Work at Home

Sunday, August 1, 2010

Guide to Finding Work at Home Jobs II

Guide to Finding Work at Home Jobs II

How to Find a Work at Home Job

Finding a work from home job isn't easy. It's going to take some work and research to find a legitimate job. First, review the types of work at home jobs that are available, along with job listings. Then, check out the lists of companies that are known to be "telecommuting friendly" and most of these employers list work from home jobs online.

Work From Home Jobs

Work at Home Job Listings

In addition to companies that typically hire employees that work from home, there are sites where you can find work at home job listings. Carefully review the listings you find, because you will find scams can slip through the cracks and get posted on even the best sites.

LinkUp
Job search engine LinkUp.com searches only for jobs on company web sites, so it's a good way to avoid scams. Search using "telecommute" or "telecommuting" as a keyword to find legitimate work at home job listings.

SimplyHired.com Work at Home Jobs
Use Simply Hired's "telecommute" search options for find work at home job listings from job boards, company web sites, and other sources.

Work at Home Job Listings
Work from home job sites that include just work at home job listings.

More Work at Home Listings From Job Search Engines
Job search engine sites allow users to search by keyword and location. If you have specific skills (i.e. insurance claims, customer service, web design) such by those skills and terms like work at home, freelance, telecommute, etc.

Craigslist
Search for work at home freelance positions by entering "freelance" or "work at home" as a keyword in the search box on the front page of the site. Otherwise, click on the city that interests you and review the list of job openings.

Job Boards
Monster, CareerBuilder, Yahoo! Hot Jobs and the other top job boards all contain work at home job listings. It takes some work just to weed through the postings, but, they are there. Search using keywords like "freelance" "telecommute" "work from home" and "work at home" as well as by the type of work you are interested in. Again, be specific.

A Word of Work From Home Warning

Jobs that promise you oodles of money with little investment of time and no experience aren't legitimate. Legitimate work at home jobs are going to require that you have skills relevant to the position. Many jobs require skills like writing, graphic design, programming or web design, for example. If you don't have any experience in the field(s) you are interested in, it's going to be difficult to find an employer willing to hire you. Most employers who are willing to hire someone to work from home want workers who can work independently and get the job done with little guidance.

Finally, please take the time to research every job lead you find and every site you visit carefully. Even sites that purport to be impartial sometimes aren't. I just visited a site that supposedly had general information on telecommuting. They recommended their top sites, all of which happened to be affiliated indirectly with the first site and all of which charged a fee.

Guide to Finding Work at Home Jobs

Real Work at Home Jobs

Are there real work at home jobs? Yes there are some, but, they are not nearly as plentiful as you would think considering the amount of interest there is in working from home. They are also difficult to find.

However, there are companies that hire for work from home jobs and you can find work at home job listings online.

Job seekers who are interested in home employment need to spend a good deal of time searching for legitimate opportunities, as well as a significant amount of time weeding through scams.

Getting Started Working at Home

Many people who work from home started out working in an office, but, were able to arrange with their employer to work some or all of time at home. I have an acquaintance who relocated to Washington, DC. Her employer decided to enable her to work from home, rather than losing a valuable employee. I have another acquaintance who works part-time from the office and part-time from home in order to accommodate her children's school schedules. My sister-in-law schedules home nursing care visits from home. In those cases, employees, who had already proven themselves to be valuable to their employer, were able to negotiate flexible work schedules.

Companies That Hire Work From Home Employees

There are companies that hire employees directly to work from their homes. Check the sites that list work at home jobs. Some of these positions are those where you cover a territory, for an insurance company or a consumer products firm, for example, and spend some time on the road and some time in your home office. There are also customer service, recruiting, sales, scheduling, technical, writing, and telemarketing jobs available. In many cases, the jobs are part-time, commission-based, or pay a lump sum for a completed project.

In other cases, you can work as a home based agent where you are an employee of the company who works from a home office, providing customer service to client companies. Virtual assistants provide administrative, secretarial, and clerical support, as well as creative and/or technical services for clients.

Work at home transcriptionists are usually independent contractors who transcribe and edit recorded reports onto their home computer. Online tutors work for internet based companies that offer help, within a variety of subject areas, to students of all ages.

If you're looking to make a little extra money, paid surveys are a possibility, but do be careful about avoiding scams.

Full-time jobs that provide health insurance, a pension, vacation, and other benefits while you work full-time from home, especially if you don't have experience, are few and far between. Finding them online is a little like looking for a needle in a haystack.

Be Flexible
Flexibility is one key to successfully working from home. If you are willing to consider freelance or contract employment or willing to combine a couple of part-time positions, you'll have a greater chance of success in finding opportunities that are legitimate. It's also critically important to take the time to search for positions and to thoroughly research those that sound viable.