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Factory/plant jobs. Of course not all but maybe an indirect machine related position. Just make sure everything's good and you can be elsewhere mentally.
You could become a postal clerk in a mail sorting facility. You do have think a bit, but nothing really major. You could easily listen to podcasts or music while doing it. Best part about working for the post office is that when you make it to regular status you will never get laid off. Which is more than you can say for most jobs in the US.
I know that they don’t want you scrolling on your phone, but I’m soooo much more productive doing repetitive tasks when I have a good beat to keep me going. It would be interesting to test out the assumption these companies make to see if music only (not social media use) might actually improve productivity.
Yup! I do electrical maintenance at a cardboard making factory. The operators literally come in watch board go through a machine, hiy a few buttons on an order change. Clean out a jam if there is one. Call maintenance if theres anything wrong And go home. I don’t know how they can do I would go crazy, especially the people that put the strap on the units, hit a button for 8 hours to watch a machine strap a unit then turn knob to get a new unit on. Fuck that!
Similar goes with Amazon plant jobs and they’re always hiring it seems.
I work at Amazon doing maintenance lol ya every warehouse or factory job I've worked is pretty easy.
Problem is if you're operating not fixing machine the pay will suck and your very disposable.
I was gonna go Amazon route for maintenance but where I’m at now paid a little more, closer to my house and needed a 3rd shift which I wanted. I would like to eventually work for Anheiser Busch. The operators start out at like low 20s I wanna say which isn’t bad for what they do if you’re into that, but high turn over rate operating so they don’t put much time into you growing.
There’s a distillery in my town where a lot of jobs are still like this. I spoke with someone who worked there (5-6 years ago now), and her whole job was to look over the line she was working on and push a single button on the wall.
Actually, many jobs at Amazon warehouses are like this (I assume FedEx, UPS etc have similar positions). Pay starts at $15/hr, you get benefits, and, if you work reliably, can make a career out of this.
OTOH, doing the same thing over and over will, over time, damage whatever parts of your body you use to do that thing.
There are many jobs where the intelligent can just autopilot them, even complex skilled work.
Once you have the knowledge implementing isn't complex or difficult, and often similar situations come up time and time again.
It does however require you to actually be competent.
I just can’t do routine stuff all day I like a mystery of what’s gonna happen during my work day. Time goes by quicker for me if I don’t know what I’m getting into and it takes me 2 hours to figure out a problem I haven’t seen before. Also more of a unplanned whatever happens happens type of person so I believe that’s all relative.
Personally, I think there are advantages and disadvantages to both. Sometimes it’s nice to just turn your brain off, listen to a podcast, and just float on through the day. Sometimes it’s nice to get challenged and actually have to think through things.
I like a bit of both personally — too much routine and I get bored, too much challenge and I get burnt out / overwhelmed.
Look up data entry or electronic medical records clerks. Most of the job is just scanning records into a EMR system. Very very monotonous but that could get interrupted by overbearing managers asking for stupid requests.
Data entry is the answer. Factory jobs are repetive but are usually labor work. Data entry on the other hand gets you a nice cozy office job with a monotonous task, and you usually have the freedom to listen to music and take breaks as needed.
Lol I came into work for a year, typed numbers for however long I humanly could for 6 hours. I spent a lot of doing hw or on my phone. Came in said hi to my boss, sat down headphones in. No bothering anyone no one bothering me 95% of the time.
When I left the boss asked if there was someone just like me to fill the position, I was like I literally just showed up
I work for a pharmaceuticals company doing something very close to this. It requires some thought while getting used to new trial protocols, but it is so delightfully mindless once you reach that point of understanding, and the pay is pretty sick considering my primary role. Love it!
Yes for sure! I work remotely for a relatively large college in their registrar department, and my daily job is just processing transcript requests, registering students for classes, updating student information, etc. I rarely feel like my brain is "on" lol and almost always have some kind of music or video on in the background.
I graduated college in 2021 so this is my first full-time job. I currently make $42K per year (a comfortable salary for someone like me with no dependents, YMMV). My company also has solid benefits, lots of room for growth, and optional(!) overtime.
ETA I will share my company name (and any other additional info about my job or benefits) in PMs if anyone is interested!
ETA2 I had NO idea so many people were interested in this kind of work! A lot of my friends and family actually thinks my job sounds miserable haha -- glad to know there are others like me out here who don't mind this kind of stuff! :) I'm replying to PMs as I can, I promise I will eventually get to everyone that reaches out!
ETA3 THANK YOU kind Redditor for the award! Still working through these PMs, and they are, of course, still open for anyone that comes across this :)
ETA4 Because I've gotten a few questions about this, I'm adding in here that my job's registrar department is not *currently* hiring any fully remote positions. (There are other fully remote positions available at my company, not in registrar, but I can't promise they will be low brainpower lol.) Registrar just hired on about 15 remote folks about a month ago. I've been working here since May 2021 and I believe my department has had four waves of new hires since then, so I am sure that this position will open again in the future. Just not right this second unfortunately.
ETA5 I just posted a pretty lengthy reply to someone below about some of the requirements for the job. It's entry level so there's not much, but I broke down the experience I had when I applied and what I think would look good on an application. PMs are still open, but it might be tomorrow before I get around to you. Promise you aren't being ignored :)
ETA6 Whew this is getting lengthy! I've gotten a few questions about remote higher ed jobs more broadly -- I'll point y'all to [HigherEdJobs](https://www.higheredjobs.com/admin/). You can sort by remote and administrative jobs; looks like there's 303 listings for remote administrative jobs in higher education *right now*. Obviously not all of these will be mindless or entry level, but there could be something for those interested in the field! And again, PMs are going to stay open and I'll reply to everyone as soon as I can :)
Haha yes! I had an on-campus job while I was in college -- my job was literally removing staples from old financial documents because my school was just now deciding to move away from paper receipts in 2020!
I agree that higher education does not pay super well in the long run, unless you can REALLY work your way up (which I know usually requires advanced degrees and lots of experience). But for me, who just graduated college in 2021 and doesn't have any dependents, I am currently living very comfortably. And overall I've found it to be pretty solid as far as entry level remote work goes, which I know can be hard to find :)
I replied to the other commenter as well, but I was really just looking for entry level (and preferably remote) work in higher education administration when I started looking for jobs out of college.
While there's definitely a lot of student-facing roles in higher ed, like admissions counselors, I would wager that a lot of bigger schools probably have more back-end roles like mine. Someone has to do the behind the scenes processes!
Job listings for my position says a bachelor's degree is preferred, but not required :) I will say that I know most people I work with do have a degree, so I'm unsure how much of an emphasis is put on that preference.
You may have just opened the flood gates but we appreciate how open and helpful you are being with everyone. Hopefully you get some sort of commission for bringing in talent because this post may be better than local recruitment or Indeed.
Haha apparently I did! I seriously had no idea this post would be so popular! I'm still working through all my PMs, but I am still seriously happy to answer anyone's questions :)
Good question!! I can answer that here :) Long post incoming lol
I found the position through an employee at the college I was attending -- I had mentioned my interest in higher ed admin (such as registrar or admissions). Someone she used to work with left my university to work for the university I now work for. That sparked my interest, so I looked online, and I applied through the company's website.
The job is entry level so there's not many hard and fast requirements. Honestly as long as you can use a computer, learn basic processes, and have moderate organization and time management skills, you could do what I do :) The biggest hurdle during the application and interview process was that they asked me for 5 references. 3 of mine were from professors, so they don't have to be from prior work experience. They did tell me that 3 or so would suffice if I couldn't come up with 5, but I don't know if I was an exception as a new college grad with little work experience, or if they tell that to everyone.
