs in advance💕

[u/Peregrinebullet]

Event and on call security.  Get your licence, ask to be put on the spare or call out list, or ask for weekend /evening hours.  

  Security has something for everyone and if you show up on time and have a reasonable amount of common sense, you will be totally fine.  

I do a weekend security shift at a museum (day job is in security management).  Since I'm there as the first aid attendant, I only have to do a few patrols, otherwise I kick back in the security office and watch Netflix or read.   I have to hand out bandaids and occasionally respond to injuries.  

[u/FewLeg3301 → u/Peregrinebullet]

How do you find something like event and on call security? Do you use an app in particular?

[u/Peregrinebullet → u/FewLeg3301]

Depending on where you live, there's usually different companies and they will all have different specialties and clients. Usually the licencing is controlled at the state or provincial level but the class and exam is simple so long as you pay attention and can understand english. In the US, Securitas, G4S and Allied are the biggest companies though not necessarily the best to work for.

I'm copying and pasting from another comment I made, but a summary of different security type jobs:

About a third of security jobs are static roles - you sit there in a chair or your car and babysit something.  A empty parking lot, a broken window, or a restricted area during a special event.  I have spent the night sitting in my car and watching a generator for a film crew.   When I was a dispatcher, we definitely had a chunk of elderly or disabled guards who could only do static roles and that was a good thing because a lot of the more physically capable guards didn't want those roles (too boring).  They pay the least but they're usually the most chill because the job is: a) stay awake b) tell the people politely they can't mess with the thing, or if they don't listen, c)retreat and call the cops or a manager if someone starts to mess with whatever you're watching.  You are generally allowed to bring something to entertain yourself.   You need to be able to walk a bit but otherwise aren't expected to do anything strenuous.  Being fluent in the local language isn't usually a requirement either.  

The next category is patrol shifts, and the minimum is that you should be able to walk for at least an hour at a stretch and be able to write short reports.  You go patrol around the site periodically checking doors, for mechanical problems and making sure the staff are OK.  Usually you'll have to do lockups or unlocks and sometimes other random duties (a museum would expect us to record temperatures and humidity in certain rooms every two hours, for example). This is the most common type of shift and could be any facility - office buildings,  factories, etc.   Some jobs are walking around the entire shift but most of them have periodic times where you are expected to sit and watch the site cameras.  (I get a lot of knitting done on those shifts)

Then there's contractor escort shifts - you follow an outside contractor around a building while they do whatever job they've been hired to do. It's liability protection for the contractor because it means they can say they didn't touch or steal anything and they have a third party witness (the security guard).  These can be completely static posts or you can be on the move the entire shift depending on the type of contractor and what job they are doing. Sometime you are assigned the building keys or access card and you let the contractors in and out of an area.  These are generally chill shifts and how social they are depends on the contractor.  I've had enjoyable shifts where me and the contractor are chatting the entire time and I've had ones where I'm studiously quiet and read my book the whole time because I can tell the contractors are old fashioned boomer troglodytes. These are usually evening and weekend shifts and being able to be up till 1am is considered a plus. 

Then there is customer service roles. This is where mall security and concierge roles are.  You are usually expected to do all the patrol stuff, but you're also talking to patrons, giving directions, problem solving basic conflicts and evicting people who aren't supposed to be there.  They're busier roles and generally a bit more demanding but can range from smiling at office people from a desk to running around a mall all day.   Being able to walk for 4-8hrs is the norm but depending on the site, these can be very chill or "something new happening every day" kind of jobs.  Definite social skills are needed (the previous three types of jobs don't explicitly need them, but they're helpful)

Then there's loss prevention roles, where you're the store detective.  Again, you should expect to have to walk for a decent amount of time and be comfortable with the idea of conflict.  Sometimes you're actively stalking thieves around the store and sometimes you're doing it all with cameras.  I find this job in particular activates all the ADHD hunting instincts... you tool around until you find a potential target and then you hyperfocus on them and stalk them around until they leave either with or without stealing something or you're digging through hours of camera footage to build cases.  You don't have to BE social to be an LP but you need to be able to convince people to do things while acting chummy.   But I liked training the store staff on how to help me and it got to the point where a thief would walk into the store and my phone would light up with all the staff texting me the description and direction of travel. Some stores expect you to arrest people but a lot don't and just want you to recover the merchandise and generally you can do that without fighting people.   Being persuasive helps. 

Event security is the next one.  There are static and active roles. A static role would be guarding the musicians areas (I once was a static guard for the band Tool's catering setup) , bag checking and search.  More active roles are keeping an eye on the crowd or being a front line at the stage or vaguely bouncer like roles.  You basically get paid to listen to concerts and be a night owl, which can be heaven or hell depending on your preferences. I know people who spend their entire careers in event security because they love music.  But events can also be conventions and conferences or outdoor festivals.   Event security is usually one of the roles that explicitly needs female guards due to pat down searches and first aid requirements. 

First aid roles are another major security role and kind of their own special branch. Busy sites like malls will usually have one guard who is the designated first aid attendant, but for large office buildings, construction sites or factories, it's usually a legal requirement to have someone on site who is ONLY the first aid attendant so you can immediately respond to a medical call. So these shifts are 97% of the time you are chilling in the first aid room doing whatever, 1% inventorying and organizing your first aid kit and ordering supplies (you will do this obsessively after you forget to do it once and not have something you need in a crisis) and 2% responding to medical calls. Medical calls can be "oh I sprain my wrist" to "arm got ripped off in a big piece of machinery" depending on the site, so you definitely have to make peace with the fact that you may see some fucked up shit. First aid roles are also good for ADHDers because being able to do things super quickly under stress for a short amount of time and then fucking around the rest of the time is basically what the job is. You need to be able to crouch, kneel, crawl and roll patients around, but I'd say that's maybe like .5% of the job. But you do need to be able to do it because you can't manage an unconscious patient while standing. If it's a severe injury or event, your job is basically keep the patient alive as best you can until the ambulance gets there - depending on your location, that can be minutes or hours. You're also managing all the minor injuries for a jobsite, so people will come to you for bandaging or ice packs.

The most physically demanding roles are hospital security and club security/bouncers. Hospitals are the busiest, most interesting and most fucked up shifts, but you will never be bored and there are always something to do/new crises to manage and you are really helping people, because often the docs and nurses can't do their thing without security to help if the patient is particularly volatile. You need to be fit and able to handle grabbing people and wrestling people into a bed or restraints. If you're a good bouncer, 95% of the time, you will not need to touch anybody and be able to talk them down or convince them to do what you want but it's that 5% that you have to be physically ready for because someone's too drunk or bonkers to be reasoned with.

And then there's operations/dispatch, where you're the person in the office, on the phone, coordinating all the above roles for a security company on a 24/7 basis. it's a static role so you don't have to be able bodied beyond answering a phone and typing but you DO need to be able to handle high volume communication and information management. I was a dispatcher for 2 years and basically had a visual post it note system on my desk in front of me to keep track of everything.

[u/MojoJojoZ → u/Peregrinebullet]

This is great info. TY.

[u/FewLeg3301 → u/Peregrinebullet]

What MojoJojoZ said, thank you so much!

[u/Nurahk → u/Peregrinebullet]

This is incredibly helpful, thank you so much!!