First, if you still have a traditional job (and by this I mean one where you leave home and go to a place of employment) see if they would allow you to do your current job from home.  Obviously, working in a warehouse is not going to work, but if you work at a call center, or an office where you’re mostly left to your own devices, and the work you do really only requires a computer and a phone line, consider pitching the idea to your employer.  You can offer the idea of trying it out on a temporary basis, for a few weeks, and if you can demonstrate the same or more productivity, then you may be allowed to work from home, and come into the office once in a while for important meetings.  Some call centers may have a work from home program (Convergys is an example).  Or perhaps you work at a call center that contracts with several companies, and maybe they can recommend you for a work from home program from one of those companies.  Your current employer is a good place to start.

Start searching for companies that will be your service providers for phone and internet.  If you live in a rural area, or just moved into a new construction area, the availability of high-speed internet can be limited or non-existent.  Remember that most work from home jobs will require a reliable phone service (land-line or approved VoIP provider), so you’ll want to call ahead to see who provides these services in your area and offers the best value.  The work from home employer you hire with may or may not compensate you for these services.  You’ll also want to inquire about the time it takes to provision those service from the time you place your order.  If you land a great work from home job opportunity that starts next Monday, but you can’t get your high-speed internet installed until Thursday because a tech is required and there are no techs available until then, you could potentially lose the job opportunity.

All employers will have a specific application process that you should follow to be considered for employment.  Many have a website where you fill out an online application, and all of their guidelines and requirements for getting hired are on that website.  Have your resume and up-to-date references prepared.  Most work from home employers will ask for a resume and will be checking references, work history, and some will do extensive background checks.  Since they may not have the benefit of meeting you in person, trust is going to be a significantly more important issue.  Also, depending on the job, a virtual employer may ask for a portfolio with samples of related work that you’ve done such as photography, graphic design, web design, and writing.

You’ll want to apply to several work from home jobs at the same time, just as you would in the “off-line” world.  The hiring process for legitimate work from home jobs  is usually a lot longer than the off-line world, and in some case the employer has a project that is only temporary, or seasonal.  You may end up having to hire with two or more virtual employers to get enough work to meet your income goals since a particular employer may only have two to three hours of work a day, or the project lasts for only a month, etc.

The phone interview should be straightforward.  Work from home jobs that require phone work will often require that you call a number to do a phone audition to gauge the quality of your voice.  Most, if not all work from home sales jobs will require that you demonstrate sales and closing skills during the interview, or there will be an interview to test sales skills only.  For the interview, be sure to be alert, sitting with good posture, and answer questions with confidence and enthusiasm, just as you would in a face to face interview.  Be sure there are no noise or distractions, and have a pen and paper handy to take notes.  Basically, pretend the employer is sitting right in front of you.  Smiling will make a huge difference in projecting your best image over the phone.

Once you’ve finished the application process, continue to correspond with the virtual employer so that you stay in their radar.  A thank you note for the opportunity to apply and interview is not a bad idea, and often you can just send a quick thank-you email since you’ll be corresponding via email a lot of the time.  If you meet all the requirements and have completed the application process, you should expect to get hired provided the employer has work for you.  Landing a work from home job opportunity is not complicated and following the tips outlined above will help you go in the right direction.

If you have a good phone voice and have experience working in a call center in sales/customer service, there are various companies you can hire with.  Consider companies like Alpine Access, West Corporation, Cloud 10 Corp, and Convergys if you’re looking for sales or customer service work from home jobs and still be considered an employee of a company rather than an independent contractor.  Companies such as Arise, Working Solutions, and Live Ops hire home based agents as independent contractors, so you’ll be considered a self-employed individual.  There are several other companies that offer work from home job opportunities in specific geographical locations.  Sitel, ICT Group, Customer Loyalty Concepts, are several companies that require home based agents to train at one of their regional contact centers.  Companies such as Jet Blue and 1-800-Flowers hire home based agents directly and also hire in specific geographic locations.  All of these companies will have a similar application process, requirements, and pay structure.