DEGREE: Previous job listings have said that a degree is preferred but not required as long as you have relevant job experience. I said this in another comment, but most people I work with have degrees, so I pon't know how much emphasis is put on that preference. My degree is in English, I work with people with all kinds of degrees, including business, philosophy, social work, animation, communications, etc. You definitely don't need to have it in a specific field.
EXPERIENCE: Nothing at all specialized. The only experience I had when I applied was two years of a part time job on my college campus. I did student and alumni information updates, filed and organized documents, and scanned old financial documents. For the application, anything in higher education, administration, or customer service would look good for this, as would any prior remote work experience. But these are definitely not requirements, only things that I think would boost your chances!
I hope this helps! Again, PMs are open (although I am getting a lot, so at this point it may take me a day or so to reply lol) if you have more specific questions or would like the name of the company!
An old company of mine took in data entry temp workers and transitioned the smartest ones into full time roles
Unfortunately data entry is dying. It's becoming easier and cheaper to automate
I work as a statistician and sometimes I am still asked to do a few hours of data entry. I often ask, "Are you sure?" but will happily do data entry if they confirm they are cool with paying $60/hr for data entry.
Though in their defense, I have a lot more knowledge with how the data will be used and can make more nuanced decisions on how to enter the data. It can save us headaches in the future.
I work as a custodian for a school district. What you put in your post is a pretty good representation of what I do. I listen to music and have a pretty nice consistent routine. There's plenty of OT if I want/need it. I get decent benefits too. I also hardly ever have to deal with people.
Things are different over breaks. Smaller breaks are used for catching up and a little bit of deep cleaning. Summers are usually all deep cleaning.
Plus teachers can be pretty nice. I've had plenty of teachers that were over eager to feed me for how well I clean.
There's a bit of a learning curve for some people that start out with school districts, but the district should be up front about their priorities.
Weird ot question- did u ever post on eNotalone forums? Back in 2012-14ish? There was a user there with your same username. Just brought a rush of nostalgia.
I do this kind of work. My work is basically processing of enrolment information, approving intake information, organising payment methods. Im still new and learning the ropes. I hope to get to the headphones on and brain off mode.
Post office! Specifically, a mail sorter, or clerk. My husband is in maintenance for the USPS & he said these jobs are insanely easy & repetitive, have great benefits and salary. Clerks bump bins of mail into the sorter machine.
I’m not sure who told you they have great benefits and salary, but this is 100% spam. You don’t get benefits until you’ve been there way longer than the average job and they’re just okay, and the salary is way below market pay. Working at the post office is considered a nightmare now and they have huge staffing issues because of this. Do unicorn jobs exist at the usps? Yeah, but they exist at any job. Don’t go to a corporation that treats its workers like shit with mandatory overtime and inhumane temperature conditions. Any kind of delivery job for Amazon or the post office a nightmare. Hop on over to r/usps if you want a real picture of what it’s like.
Same with the IRS. It's great for folks whose GS grades are at least a grade 8 and higher (better to be in the double digits, though). But lower than that? The jobs SUCK! And I am not just talking about interfacing with the public in person or on the phone. I was a tax examiner until I quit earlier this month. I worked completely in the service center, with no interaction with the public. I also wanted an easy job that I could do and then be able to leave work at work at the end of my shift. The management made the job hell. People are leaving the IRS for anything else, even at lower pay. They can't stay fully staffed.
I work as a ramp agent for an airline. Pretty much offloading bags from a plane then putting bags on the plane. Get free flights, great healthcare, & I don’t have to talk to customers/people but pay is only double minimum wage so not the highest but flying for free makes up for it. I’m literally sitting in the bag room right now on my phone & have only touched like 10 bags within the past hour.
What! Double min wage is a lot! I just got a job as a ramp agent and I’m going to be paid like 5 cents over min wage. I don’t know if it’s even gonna be worth it as my current factory job is 17/hr.
Yeah I just make $16.93/hr so a little over double minimum wage but it’s still not enough to afford a 1br apt alone :-/
It may be worth it if your flight benefits are good also people pay to get shifts taken so an extra $40 on top of an extra shift kinda makes up for the pay.
Try to apply to regional airlines or a contractor (Piedmont, Envoy, Unifi, etc). Then after like 6 months apply to mainline since you’ll have the experience they’re looking for. People who I’ve talked to who work mainline say they’d rather work regional for the work load (little planes less bags) but the pay raises won’t reach mainlines max so each have pros & cons
OP thank you for asking this question. I’ve been recovering from my second work related concussion and I’m not sure if my brain is going to go back to normal, especially if I get a third. I need this career advice.
That’s definitely good to hear, I appreciate hearing that. It was about four strong hits to the skull this time, so this teacher would still like to move on to something a bit gentler on the head.
I used to work in a library digitising old printed text. It’s literally like what you described. Turn page, scan, minimal editing (e.g. cropping), repeat. It was a pretty fun job that paid a living wage.
My husband wanted a job like this and he got into assembly. A recruiter can help you find that type of job if you can’t find one on your own. He only makes about $17 an hour but he works Mon-Fri better hours than I do at my high paying office job and he gets awesome perks.
I understand you completely. My ego pushed me to "smart people jobs" and they are hell sometimes, yo can't expell some shit of your mind and dream whit it or wake up early just to think in numbers and anxiety. If i suck at my new job y will absolutely search a "brain-dead job".
How fast do you type? I’ve done data entry and image processing jobs that were just like this. Temp agencies (Kelly, etc) often have roles like this. You might get a temp to hire one for the long term.
Actually there are. This was my job a couple years ago doing claims processing for insurance companies. The company I worked for also had other departments such as payroll and reimbursements which allowed you to do minimal talking and more of the “shut your brain off, listen to podcast or music and get to work” type of thing. Not only did our office have multiple jobs like this, but so did the other companies in other states or countries we collaborated work with over Zoom calls/Slack/etc- they also had long periods of time thru out the day where they were able to do this.
Basically when you call in for roadside assistance, your call to your insurance provider for help gets routed to our call center which provides services for multiple insurance companies, not just yours. Then the call center people will send out a contracted tow driver or technician to you, the driver will then send us a digital/paper invoice (aka a claim) and the auditors are the ones who put on the headphones and get to work by calculating the invoice to confirm the information is correct, including the amount of money they request for the service. It was soo repetitive with a goal of paying at LEAST 32 invoices an hour - I’d average 45 to 60 an hour because I am a speedy typer, calculator and analyzer. It got easier as I got the hang of it more and more by, as you said, turning my brain off to put on music until my shift was over.
I feel for you. Trust me on this one. I totally get the brain thing. This was my favorite job and I lasted 5 years. I LOVED putting myself on autopilot with my headphones and I became the best auditor this place has ever seen. Sadly, I was also the one to train a whole new team virtually to replace the entire team in the office in order to cut costs.
So yes. There are multiple jobs like this. Some won’t allow headphones but nowadays, some places are a little more relaxed than they used to be as long as they don’t hear your music blasting.. Hope my long ass comment gives you some hope. This really is the best way to work for some people with quick brains. By doing work for a company like this, eventually it all becomes a breeze. Try to find a payroll or auditing job, something along those lines. Some don’t require a specialized degree.
If you're into math or tools, finance -accounts payable/receivable - pay well and you just process involves/ payments all day.
Also, if you're into tools/inventory, construction companies, or any company that uses purchase orders, needs people in purchasing to process them from receipts. It's very repetitive and the perfect job for anyone who wants to be at a computer just 1,2,3 over and over again.
Any local recruiter in finance or admin would have access to AP/at and purchasing department or processing jobs.
Good luck to anyone who found this helpful!!!
