10 GOOD JOBS IN GHANA THAT DO NOT REQUIRE A DEGREE

Unfortunately, having a university degree doesn’t guarantee a good job in today’s society and you certainly do not need to spend four years in college to have a good job. Having a degree can help you advance your career, so you may have to consider getting a degree, traditionally or via distance learning programs.

The good news is, several job opportunities still provide a good income, a positive work-life balance, and a high level of satisfaction that do not require you to attend college for four years. Even if you have a degree and you are gainfully employed, some of the jobs mentioned in this article can be a side hustle or earn extra income for you. I encourage you to take your time and read the entire article to find a job that best suits you.

10. ELECTRICIAN

You do not need a college degree to become an electrical repairer or electrician. They gain their skills from technical schools or apprenticeships. You can obtain a diploma or HND at any technical university after your apprenticeship. Pursuing an apprenticeship first is best because it will help you acquire the practical skills you need before you obtain a diploma, HND, or degree to further your career.

Electricians are responsible for wiring and fixing faulty electronics in both residential and commercial properties. They can also carry out routine field maintenance and repair of electric equipment, wiring, and circuits in electric plants and installations.

Electricians can work with ECG or other private companies in Ghana and the good news is, job vacancies are readily available for electricians. Only a relatively few electrical repairers hold a bachelor’s degree, maybe B.Eng. in Electrical/Electronics.

9. REAL ESTATE AGENT

A real estate agent or broker is an expert who assists prospective clients in purchasing or selling a house or a commercial property. In a highly regulated market, they are sometimes licensed to practice. A college degree is not a requirement to become a real estate agent.

Depending on the real estate agent’s specialty, their focus can either be on residential or commercial property. A real estate agent can either work as a listing agent, help prospective customers sell their property, or as a buyer’s agent, to help the client buy a home. Real estate agents’ charges are on a commission basis – a percentage of the selling or purchasing price, usually 10% after the deal is closed.

You can start small by becoming familiar with houses or rooms for rent or for sale in your neighborhood and connecting buyers to sellers or vice versa. You can become a good agent and gain more property listings by giving valuable information to guide clients on the price or cost of a property based on the market value of the location of their property, current market conditions, and any other useful tip that may be useful to support their buying or selling decision.

8. MAKEUP ARTIST

A makeup artist is someone skilled at putting makeup on people, especially someone who does this as their job. Their work involves applying makeup and prosthetics on others for theatre, television, film, fashion, magazines, and other similar productions including all aspects of the modeling industry.

Being a makeup artist is a great job if you want a lot of free time for your social life. Bigger production companieshave in-house makeup artists on their payroll although most makeup artists generally are freelance and their time remains flexible depending on the project.

Many cosmetology schools in Ghana can equip you with the skills you need to be a successful makeup artist. Attending these schools will only take a few months after which you can start working almost immediately. You do not need a degree only certification from the beauty school you attend.

You can work as a makeup artiste, applying makeup used in magazine photography, fashion runway, theatre, or a special effect makeup artiste. You can also open your makeup shop and there is also a high demand for makeup artists for occasions such as weddings, and parties in Ghana. In Ghana, professional makeup artists are also in demand mostly in the entertainment industry.

7. SOCIAL MEDIA ANALYST

A social media analyst has a deep understanding of how different social networks operate and is familiar with Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for online content. Companies use social media to expand their audience and also to gain a vast knowledge of the demographic that has an interest in their services. As a result, social media is an important aspect of any company’s marketing strategy.

As a social media analyst, you have to research the way customers interact with the company’s social media platforms, write articles reporting the statistics showing the metrics of how users interact with the company’s social media platforms, and create new marketing strategies for the company. As new social media platforms emerge, you must expand your knowledge of these new platforms and help companies use these platforms.

Social media analysts can work from home as long as they have access to the internet. Social media analysts may work for big data companies, government agencies, and news outlets. Celebrity influencers may hire an analyst to help improve their social media strategy and engage with their audience more. 

Social media analysts usually have a background in marketing and do not require a degree to improve and build a company’s online presence and brand awareness. Put simply, as a social media analyst, you will be creating and maintaining a company’s presence on social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram amongst others. So, if you have the knowledge and experience with social media, then this might be the job for you.

6. SALES REPRESENTATIVE

A sales representative, quite simply, sells products or services for a company and represents their brand. It’s a career that’s largely performance-driven, meaning how well you sell directly impacts how much money you earn.

There are many companies in Ghana actively looking for sales representatives to sell their products typically by marketing the products from door to door for a commission. As a sales representative, your role will be to sell products or services to customers, reach out to potential customers by email, phone, text, or social media and prepare sales contracts and maintain sales records. 

Sales representatives have thorough knowledge about a company’s products or services so they can make targeted pitches to consumers. They can work in a variety of industries, such as technology, food and beverage, retail, finance, or health care.

Often, sales representatives work toward specific sales goals known as quotas. They must make sales of a specific quantity to meet their quotas which may be weekly, monthly, quarterly, or annual.