For those looking to work from home as medical transcriptionists, or other types of audio transcription, finding work will be more challenging.  Working in the medical transcription field requires certification in the field, and once certified, it will behoove you to get involved with a medical transcription association in your area, if available.  Although the demand for medical transcriptionists is growing and the job outlook is good, most employers ask that you have a certain amount of minimum experience (many ask for a minimum of two years experience) particularly for work from home job opportunities.  Being part of an MT association will allow you to network with other MTs and get your name and reputation out.  The school you receive your training at can also be a good resource for finding first-time employment.  Also, do a search online for medical transcription jobs.  Various forums, whether work from home or specialized MT job forums, will have job listings.  The more popular online job sites such as Monster and Craigslist are good places to find additional job listings.

If you have skills and experience as an administrative assistant, secretary, marketing assistant, or any related position you can make the transition into a virtual assistant.  Some work from home job opportunities may involve using a few of the many tasks that virtual assistants are able to perform.  Finding work as a virtual assistant can be done through broker companies that connect VAs with companies that need VA services, or by being a self-employed individual marketing yourself and your services to the job market.  This is starting to go into the realm of running a business, but the nature of the work is more job-oriented.  It may be a good idea to specialize in just a few “niche” skills (i.e. marketing, graphic design, and/or writing).  Doing a web search for “virtual assistant” or “virtual assistant jobs” will bring up several good resources for finding VA work or forums and other websites where you can make your services known.  Also, joining professional organizations, whether local or online, is another good way to network and get known in this small but growing industry.  You may also consider joining your local Chamber of Commerce to find clients.

There are several websites that offer work from home job listings by purchasing a membership.  You can find these sites by doing a websearch for “home based jobs” or “work at home jobs.”  Many claim to offer legitimate, scam-free listings.  For the most part they do seem legitimate and are a good resource if you’re not able to find telecommuting job opportunities elsewhere.

Legitimate work from home jobs are out there, but finding them can be a long, challenging process.  Keep a good attitude and persevere, since the rewards once you’ve secured work are worth the search.  The key is to continue to inquire, market yourself, and if you have the qualifications and certification, you can find a number of work from home jobs in your area of expertise and enough work to generate a full time income working from home.

Let’s clear something up regarding the term “work from home.”  It is used in business opportunity ads just as much as, if not more than, in legitimate work from home job advertisements.  Obviously, even if you run your own daycare, graphic design, or custom embroidery business from home, or hold meetings for a network marketing opportunity from home, you are “working from home,”  but as a business owner and not an employee.  Many business or marketing opportunity ads will use the term “work from home” to attract people who are looking for legitimate work from home employment but not necessarily looking to start a business.  Yes, even though there are many legitimate business and marketing opportunities out there where you could potentially make a lot more income and create a much better lifestyle than you would as an employee, many people are not ready to make that leap yet.  Remember that there is a distinct difference between being a virtual employee and being an independent contractor or working for yourself.  So, you’ll see some ads that say, for example, “make $47 an hour working from home” or “work from home, no experience necessary” but these are really business or marketing opportunities, and some are potentially scams.

Consider some of the indicators that what you’re looking at is a legitimate work from home job opportunity.  Most legitimate work from home employment will have an application process and also ask for a resumé, which will require that you list work history, applicable skillsets, and pertinent training and education (as required by the position, of course).  There will be an interview, usually conducted over the phone, and some companies – particularly the virtual call center employers – will require a thorough background check (which usually requires a non-refundable fee to complete the check).  Aside from the background check fee, a legitimate work from home company should not charge any money to apply for the job, and usually conducts the interview and completes most of the screening process to determine you’re eligible and qualified for employment with them before the background check is requested.  Most virtual employment will also have an hourly wage, salary, or, depending on the job, will have some sort of pay-per-completed-task pay structure.  Does all this sound similar to getting a traditional job?  It should.