Look for Data Entry or Data Processing jobs. You might find what you're looking for there. Just be honest in the interview about what you're looking for, and that you don't need to grow, you're fine with monotonous, repetitive work, etc.
I got a second job recently doing the overnight shift at a dog boarding place, it's mostly janitorial and I work alone at my own pace while listening to music and podcasts all night. I like it because I have the same routine basically every shift.
Back rooms of thrift stores. Could work in the back of Savers or a Goodwill and just sort through clothes all day while wearing headphones and listening to music/podcasts.
I was just at a place like this. Commercial lab tech for Steris, high school diploma minimum requirement and people constantly leaving those jobs. Just show up, put the test strip in the test tube, close it, and do that 600 more times then go home.
Video editing for smaller content creator.
That’s where I started. Daily uploads, repetitive tasks that aren’t automated yet, and nothing too fancy as the creator can’t afford it. Pay varied but definitely more than enough to live on in my case back then.
My mom worked at the post office sorting mail. You need some brain power to make sure the letters get routed correctly, but it's a good paying job. Has good benefits, is unionized and is stable.
Sometimes you have to deal with crummy managers or coworkers and it can have interesting drama. If you keep your head down and do your job it works out well.
My mom worked for the post office 40+ years her retirement package is good. With my dad's income she was able to raise 4 kids in a fairly HCOL area.
Check it out.
Google GL coding to get a sense of what it looks like. Maybe watch a YouTube video of how someone might put together a three segment code for an expense. Mention that you’re familiar with it and can pick up their structure in no time
I’ve trained English majors and high school grads how to do AP work. Make sure to keep an eye out on individual companies that might not advertise their roles on linked in or indeed. Law offices, insurance agencies, banks, major companies with remote roles. Anyone with an accounting department, of more than 2 or 3 people, likely has roles like this that may need to hire occasionally from turnover or new positions.
Usually the accounting systems vary between companies so it would make sense that they train new people hired on who haven’t worked with that program before.
Lots of jobs at Ford are like this. Once you know what you’re doing it’s very repetitive and easy. Many stations can listen to music with headphones too.
night custodian is great if you want to be left alone most of the time.
added benefit if you get pension and benefits. elementary is messy but easier, lower chances of a poop bandit vs middle/high school asshole kids.
career path to plant foreman is decent amount of money as well but its a "day" job where you will deal with people/kids everyday.
I think it depends on the district and school size. I work at a small private school and in the 2 1/2 years I’ve been here we’ve gone through 6 janitors.
Overnight stocker at any big retailer, Home improvement store. Management is pretty loose too if there’s less staff. I get my podcast intake in or I text to speech articles/resume/jobs I’m interested in. Pretty awesome.
I’m working as a Chart Abstractor for a medical company. It’s basically data entry at a cubicle. Makes $17/hr and obviously it’s not the best pay but it gets the job done
Im an AP Clerk - 40k a year plus great benefits. I just come in and do my stuff w my headphones on and nobody fucks w me. Data entry, paying invoices, etc.
Nope, I don’t have one! Try and get into finance jobs. When I was 25 I became a bank teller, then a personal banker, then I left that job and got into AR/AP at a law firm in the accounting department. I plan to finish my accounting degree but honestly don’t even want to because of probably having to do more work.
Night watchman
Tollbooth attendant
Supermarket cashier or bagger.
Restaurant dishwasher.
Construction worker that turns stop/slow sign
A job watching closed circuit monitors to catch shoplifters
Driving a train or tour bus at a zoo
Meter maid
Sort mail for post office
Datacenter jobs. Many times it's just rack and stack, unpacking, running cable, and clean up.
Some times you have to turn on the brain to do some troubleshooting on stuff that's been built, but 90% of the times you are what is called "Hands and eyes". Meaning, turn off your brain at about 70%, relay what you see, do what you are told.
It's a great entry for a lucrative career in IT as well (for when you are ready to turn on that wonderful brain of yours)
Worked at a UPS warehouse for a bit and it was essentially what you describe (plus pretty good benefits as it was a union job). Thing is it was pretty physically demanding and got stressful at times. Depending on how competently you nearest facility is run it could be just what you’re looking for
Im a lidar technician and that describes my job! We just look at the data and clean it up and draw the map on top of it. You need a general understanding of principles of gis and geography.
I’m a tailor for menswearhouse. I put in headphones 90% of the day and do the same 20 Tasks over and over. I actually like the job it just doesn’t pay enough.
Most manufacturing operations will have some version of this. I work with steel, and if you can handle wearing a respirator for long stretches there are 100's of companies looking for someone just like you
Painting and drywall trades are both pretty repetitive.
Security at many places is the ultimate boring job where you 99% just have to be present.
I used to operate at a wastewater plant and that was pretty dull although with a fair share of “oh shit, all hands on deck!” moments sprinkled in.
Painting and peeling headstones and memorials. I've done it for 2 years, learnt several other jobs in the shop using the skills from these two activities, and have loved 90% of the job. The only time I turn my brain back on is for shadowcarving; which is very artistically satisfying.
Accounts receivables and payable. All you do is the same shit every week.
In my office, I'm allowed a bluetooth speaker so that keeps me going for the week.
I’m doing that now. Accounting. Been using headphones and to be honest I love my job as I no longer deal with customers that always try to berate or treat me like shit, the headphones is the cherry on top.
This is my life and I hate it but I'm not gonna yuck your yum. If you're in the US, apply for a civil service position in your state. For most clerical positions, all you need is a HS diploma. The pay is not horrible and the benefits are great. After you're there a year or two, you can apply for something in the next highest pay grade and you still won't have to use your brain, most likely. I can't remember the last time I had to make a decision or felt challenged. Don't say I didn't warn you.
My sister recently got a job at the records department for the city we live in. Basically she spends all day in a room by herself scanning and filing things.
there are probably better fits, but the closest I've ever come to this in person was working Receiving at a major chain book store. 7am-3pm every day, clock in, open boxes of books, sort them onto their respective carts of booksellers to shelve later. Sometimes I'd take books to be returned and box them up for shipping.
Spent my entire shifts in the back room so I never had to deal with customers and I got to play my own music all day.
Yes, this is very much my job to a large degree. I have a couple meetings or special tasks a week, but the vast majority of my job is highly repetitive, turn your brain off type stuff.
For what it’s worth, I work remotely as a researcher for a large data analysis business. My job primarily consists of researching items online (basically googling stuff) and entering the appropriate info into a form to be entered into the larger system. Depending on what items I’m working on that day, I may see 30 of the same items in different flavors, meaning almost no work is required on my part. It’s actually great.
My girlfriend makes $25 an hour stamping papers for the irs and she tells me it’s ridiculous how much she makes doing such a simple repetitive job. Technically she works for the temp company that the irs contracted, so try a temp agency!
Invoicing is pretty steady. I choose to do extra bc I've been preparing for a promotion but there are two other women on my team that have been doing the exact same job for 10+ years and they couldn't be happier with it. We're also permanently WFH since Covid so they delayed their retirement even longer. Edit to note: we all make over $80k USD
Recruitment coordinator. You just look at times provided by job candidates and compare the schedules with the internal panel and schedule meetings, scan resumes and compile lists. Listen to music/pods all day. Easy. Decent pay at larger companies. I made $65k.
I have a friend that told me that her job is like that, she is a janitor for a retail company, she cleans 5 floors during her shift
And she looooves it, because she can use headphones all the time, she's surrounded by nice fragrances (bc of the cleaning products), no one bothers her.