Most sales representative positions may not require employees to have a formal degree, and a basic high school education is enough to get hired.

5. GRAPHIC DESIGNER

A graphic designer is responsible for creating graphics including illustrations, logos, layouts, and photos. They also shape the visual aspect of websites, books, magazines, product packaging, and more.

The designs you create should be able to capture the attention of those who see them and communicate the message right away. As such, you need to be creative and should be able to communicate well. To become a graphic designer, you need to learn the principles of graphic design and learn how to apply design theory using lines, colour, shapes, space, texture, typography, scale, dominance and emphasis, and harmony.

 The second thing you need to do to become a graphic designer is to enrol in a graphic design course after which you need to learn key graphic design tools. Some of the most common graphic design software you can learn are Adobe Creative Cloud, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, and InDesign, as the majority of design work can be created through these tools.

Finally, you need to practice. After you’re equipped with knowledge of graphic design principles and tools, you need to work on your design projects. To practice, you can take a company’s existing designs and try creating a new design — this is good practice for identifying and designing for target audiences. As a graphic designer, you can work as an art director, animator, logo designer, web designer, flash designer, or illustrator and they earn a very good salary.

4. DRIVER

You do not need a degree to become a professional driver in Ghana. Driving might be a better job than many people think. You can make a decent income from driving for a company or using a driving app such as Uber, Yango, or Bolt.

If you own a car or can secure one from companies that offer conditions where you work as a driver and pay a monthly instalment after which the vehicle becomes yours, then you need to consider driving as your main career or as a side hustle.

Driving is a very good option if you want to be your own boss. This is because you can drive with the driving app day or night as such you can fit driving around your life and not the other way around. Additionally, the more you drive, the more money you make, and when demand is higher than normal, especially during weekends and holidays, you can make even more money.

You can register as a driver with Uber, Yango, or Bolt by applying online with these documents: a valid driving license, a valid vehicle insurance sticker (comprehensive is recommended, however, 3rd party is accepted), Roadworthiness Sticker, and a driver profile photo. You also need to make sure your vehicle is in excellent working and physical condition, you are at least 25 years old, and own a smartphone that supports GPS.

3. FREELANCE WRITER

Freelance writers are self-employed contractors who write content for various publications and channels, such as websites, local newspapers, blog posts, magazines, individuals, proposals, or newsletters. You do not need a university degree to be a freelance writer however you need to be good with words and have good grammar which is quite easy in recent times with free tools like Grammarly.

Freelance writing is also very flexible because you can produce whatever written text your clients need from the comfort of your home. Typically, writers may need to meet a specific quota such as producing several articles within a specific period to be paid.

The responsibility of a freelance writer is to search, build, investigate, and come up with good content. However, they usually have to be business-minded, driven, and competitive because these qualities help them find work regularly. Freelance writers cover a lot of topics, subjects, and specializations; from fashion to IT, human interest, education, health, politics, entertainment, religion, sports, and crime.

For writers, experience is often more important than degrees. However, having a background in literature is important as well as taking relevant courses and training. A good portfolio showing all your written work can also help you market your skills and land you more job offers.

2. WEBSITE DESIGNER/DEVELOPER

Web developers create websites and ensure they perform reliably and efficiently. As a web developer, you could work for a company or agency, or as a freelancer taking building websites for individual clients.

As a web developer, on a day-to-day basis, you may have to design user interfaces and navigation menus, write and review code for sites, typically HTML, XML, or JavaScript, integrate multimedia content onto a site, test web applications, and troubleshoot problems with performance or user experience.

Although some web developers have a bachelor’s degree in computer science, you don’t necessarily need formal education to work as a web developer, some teach themselves how to code and design websites from online courses.  You can take a course to learn programming languages like HTML, JavaScript, or CSS, and then put what you learn into practice on your website.

Good knowledge of graphic design and computer programming is needed and these can be acquired through a variety of courses that are readily available online. Building a strong portfolio can go a long way toward validating your skills to potential employers.

You can also get certifications that can validate your skills from Adobe Certified Expert (ACE), Microsoft Certified Solutions Associate (MCSD), Amazon Web Services (AWS) Certified Developer, or Zend Certified PHP Engineer.

1. PHOTOGRAPHER

To become a photographer, you can buy a camera and some equipment, learn photography from a multitude of free online photography courses, practice your photography skills, and find a niche that you can focus on. It’s that easy, no degree is needed.

Photography is a very competitive field that requires you to have talent, passion, skills, marketing skills, and discipline to become a professional photographer. Professional photography is one of the very few fields where a degree is not a prerequisite. You can teach yourself and improve your skills without formal education.

You can gain a certificate in Photography from several schools that teach photography in Ghana where these programs will cover the fundamentals of photography, the principles of digital photography, how to use photography software, and image manipulation techniques.

If you are currently working, you can take free or paid online photography courses that will give you an understanding of the basics. You can learn the basics of composition, aperture, shutter speed, depth, white balance, and additional skills in lighting, posing, equipment, and how to edit images using photo editors.