One thing about real work from home jobs that seems unusual as compared to a regular job is that they seem somewhat like a business opportunity.  Most work from home jobs offer a greater flexibility of schedule, the convenience of working from home, and it’s possible to be doing work for several companies at the same time.  All of this is contrary to how most people are used to thinking about a job.  You could think about a work from home opportunity as being employed for yourself, and essentially the company (or companies) you’re doing work for as your client(s).  This is actually a good way to look at it (actually, a good way to look at traditional jobs in general).  Consider that medical transcription is considered a job even though you may be, as a virtual medical transcriptionist, transcribing for several doctors offices or medical institutions (these would be like your clients).  Or if you’re a virtual assistant, whether hiring directly with a single client or hiring with a company that assigns you projects and assignments from various clients, your work, or position, is considered a job rather than a business.  The point I want to make is that there are many legitimate home based jobs that have similar characteristics to some of the marketing and business opportunities out there, but it’s important to know the difference to find the correct opportunity.

Consider some of the indicators of business/marketing opportunities or scams.  One of the main indicators is an exaggerated claim of income.  Any advertisement that offers much more than what a normal job in the particular line of work you do would offer is not a real work from home job.  Yes, you can make really good money in sales, particularly business to business sales and selling high-ticket items, but if an advertisement claims you can make $47 an hour typing from home, consider that this could be an online marketing opportunity (one possibility being where…yes, you’re typing up ads that you post online via Google adwords, or typing up sales copy and landing pages for affiliate products, or blog posts and articles for your various blogs that you’re monetizing with adsense or affiliate product links, all of which require some monetary investment (which could be several hundred or several thousand dollars a month) and that you’ve been doing this for a few years…then yes, you could be making $47 an hour typing from home – and yes, there are people who do this and make this kind of money, or more), or it could be a scam.  Another indicator that tells you what you’re looking at is not a legitimate work from home job opportunity is that there is no experience necessary.  ALL opportunities, even those advertised as work from home data entry jobs, will require that you have pertinent skills for the job.  Most will offer training, but even if you’re hiring with s client who needs someone to reformat their Excel spreadsheets and do simple data entry, you’ll need to know your way around Microsoft programs, a computer in general, and know how to type – clerical and organizational skills will be required for this example job.  You can bet that all work from home jobs will require previous relevant experience and training, the exception is quite rare.

Overall, if a work from home job opportunity looks like a regular job, then it should be.  Legitimate work from home jobs have a hiring process similar to a traditional job, will have requirements similar to a traditional job, and the work should be the equivalent of that done at a regular “brick-and-mortar” establishment.  Also, you should not have to pay any money to apply, or have to purchase a “kit” to find out more about the job, or pay money for a membership to get started.  By knowing what to look for – and lookout for- you can find legitimate work from home jobs with greater ease and peace of mind.

Most of us are used to being supervised and told what to do.  When we were children, most of what we did was under the guidance of our parents.  They would be watching us, telling us what we could or could not do, where we could or could not go.  They showed us how to do things.  If we did something good we were praised and rewarded.  When we did something bad we were reprimanded.  This dynamic carried over into school, where our teachers became our surrogate parents and there were rules to follow just like at home.

A job is what most of us have transitioned into after finishing school (and some of us while in school) to replace the environment but still maintain the same relationship dynamics between our parents and our teachers.  Essentially, our bosses are our surrogate parents at the workplace.  A job makes sense to most people because it is familiar (like family) and is something we are comfortable with.  Our job experience resembles our family experience and, without realizing it, is one of the main reasons why most people find it difficult to be a business owner or entrepreneur and instead find it easier to gravitate towards a job working for someone else.

Work from home jobs will require that you become familiar with being independent, being comfortable with working for yourself and getting work done without supervision.  They are a middle step between a traditional job and running your own business (whether a “brick and mortar” business or marketing your own service or product online).  Real work from home jobs will require a bit of business owner thinking and discipline since, essentially, you are an independent contractor and will be “prospecting” for work as you would be prospecting for clients (though some positions can be long-term projects).  Work from home jobs will require that you are able to be productive without having someone watching over you (though there will be metrics that will be analyzed to ensure you are doing your job).  This can be challenging for a lot of people because most of us are used to the rigid structure of a workplace and can be easily distracted at home since the usual mentality is “no one is really going to know what I’m doing.”  Most people associate home with relaxing and not working, so making a mental shift to being productive at home and getting paid for working from home is challenging.  Most of us are also used to getting paid a wage per hour.  Though most work from home job opportunities offer hourly wages, the flexibility of working the hours you want, together with the associations of staying home and relaxing, are mental obstacles difficult to overcome.