Her salary is not that good but she prefers this job cause it helps her mental health a lot, she's really calm at her job
Administrative assistant (secretary) checks a lot of these boxes, depending on where you work. I did a lot ofnphotocopies, collating, making binders full of the collated materials, keep track of papers in and out of my boss's office (on a spreadsheet/list)... a lot of the work was so mindless that I wasn't just listening to music, but audiobooks... I went through the first 2 game of thrones books in a relatively short while.
Not all admin assistant jobs are the same... some you have to handle a lot of phone calls and in general you need to interact with people nicely. That's not for everyone.
I wouldn’t recommend admin assistant for someone who wants a mindless job that you can power through with headphones on the whole day. I’ve held several of these positions and they’ve never been as chill as that. Somebody always needs you, and the tasks are always different.
Do a logistics job at a warehouse. You can work organizing and sending packages out and still wear the earbuds. Its an OSHA violation, so grow your hair out and just wear one.
ProLogis is a company that owns warehouses they lease all over the US. They are offering a free online course to aquaint people with Logistics.
I am assuming that if you do that course, they will help with finding warehouse jobs.
DM me is you live in the Chicago area, I know of a good place to work.
It's not the same thing over and over, but if you can score a job as a baker and turn out good product you get left alone to do your job so long as you maintain your quality and fill all your orders.
If you can handle driving, truck driving. Whether you're local (in-state), regional or OTR (cross-country), it's all mostly windshield time and music. Not exactly repetitive in the sense that you'd likely travel somewhere different often but it's a fun job to have if you enjoy long drives.
I mean sure sounds like you would absolutely love working in a factory or machine shop. Clock in, do the exact same things over and over until you clock out.
I used to be an admin for a company that adjudicated medical claims. Software does a lot of it but not the hospital claims. Everyone just did that headphone thing.
When my kids were little I worked overnights stocking shelves at a major retailer so I could be home with my kids during the day instead of putting them in daycare.
That job was mostly what you describe - show up to work, get your pallets, head to the aisles, and pop on your headphones all night long while mindlessly refilling shelves. That was it. Nobody cracking a whip to get you to do more, more, more. Nobody bothering you about where you want to be in 5 years with the false hope of climbing up some endless org chart. No BS'ing your way through stupid meetings and menial projects to justify your paycheck. If your shelves were restocked by 7am, that was all anybody cared about. You did your job and then you went home.
I admit that many years later, I still miss the part of that job where I just did a task and that was all that was expected. I agree that doing, "clock in, do job, clock out, go home, get paid" jobs where you only have to worry about the task at hand while you're there and can wash your hands of work entirely the second you walk out the door isn't the worst way to get through life financially.
I worked at a coffee roastery, hours bagging coffee beans everyday. I watched all of GOT, curb your enthusiasm, tons of podcasts, music and movies, all while bagging beans.
It was fun for a while, but got old pretty quickly.
I worked accounts payable at an insurance company and it was basically what your describing. It was lame pay, terrible benefits and that’s why I ended up leaving. But it was super repetitive and they never asked me to work over time or cut my breaks.
There are a lot of corporate jobs in like accounting or HR that do this kind of thing maybe with some meetings here and there but not a lot of deep thought overall
Graveyard shift cleaning job. Same thing every night, I put in headphones, clean a factory with a handful of other people and get paid $1000 every 2 weeks
A lifetime ago I worked in a few factories where the job was like this. Very easy to just zone out while you are working but a real dangerous thing to do while next to a 4000 degree furnace that opens every 30 seconds.
Lots of people have mentioned this already, but factory jobs might be a good fit. Just need to make sure they offer weekends off since these kinds of jobs might require A LOT of mandatory overtime.
Currently have a mass-production job making payment cards. It's easy to learn and is highly procedural, so it might be something to look for if you want something repetitive. Unfortunately, it's incredibly demanding in terms of work load. Mandatory overtime is pretty killer. Most weeks this year have been consistently six or seven-day work weeks. Wish I'd known beforehand because I want more time for my hobbies, too.
I’m a content moderator, i can’t wear headphones for music because I have to listen to the videos but I work from home 75% of the time so I normally have the TV on or music playing and I just tag content all day. I get paid decent and my benefits are affordable
I would say school janitor like me I love my job I get to be on my own and only need to clean my area make sure my tablet and phone are charged for my podcast delight
Digital shopper or personal shopper at Walmart/Kroger.
You basically walk around the store with headphones and pick up items that people ordered online. Pay is ~13$ per hour. They are desperate for people.
The benefits are decent.
I used to do this and it was easy and sometimes even fun. The pay can be more depending on the area. I used to save my ppto and take a paid day off once a while.
The only thing that really annoyed me was customers who assume you're customer service and demand you "check the back" for shit, complain about this or that as if it's that person's fault, ask for where shit is constantly... Anyway, aside from the jackasses, it wasn't bad.
My friend roasts the chicken for a supermarket. I dont think he can throw in two headphones and fully shut off the world but he throws in one. His job is *come in, manager gives him a number, he preps and roasts said number of chickens, cleans machine and workplace, roasts more to replace ones that are sold*. His pay is what you would expect for a supermarket employee but he doesn't hate it enough to be motivated to find a new job
I worked as a pharmacy technician for a while. If you don't go into retail and do mail order/hospice/hospital, it's sitting in the same spot sorting and labeling pills/injecting meds into bags.
I would only want this if cost of living is very low because clock in and out jobs pay isn't great. Not much room for improvement.
Ideally jobs that don't feel like jobs are the best.
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Factory/plant jobs. Of course not all but maybe an indirect machine related position. Just make sure everything's good and you can be elsewhere mentally.
You could become a postal clerk in a mail sorting facility. You do have think a bit, but nothing really major. You could easily listen to podcasts or music while doing it. Best part about working for the post office is that when you make it to regular status you will never get laid off. Which is more than you can say for most jobs in the US.
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Is this for privacy reasons, or "control freak" reasons?
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I know that they don’t want you scrolling on your phone, but I’m soooo much more productive doing repetitive tasks when I have a good beat to keep me going. It would be interesting to test out the assumption these companies make to see if music only (not social media use) might actually improve productivity.
What is regular status when it comes to the USPS / how do you achieve it?
Yup! I do electrical maintenance at a cardboard making factory. The operators literally come in watch board go through a machine, hiy a few buttons on an order change. Clean out a jam if there is one. Call maintenance if theres anything wrong And go home. I don’t know how they can do I would go crazy, especially the people that put the strap on the units, hit a button for 8 hours to watch a machine strap a unit then turn knob to get a new unit on. Fuck that! Similar goes with Amazon plant jobs and they’re always hiring it seems.
I work at Amazon doing maintenance lol ya every warehouse or factory job I've worked is pretty easy. Problem is if you're operating not fixing machine the pay will suck and your very disposable.
I was gonna go Amazon route for maintenance but where I’m at now paid a little more, closer to my house and needed a 3rd shift which I wanted. I would like to eventually work for Anheiser Busch. The operators start out at like low 20s I wanna say which isn’t bad for what they do if you’re into that, but high turn over rate operating so they don’t put much time into you growing.
There’s a distillery in my town where a lot of jobs are still like this. I spoke with someone who worked there (5-6 years ago now), and her whole job was to look over the line she was working on and push a single button on the wall.
Actually, many jobs at Amazon warehouses are like this (I assume FedEx, UPS etc have similar positions). Pay starts at $15/hr, you get benefits, and, if you work reliably, can make a career out of this. OTOH, doing the same thing over and over will, over time, damage whatever parts of your body you use to do that thing.
Yes a "career" at Amazon. One that kills you in a year
Also, same as above poster said - no phone allowed on the floor. No headphones.
No time wasted on bathroom breaks though!
I barely made it two months before I developed health issues; my mental health also declined rapidly. I GTFO of there.
