Pokemon Sword and Shield Poke Jobs guide: How to gain experience and level up your Pokemon

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Pokemon Sword and Shield Poke Jobs are a brand new aspect of Pokemon. Introduced in Generation 8, Poke Jobs allow you to level up your Pokemon in interesting and time-efficient ways. Here’s everything you need to know about Poke Jobs in Pokemon Sword and Shield, including what Poke Jobs are, how to send Pokemon on Poke Jobs, and why Poke Jobs are important in the first place.

What are Pokemon Sword and Shield Poke Jobs?

Pokemon Sword and Shield Poke Jobs are special jobs you can send your Pokemon on. They’re indicative of a push towards the harmonious society seen in Detective Pikachu, where people and Pokemon work alongside one another.

There are a wide range of Poke Jobs to choose from in Sword and Shield. To access them, you’ll want to visit a Pokemon Centre and head over to the Rotom computer in the back-left corner. If you interact with this, you’ll see an option for “Check Poke Jobs,” which you’ll need to click to see what’s available. Everywhere from the Galar Police Station to Steelix Railcars, humans are looking for specific Pokemon to help them out of a pinch.

Sending Pokemon on Poke Jobs

Although you can send any Pokemon on any job, it’s important to pay attention to the specific job requirements. If a Poke Job calls for an Electric-type, a Water-type won’t quite cut the mustard. If you want to get the maximum EXP reward, you’ll want to make sure you’re actually enlisting a Pokemon that fits the bill.

The amount of experience you gain is also tied to how long a job is going to take. Poke Jobs have a wide range of completion windows: some only take about an hour, whereas others can take an entire day. There’s no specific time attached to any Poke Job - instead, the postings are simply described as “short” or “long,” but there’s a specific amount of time attached to each description:

Just a little = 1 hour
Very short = 2 hours
Short = 3 hours
Long = 4 hours
Very Long = 8 hours
Half day = 12 hours
Whole day = 24 hours

Once you select the amount of time you want your Pokemon to work for, you can send them off to earn their livelihood and gain some EXP. Some jobs also allow you to send multiple Pokemon at once, which is obviously more efficient. The longer a Pokemon spends on a job, the more experience they’ll gain, and the higher the star rating on the job posting, the better the rewards that come in tandem with stat and experience boosts. It’s best to send off as many Pokemon as possible for as long as possible in order to maximize the amount of experience you’re gaining at any given time, so be sure to scope out jobs catering to the types you want to train and ship off a boatload of similarly-typed Pokemon to help out the ones you want to reach level 100.

Why should I send my Pokemon on Poke Jobs?

Poke Jobs in Sword and Shield are a very solid way of levelling up your Pokemon quickly. If you focus on Poke Jobs with a high EXP ranking, you’ll be able to train your Pokemon to level 100 in no time. And although Poke Jobs can take as long as 24 hours, you can speed this up by changing the date and time on your Switch. Rinsing and repeating this will allow you to complete multiple jobs in a very short window of time.

EV Training with Sword and Shield Poke Jobs

Poke Jobs can also be used for EV training, which means that you can use them to increase your Pokemon’s base stats. This is due to the fact that you can have your Pokemon attend seminars after earning your 4th Gym Badge. A speed seminar obviously increases the selected Pokemon’s base speed, whereas a Special Attack one will boost Special Attack, and so on. These seminars are completed just like regular Poke Jobs, but are even more important if you’re trying to build a team for competitive battling, where you’ll need to have your Pokemon’s stats maxed out.

Your Pokemon will gain 4 points in the selected stat per hour. This means that sending your Pokemon to a speed seminar will allow it to gain 96 speed points in a single day. You should try to send all of the Pokemon you want to use at the Battle Tower or in online battles to seminars before adding them to your team. If their stats are lacklustre, they’ll get steamrolled by more powerful Pokemon who actually had their stats increased, especially in competitive battles online.

Earning rewards for Sword and Shield Poke Jobs

You can also gain valuable items as rewards from Poke Jobs, as well as money. So although your Pokemon are technically being trained by participating in Poke Jobs, you’re also earning a material gain by sending the correct types on specific jobs that complement them. Poke Jobs are essentially EV training, level farming, and money farming all rolled into one. Although they can take a long time, they are an excellent means of progressing in Sword and Shield, especially once you’ve beaten the game and have the opportunity to build a team for online battling.

Sword and Shield Poke Jobs: other uses for Rotom computer

The Rotom computer, or Rotomi, is where you access current listings for Sword and Shield Poke Jobs, but it also has a range of other functions. You can customize your League Card here, which you can exchange with players you battle against or trade with. There are a lot of options available so you can design a card that suits your personal taste.

You can also participate in the Loto-ID, which is Sword and Shield’s version of the traditional Pokemon ID lottery. If the number that comes out matches one of your Pokemon’s ID numbers, you’ll win an amazing prize. The catch is you can only participate in the lottery once a day - but, if you keep catching Pokemon, hopefully you’ll win at some point.

That’s all there is to know about Poke Jobs in Sword and Shield. Check the current listings at any Rotom computer and make sure to send out as many Pokemon as possible - just remember to check the required type before sending the wrong Pokemon, lest you spend 24 hours waiting on less-than-stellar returns.

For all of your Pokemon needs, make sure you visit our complete Pokemon Sword and Shield walkthrough.