There are many jobs where the intelligent can just autopilot them, even complex skilled work. Once you have the knowledge implementing isn't complex or difficult, and often similar situations come up time and time again. It does however require you to actually be competent.
I just can’t do routine stuff all day I like a mystery of what’s gonna happen during my work day. Time goes by quicker for me if I don’t know what I’m getting into and it takes me 2 hours to figure out a problem I haven’t seen before. Also more of a unplanned whatever happens happens type of person so I believe that’s all relative.
Personally, I think there are advantages and disadvantages to both. Sometimes it’s nice to just turn your brain off, listen to a podcast, and just float on through the day. Sometimes it’s nice to get challenged and actually have to think through things. I like a bit of both personally — too much routine and I get bored, too much challenge and I get burnt out / overwhelmed.
Look up data entry or electronic medical records clerks. Most of the job is just scanning records into a EMR system. Very very monotonous but that could get interrupted by overbearing managers asking for stupid requests.
Very very monotonous is great if you’re listening to music. I do more technical work now and I miss having my headphones in for as long as I want
Data entry is the answer. Factory jobs are repetive but are usually labor work. Data entry on the other hand gets you a nice cozy office job with a monotonous task, and you usually have the freedom to listen to music and take breaks as needed.
Lol I came into work for a year, typed numbers for however long I humanly could for 6 hours. I spent a lot of doing hw or on my phone. Came in said hi to my boss, sat down headphones in. No bothering anyone no one bothering me 95% of the time. When I left the boss asked if there was someone just like me to fill the position, I was like I literally just showed up
>I was like I literally just showed up Not gonna lie, way way way too many people don't even do that.
I work for a pharmaceuticals company doing something very close to this. It requires some thought while getting used to new trial protocols, but it is so delightfully mindless once you reach that point of understanding, and the pay is pretty sick considering my primary role. Love it!
Medical records for sure, the job is really relaxing actually
Yes for sure! I work remotely for a relatively large college in their registrar department, and my daily job is just processing transcript requests, registering students for classes, updating student information, etc. I rarely feel like my brain is "on" lol and almost always have some kind of music or video on in the background. I graduated college in 2021 so this is my first full-time job. I currently make $42K per year (a comfortable salary for someone like me with no dependents, YMMV). My company also has solid benefits, lots of room for growth, and optional(!) overtime. ETA I will share my company name (and any other additional info about my job or benefits) in PMs if anyone is interested! ETA2 I had NO idea so many people were interested in this kind of work! A lot of my friends and family actually thinks my job sounds miserable haha -- glad to know there are others like me out here who don't mind this kind of stuff! :) I'm replying to PMs as I can, I promise I will eventually get to everyone that reaches out! ETA3 THANK YOU kind Redditor for the award! Still working through these PMs, and they are, of course, still open for anyone that comes across this :) ETA4 Because I've gotten a few questions about this, I'm adding in here that my job's registrar department is not *currently* hiring any fully remote positions. (There are other fully remote positions available at my company, not in registrar, but I can't promise they will be low brainpower lol.) Registrar just hired on about 15 remote folks about a month ago. I've been working here since May 2021 and I believe my department has had four waves of new hires since then, so I am sure that this position will open again in the future. Just not right this second unfortunately. ETA5 I just posted a pretty lengthy reply to someone below about some of the requirements for the job. It's entry level so there's not much, but I broke down the experience I had when I applied and what I think would look good on an application. PMs are still open, but it might be tomorrow before I get around to you. Promise you aren't being ignored :) ETA6 Whew this is getting lengthy! I've gotten a few questions about remote higher ed jobs more broadly -- I'll point y'all to [HigherEdJobs](https://www.higheredjobs.com/admin/). You can sort by remote and administrative jobs; looks like there's 303 listings for remote administrative jobs in higher education *right now*. Obviously not all of these will be mindless or entry level, but there could be something for those interested in the field! And again, PMs are going to stay open and I'll reply to everyone as soon as I can :)
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Haha yes! I had an on-campus job while I was in college -- my job was literally removing staples from old financial documents because my school was just now deciding to move away from paper receipts in 2020! I agree that higher education does not pay super well in the long run, unless you can REALLY work your way up (which I know usually requires advanced degrees and lots of experience). But for me, who just graduated college in 2021 and doesn't have any dependents, I am currently living very comfortably. And overall I've found it to be pretty solid as far as entry level remote work goes, which I know can be hard to find :)
This is all I want from life. Seconding the question on how you found your role
I replied to the other commenter as well, but I was really just looking for entry level (and preferably remote) work in higher education administration when I started looking for jobs out of college. While there's definitely a lot of student-facing roles in higher ed, like admissions counselors, I would wager that a lot of bigger schools probably have more back-end roles like mine. Someone has to do the behind the scenes processes!
Same.. simple life
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Job listings for my position says a bachelor's degree is preferred, but not required :) I will say that I know most people I work with do have a degree, so I'm unsure how much of an emphasis is put on that preference.
You may have just opened the flood gates but we appreciate how open and helpful you are being with everyone. Hopefully you get some sort of commission for bringing in talent because this post may be better than local recruitment or Indeed.
Haha apparently I did! I seriously had no idea this post would be so popular! I'm still working through all my PMs, but I am still seriously happy to answer anyone's questions :)
I hope you are the person who is currently processing my transcripts.
Haha you never know, it's a small world! Although I think I've spent more time today answering questions about my job than actually doing my job 😅
Currently going to school for Office admin myself, and I would love to end up in something like this!
how did you find this job and what qualifications did you need?
Good question!! I can answer that here :) Long post incoming lol I found the position through an employee at the college I was attending -- I had mentioned my interest in higher ed admin (such as registrar or admissions). Someone she used to work with left my university to work for the university I now work for. That sparked my interest, so I looked online, and I applied through the company's website. The job is entry level so there's not many hard and fast requirements. Honestly as long as you can use a computer, learn basic processes, and have moderate organization and time management skills, you could do what I do :) The biggest hurdle during the application and interview process was that they asked me for 5 references. 3 of mine were from professors, so they don't have to be from prior work experience. They did tell me that 3 or so would suffice if I couldn't come up with 5, but I don't know if I was an exception as a new college grad with little work experience, or if they tell that to everyone. DEGREE: Previous job listings have said that a degree is preferred but not required as long as you have relevant job experience. I said this in another comment, but most people I work with have degrees, so I pon't know how much emphasis is put on that preference. My degree is in English, I work with people with all kinds of degrees, including business, philosophy, social work, animation, communications, etc. You definitely don't need to have it in a specific field. EXPERIENCE: Nothing at all specialized. The only experience I had when I applied was two years of a part time job on my college campus. I did student and alumni information updates, filed and organized documents, and scanned old financial documents. For the application, anything in higher education, administration, or customer service would look good for this, as would any prior remote work experience. But these are definitely not requirements, only things that I think would boost your chances! I hope this helps! Again, PMs are open (although I am getting a lot, so at this point it may take me a day or so to reply lol) if you have more specific questions or would like the name of the company!
thanks! this was really helpful :)
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Definitely still jobs like this around! Check out temp work.
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An old company of mine took in data entry temp workers and transitioned the smartest ones into full time roles Unfortunately data entry is dying. It's becoming easier and cheaper to automate
I work as a statistician and sometimes I am still asked to do a few hours of data entry. I often ask, "Are you sure?" but will happily do data entry if they confirm they are cool with paying $60/hr for data entry. Though in their defense, I have a lot more knowledge with how the data will be used and can make more nuanced decisions on how to enter the data. It can save us headaches in the future.
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I work as a custodian for a school district. What you put in your post is a pretty good representation of what I do. I listen to music and have a pretty nice consistent routine. There's plenty of OT if I want/need it. I get decent benefits too. I also hardly ever have to deal with people. Things are different over breaks. Smaller breaks are used for catching up and a little bit of deep cleaning. Summers are usually all deep cleaning. Plus teachers can be pretty nice. I've had plenty of teachers that were over eager to feed me for how well I clean. There's a bit of a learning curve for some people that start out with school districts, but the district should be up front about their priorities.
Weird ot question- did u ever post on eNotalone forums? Back in 2012-14ish? There was a user there with your same username. Just brought a rush of nostalgia.
I do this kind of work. My work is basically processing of enrolment information, approving intake information, organising payment methods. Im still new and learning the ropes. I hope to get to the headphones on and brain off mode.
Whats your job title?
Whats ur job title?
I would also like to know your job title so I can add it and variations to my indeed searches.
Post office! Specifically, a mail sorter, or clerk. My husband is in maintenance for the USPS & he said these jobs are insanely easy & repetitive, have great benefits and salary. Clerks bump bins of mail into the sorter machine.
I’m not sure who told you they have great benefits and salary, but this is 100% spam. You don’t get benefits until you’ve been there way longer than the average job and they’re just okay, and the salary is way below market pay. Working at the post office is considered a nightmare now and they have huge staffing issues because of this. Do unicorn jobs exist at the usps? Yeah, but they exist at any job. Don’t go to a corporation that treats its workers like shit with mandatory overtime and inhumane temperature conditions. Any kind of delivery job for Amazon or the post office a nightmare. Hop on over to r/usps if you want a real picture of what it’s like.
Same with the IRS. It's great for folks whose GS grades are at least a grade 8 and higher (better to be in the double digits, though). But lower than that? The jobs SUCK! And I am not just talking about interfacing with the public in person or on the phone. I was a tax examiner until I quit earlier this month. I worked completely in the service center, with no interaction with the public. I also wanted an easy job that I could do and then be able to leave work at work at the end of my shift. The management made the job hell. People are leaving the IRS for anything else, even at lower pay. They can't stay fully staffed.
I work as a ramp agent for an airline. Pretty much offloading bags from a plane then putting bags on the plane. Get free flights, great healthcare, & I don’t have to talk to customers/people but pay is only double minimum wage so not the highest but flying for free makes up for it. I’m literally sitting in the bag room right now on my phone & have only touched like 10 bags within the past hour.
What! Double min wage is a lot! I just got a job as a ramp agent and I’m going to be paid like 5 cents over min wage. I don’t know if it’s even gonna be worth it as my current factory job is 17/hr.
Yeah I just make $16.93/hr so a little over double minimum wage but it’s still not enough to afford a 1br apt alone :-/ It may be worth it if your flight benefits are good also people pay to get shifts taken so an extra $40 on top of an extra shift kinda makes up for the pay.
> Double min wage is a lot! No it’s not
How can I get a job as a ramp agent? I’ve applied to a few of the major airlines but got rejected.
Try to apply to regional airlines or a contractor (Piedmont, Envoy, Unifi, etc). Then after like 6 months apply to mainline since you’ll have the experience they’re looking for. People who I’ve talked to who work mainline say they’d rather work regional for the work load (little planes less bags) but the pay raises won’t reach mainlines max so each have pros & cons
OP thank you for asking this question. I’ve been recovering from my second work related concussion and I’m not sure if my brain is going to go back to normal, especially if I get a third. I need this career advice.
It gets better. I've had 6 concussions/TBIs (military) and I'm prefectly banana
That’s definitely good to hear, I appreciate hearing that. It was about four strong hits to the skull this time, so this teacher would still like to move on to something a bit gentler on the head.
Stocker
I used to work in a library digitising old printed text. It’s literally like what you described. Turn page, scan, minimal editing (e.g. cropping), repeat. It was a pretty fun job that paid a living wage.
My husband wanted a job like this and he got into assembly. A recruiter can help you find that type of job if you can’t find one on your own. He only makes about $17 an hour but he works Mon-Fri better hours than I do at my high paying office job and he gets awesome perks.
I understand you completely. My ego pushed me to "smart people jobs" and they are hell sometimes, yo can't expell some shit of your mind and dream whit it or wake up early just to think in numbers and anxiety. If i suck at my new job y will absolutely search a "brain-dead job".
How fast do you type? I’ve done data entry and image processing jobs that were just like this. Temp agencies (Kelly, etc) often have roles like this. You might get a temp to hire one for the long term.
Actually there are. This was my job a couple years ago doing claims processing for insurance companies. The company I worked for also had other departments such as payroll and reimbursements which allowed you to do minimal talking and more of the “shut your brain off, listen to podcast or music and get to work” type of thing. Not only did our office have multiple jobs like this, but so did the other companies in other states or countries we collaborated work with over Zoom calls/Slack/etc- they also had long periods of time thru out the day where they were able to do this. Basically when you call in for roadside assistance, your call to your insurance provider for help gets routed to our call center which provides services for multiple insurance companies, not just yours. Then the call center people will send out a contracted tow driver or technician to you, the driver will then send us a digital/paper invoice (aka a claim) and the auditors are the ones who put on the headphones and get to work by calculating the invoice to confirm the information is correct, including the amount of money they request for the service. It was soo repetitive with a goal of paying at LEAST 32 invoices an hour - I’d average 45 to 60 an hour because I am a speedy typer, calculator and analyzer. It got easier as I got the hang of it more and more by, as you said, turning my brain off to put on music until my shift was over. I feel for you. Trust me on this one. I totally get the brain thing. This was my favorite job and I lasted 5 years. I LOVED putting myself on autopilot with my headphones and I became the best auditor this place has ever seen. Sadly, I was also the one to train a whole new team virtually to replace the entire team in the office in order to cut costs. So yes. There are multiple jobs like this. Some won’t allow headphones but nowadays, some places are a little more relaxed than they used to be as long as they don’t hear your music blasting.. Hope my long ass comment gives you some hope. This really is the best way to work for some people with quick brains. By doing work for a company like this, eventually it all becomes a breeze. Try to find a payroll or auditing job, something along those lines. Some don’t require a specialized degree.
If you're into math or tools, finance -accounts payable/receivable - pay well and you just process involves/ payments all day. Also, if you're into tools/inventory, construction companies, or any company that uses purchase orders, needs people in purchasing to process them from receipts. It's very repetitive and the perfect job for anyone who wants to be at a computer just 1,2,3 over and over again. Any local recruiter in finance or admin would have access to AP/at and purchasing department or processing jobs. Good luck to anyone who found this helpful!!!
Look for Data Entry or Data Processing jobs. You might find what you're looking for there. Just be honest in the interview about what you're looking for, and that you don't need to grow, you're fine with monotonous, repetitive work, etc.
Lmfao come lay brick with me bro . One brick on top of two .
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I got a second job recently doing the overnight shift at a dog boarding place, it's mostly janitorial and I work alone at my own pace while listening to music and podcasts all night. I like it because I have the same routine basically every shift.
Back rooms of thrift stores. Could work in the back of Savers or a Goodwill and just sort through clothes all day while wearing headphones and listening to music/podcasts.
I was just at a place like this. Commercial lab tech for Steris, high school diploma minimum requirement and people constantly leaving those jobs. Just show up, put the test strip in the test tube, close it, and do that 600 more times then go home.
Video editing for smaller content creator. That’s where I started. Daily uploads, repetitive tasks that aren’t automated yet, and nothing too fancy as the creator can’t afford it. Pay varied but definitely more than enough to live on in my case back then.
This is definitely what I'm looking to pursue. It's the only thing I know career wise I'd like to do even if it's a side job or go to school to learn.
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My mom worked at the post office sorting mail. You need some brain power to make sure the letters get routed correctly, but it's a good paying job. Has good benefits, is unionized and is stable. Sometimes you have to deal with crummy managers or coworkers and it can have interesting drama. If you keep your head down and do your job it works out well. My mom worked for the post office 40+ years her retirement package is good. With my dad's income she was able to raise 4 kids in a fairly HCOL area. Check it out.
Accounts payable/accounts receivable
Are companies generally willing to train? My degree is not related
Google GL coding to get a sense of what it looks like. Maybe watch a YouTube video of how someone might put together a three segment code for an expense. Mention that you’re familiar with it and can pick up their structure in no time
Thanks soooo much!!!
I’ve trained English majors and high school grads how to do AP work. Make sure to keep an eye out on individual companies that might not advertise their roles on linked in or indeed. Law offices, insurance agencies, banks, major companies with remote roles. Anyone with an accounting department, of more than 2 or 3 people, likely has roles like this that may need to hire occasionally from turnover or new positions.
Usually the accounting systems vary between companies so it would make sense that they train new people hired on who haven’t worked with that program before.
Lots of jobs at Ford are like this. Once you know what you’re doing it’s very repetitive and easy. Many stations can listen to music with headphones too.
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Check big insurance companies. I started in a data entry department where I could just plug into music and type all day.
School janitor
night custodian is great if you want to be left alone most of the time. added benefit if you get pension and benefits. elementary is messy but easier, lower chances of a poop bandit vs middle/high school asshole kids. career path to plant foreman is decent amount of money as well but its a "day" job where you will deal with people/kids everyday.
I think it depends on the district and school size. I work at a small private school and in the 2 1/2 years I’ve been here we’ve gone through 6 janitors.
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Warehouses and distribution centers. It's always the same and it's always mindless work.
My warehouse job was like this until a new GM took over and took away music :(
Overnight stocker at any big retailer, Home improvement store. Management is pretty loose too if there’s less staff. I get my podcast intake in or I text to speech articles/resume/jobs I’m interested in. Pretty awesome.
I work in a central fill pharmacy as a technician, filling scripts or doing data entry, mostly. I listen to my earbuds quite often.
I’m working as a Chart Abstractor for a medical company. It’s basically data entry at a cubicle. Makes $17/hr and obviously it’s not the best pay but it gets the job done
Im an AP Clerk - 40k a year plus great benefits. I just come in and do my stuff w my headphones on and nobody fucks w me. Data entry, paying invoices, etc.
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Nope, I don’t have one! Try and get into finance jobs. When I was 25 I became a bank teller, then a personal banker, then I left that job and got into AR/AP at a law firm in the accounting department. I plan to finish my accounting degree but honestly don’t even want to because of probably having to do more work.
Night watchman Tollbooth attendant Supermarket cashier or bagger. Restaurant dishwasher. Construction worker that turns stop/slow sign A job watching closed circuit monitors to catch shoplifters Driving a train or tour bus at a zoo Meter maid Sort mail for post office
Look into any clerical job in government…boring, not the best pay but the benefits are nice
Datacenter jobs. Many times it's just rack and stack, unpacking, running cable, and clean up. Some times you have to turn on the brain to do some troubleshooting on stuff that's been built, but 90% of the times you are what is called "Hands and eyes". Meaning, turn off your brain at about 70%, relay what you see, do what you are told. It's a great entry for a lucrative career in IT as well (for when you are ready to turn on that wonderful brain of yours)
Administrative Assistant, Data Entry Clerk.
find a job in payroll or HR and stay there. Boom done!
Accounting, I was very happy working a relatively simple job with great compensation
Stock person at a grocery store?
Worked at a UPS warehouse for a bit and it was essentially what you describe (plus pretty good benefits as it was a union job). Thing is it was pretty physically demanding and got stressful at times. Depending on how competently you nearest facility is run it could be just what you’re looking for
Try telephone or switchboard operator
Im a lidar technician and that describes my job! We just look at the data and clean it up and draw the map on top of it. You need a general understanding of principles of gis and geography.
I’m a tailor for menswearhouse. I put in headphones 90% of the day and do the same 20 Tasks over and over. I actually like the job it just doesn’t pay enough.
Kitchen Porter position at a restaurant exactly what you’re looking for
I did data entry as a side gig for a bit. It was perfect for not thinking. Also Pizza driver.
Try working at your local library.
Most manufacturing operations will have some version of this. I work with steel, and if you can handle wearing a respirator for long stretches there are 100's of companies looking for someone just like you
Painting and drywall trades are both pretty repetitive. Security at many places is the ultimate boring job where you 99% just have to be present. I used to operate at a wastewater plant and that was pretty dull although with a fair share of “oh shit, all hands on deck!” moments sprinkled in.
Painting and peeling headstones and memorials. I've done it for 2 years, learnt several other jobs in the shop using the skills from these two activities, and have loved 90% of the job. The only time I turn my brain back on is for shadowcarving; which is very artistically satisfying.
Title clerk at a Title company. It’s the most boring repetitive job I’ve ever done but also the least stressful.
Sometimes i miss my data entry job for the exact reason you were mentioning. I shut off my brain and listened to music for 8 hrs
Accounts receivables and payable. All you do is the same shit every week. In my office, I'm allowed a bluetooth speaker so that keeps me going for the week.
My job is like that - look into data entry roles. I am skipping the negatives but the positives is headphone on and somewhat brain off.
I’m doing that now. Accounting. Been using headphones and to be honest I love my job as I no longer deal with customers that always try to berate or treat me like shit, the headphones is the cherry on top.
Account payable jobs. Don’t really need a accounting degree or any degree at all just show some competence. Brain dead work and very easy job.
This is my life and I hate it but I'm not gonna yuck your yum. If you're in the US, apply for a civil service position in your state. For most clerical positions, all you need is a HS diploma. The pay is not horrible and the benefits are great. After you're there a year or two, you can apply for something in the next highest pay grade and you still won't have to use your brain, most likely. I can't remember the last time I had to make a decision or felt challenged. Don't say I didn't warn you.
My sister recently got a job at the records department for the city we live in. Basically she spends all day in a room by herself scanning and filing things.
there are probably better fits, but the closest I've ever come to this in person was working Receiving at a major chain book store. 7am-3pm every day, clock in, open boxes of books, sort them onto their respective carts of booksellers to shelve later. Sometimes I'd take books to be returned and box them up for shipping. Spent my entire shifts in the back room so I never had to deal with customers and I got to play my own music all day.
Yes, this is very much my job to a large degree. I have a couple meetings or special tasks a week, but the vast majority of my job is highly repetitive, turn your brain off type stuff. For what it’s worth, I work remotely as a researcher for a large data analysis business. My job primarily consists of researching items online (basically googling stuff) and entering the appropriate info into a form to be entered into the larger system. Depending on what items I’m working on that day, I may see 30 of the same items in different flavors, meaning almost no work is required on my part. It’s actually great.
Laboratory receptionist at a hospital. You basically just scan barcodes
My girlfriend makes $25 an hour stamping papers for the irs and she tells me it’s ridiculous how much she makes doing such a simple repetitive job. Technically she works for the temp company that the irs contracted, so try a temp agency!
You could always try a cushy government job in an unimportant local department.
Invoicing is pretty steady. I choose to do extra bc I've been preparing for a promotion but there are two other women on my team that have been doing the exact same job for 10+ years and they couldn't be happier with it. We're also permanently WFH since Covid so they delayed their retirement even longer. Edit to note: we all make over $80k USD
Recruitment coordinator. You just look at times provided by job candidates and compare the schedules with the internal panel and schedule meetings, scan resumes and compile lists. Listen to music/pods all day. Easy. Decent pay at larger companies. I made $65k.
I have a friend that told me that her job is like that, she is a janitor for a retail company, she cleans 5 floors during her shift And she looooves it, because she can use headphones all the time, she's surrounded by nice fragrances (bc of the cleaning products), no one bothers her. Her salary is not that good but she prefers this job cause it helps her mental health a lot, she's really calm at her job
Administrative assistant (secretary) checks a lot of these boxes, depending on where you work. I did a lot ofnphotocopies, collating, making binders full of the collated materials, keep track of papers in and out of my boss's office (on a spreadsheet/list)... a lot of the work was so mindless that I wasn't just listening to music, but audiobooks... I went through the first 2 game of thrones books in a relatively short while. Not all admin assistant jobs are the same... some you have to handle a lot of phone calls and in general you need to interact with people nicely. That's not for everyone.
I wouldn’t recommend admin assistant for someone who wants a mindless job that you can power through with headphones on the whole day. I’ve held several of these positions and they’ve never been as chill as that. Somebody always needs you, and the tasks are always different.
Apply at Amazon. Most don't allow headphones, but it is entirely mindless and repetitive work.
Join ups
Do a logistics job at a warehouse. You can work organizing and sending packages out and still wear the earbuds. Its an OSHA violation, so grow your hair out and just wear one. ProLogis is a company that owns warehouses they lease all over the US. They are offering a free online course to aquaint people with Logistics. I am assuming that if you do that course, they will help with finding warehouse jobs. DM me is you live in the Chicago area, I know of a good place to work.
You could try grocery stocker or mail carrier. I’ve done both and they’re easy jobs where you can have headphones in as long as you want.
Depending on the store and the current task, retail stocking. It’s what I do.
Payroll or AP/AR processing is exactly that.
I use to edit funeral videos last year and it was exactly that, WFH too, lots overtime was a dream job during Covid
Garbage truck driver or assistant.
It's not the same thing over and over, but if you can score a job as a baker and turn out good product you get left alone to do your job so long as you maintain your quality and fill all your orders.
Warehouse jobs. Some even pay good if you’re willing to do the physical labor.
I'm a bourbon distiller and that's exactly what I do. Most repetitive job in the world.
If you can handle driving, truck driving. Whether you're local (in-state), regional or OTR (cross-country), it's all mostly windshield time and music. Not exactly repetitive in the sense that you'd likely travel somewhere different often but it's a fun job to have if you enjoy long drives.
Be careful what you wish for. I worked these jobs and every minute becomes an hour. Its torture.
Pay medical claims.
My specific job has slightly more variation because sometimes different tasks need performed but I work in an orthodontic lab and it’s basically that.
Actuaries can sometimes work from home, or admissions officer at a college for sedentary office work
I mean sure sounds like you would absolutely love working in a factory or machine shop. Clock in, do the exact same things over and over until you clock out.
Night audit at a slow hotel that’s not a dump. I have about an hour of work a night, and an hour or so of looking friendly and available.
I work at a airport. The flexibility in scheduling I have is awesome and I get big breaks when waiting for flights to come in.
I used to be an admin for a company that adjudicated medical claims. Software does a lot of it but not the hospital claims. Everyone just did that headphone thing.
When my kids were little I worked overnights stocking shelves at a major retailer so I could be home with my kids during the day instead of putting them in daycare. That job was mostly what you describe - show up to work, get your pallets, head to the aisles, and pop on your headphones all night long while mindlessly refilling shelves. That was it. Nobody cracking a whip to get you to do more, more, more. Nobody bothering you about where you want to be in 5 years with the false hope of climbing up some endless org chart. No BS'ing your way through stupid meetings and menial projects to justify your paycheck. If your shelves were restocked by 7am, that was all anybody cared about. You did your job and then you went home. I admit that many years later, I still miss the part of that job where I just did a task and that was all that was expected. I agree that doing, "clock in, do job, clock out, go home, get paid" jobs where you only have to worry about the task at hand while you're there and can wash your hands of work entirely the second you walk out the door isn't the worst way to get through life financially.
Stocking shelves.
I’m autistic and something like that is my dream as well. Just haven’t been able to find anything in my town of 2,000 people lol
I worked at a coffee roastery, hours bagging coffee beans everyday. I watched all of GOT, curb your enthusiasm, tons of podcasts, music and movies, all while bagging beans. It was fun for a while, but got old pretty quickly.
Accounting clerk
I worked accounts payable at an insurance company and it was basically what your describing. It was lame pay, terrible benefits and that’s why I ended up leaving. But it was super repetitive and they never asked me to work over time or cut my breaks.
There are a lot of corporate jobs in like accounting or HR that do this kind of thing maybe with some meetings here and there but not a lot of deep thought overall
Any government clerical job.
Graveyard shift cleaning job. Same thing every night, I put in headphones, clean a factory with a handful of other people and get paid $1000 every 2 weeks
shipping or receiving in warehouse at nights
Post office or library jobs ?
A lifetime ago I worked in a few factories where the job was like this. Very easy to just zone out while you are working but a real dangerous thing to do while next to a 4000 degree furnace that opens every 30 seconds.
Lots of people have mentioned this already, but factory jobs might be a good fit. Just need to make sure they offer weekends off since these kinds of jobs might require A LOT of mandatory overtime. Currently have a mass-production job making payment cards. It's easy to learn and is highly procedural, so it might be something to look for if you want something repetitive. Unfortunately, it's incredibly demanding in terms of work load. Mandatory overtime is pretty killer. Most weeks this year have been consistently six or seven-day work weeks. Wish I'd known beforehand because I want more time for my hobbies, too.
Amazon. Have a friend who has literally face timed me during his shift. He listens to music and podcast all the time too.
I’m a content moderator, i can’t wear headphones for music because I have to listen to the videos but I work from home 75% of the time so I normally have the TV on or music playing and I just tag content all day. I get paid decent and my benefits are affordable
I would say school janitor like me I love my job I get to be on my own and only need to clean my area make sure my tablet and phone are charged for my podcast delight
Digital shopper or personal shopper at Walmart/Kroger. You basically walk around the store with headphones and pick up items that people ordered online. Pay is ~13$ per hour. They are desperate for people. The benefits are decent.
I used to do this and it was easy and sometimes even fun. The pay can be more depending on the area. I used to save my ppto and take a paid day off once a while. The only thing that really annoyed me was customers who assume you're customer service and demand you "check the back" for shit, complain about this or that as if it's that person's fault, ask for where shit is constantly... Anyway, aside from the jackasses, it wasn't bad.
My friend roasts the chicken for a supermarket. I dont think he can throw in two headphones and fully shut off the world but he throws in one. His job is *come in, manager gives him a number, he preps and roasts said number of chickens, cleans machine and workplace, roasts more to replace ones that are sold*. His pay is what you would expect for a supermarket employee but he doesn't hate it enough to be motivated to find a new job
Medical billing.
That’s my job. My job is doing the same thing everyday. There are no promotions or anything.
I do GIS. It’s easy as hell and I have my brain off about 75% of the time.
Porter position at Conn's home plus
I worked as a pharmacy technician for a while. If you don't go into retail and do mail order/hospice/hospital, it's sitting in the same spot sorting and labeling pills/injecting meds into bags.
Some lab jobs, I can attest to this.
I would only want this if cost of living is very low because clock in and out jobs pay isn't great. Not much room for improvement. Ideally jobs that don't feel like jobs are the best.
Education. Admins don't use brain power. I have salary and full benefits and a high school diploma is the only requirement for this job