Perhaps I’m making the mental aspect of working from home seem like a daunting challenge, but, although it is very important, it’s not that hard to overcome.  Work from home jobs are a relatively easy transition from a workplace.  It’s challenging to find good, long term, legitimate work from home jobs at first and this is usually the phase (the start-up phase) that requires the most perseverance, but once you start working from home, the new mentality will become habit and you will be on your way to long-term success working for yourself.

Some of the alternatives to work from home sales jobs involve traditional office jobs that can be done via telecommute.  These positions include administrative assistant services, medical transcription, data entry, bookkeeping, help desk related positions, and general customer service.  Many of these positions are advertised at a pay scale similar to one at a regular office ($8-$12 per hour).  Many companies are outsourcing their work to telecommuters because it saves on overhead costs normally associated with employing people at an office.  It makes sense:  why not have people do the same work that can be done at an office at home (since the people don’t really need to be at an office to do the work anyway) and save yourself the cost of running the office (electricity, rent, etc)?  Both sides win because the employer can still offer a competitive wage while still saving money per employee and the telecommuter can save expenses related to commuting (gas, dry cleaning, childcare) and create a work-from-home lifestyle that allows time flexibility and the ability to stay home (and be with your children if you are a parent).

The requirements for these work from home jobs will be very similar to the “brick and mortar” counterpart.  Most will require experience related to the position, some will require a certain amount of years of experience.  Most will require computer skills, particularly with Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Word and Excel, efficient data entry skills, and a minimum typing speed.  Keep in mind that many advertisements for office or clerical work-related telecommuting jobs are not real work from home jobs (see previous post) but are marketing opportunities or even scams.  In either case, all positions will require enough self-discipline to do your job well, without supervision, as if you were “at the office.”

Administrative assistants, or anyone with related experience, parlay their work into the home based arena as virtual assistants.  This line of work actually becomes more of a home based business than a job.  Medical transcription is also a more specialized work from home job opportunity in that it requires specialized training and certification, particularly to find home based positions, and usually will require a certain amount of experience in a clinic or doctor’s office before transitioning to home based employment.

Where can you find these types of work from home jobs?  They will likely require some extra research to find.  Perhaps the best place to start is to do a Google search for “work at home jobs,” “stay at home jobs,” or “work from home jobs.”  There are some websites dedicated to listing these kinds of telecommuting opportunities, some will charge a small fee to see listings (but usually worth it to find legitimate work from home job opportunities).  There are forums that discuss work from home jobs which are a great resource to finding virtual employment.  Although finding the right opportunity that fits is challenging, there are legitimate work from home jobs that you can be qualified for and be comfortable doing in the “office job arena,” and it’s just a matter of doing the extra research to find them.

Most, if not all, of the work from home advertisements do not disclose the full picture.  A lot of work from home jobs do offer the convenience of no commute, saving on gas, eliminating day care if you have children, and usually a more flexible schedule, but there are certain requirements to be successful in the home based work environment.

Most legitimate work from home jobs have strict and specific requirements to be qualified to work from home.  Many opportunities essentially consider you an independent contractor so there will be some legal and tax implications that will be important for you to understand and abide by.  Many employers will require a thorough background check and will require a fee to conduct it.  Customer service work from home jobs will particularly have specific equipment requirements including having a land-line phone (no cell phone or VoIP phone service, although some VoIP services may be approved, depending on the company), a PC with specific software requirements (including anti-virus, firewall, etc), and a specific work environment free from distractions and noise.  Some of these requirements may require a monetary investment before being able to take a call.

One of the most important requirements to meet, particularly for work from home sales jobs, is your skill-set.  The highest paying opportunities will require solid sales skills.  If you’ve worked in sales before, particularly in a call center environment, you will have the highest advantages to be successful in most home based jobs and make the most income.  Most work from home job opportunities are sales-based, so if you are uncomfortable in sales, it will be more challenging to become a rep in this line of work.  Most companies conduct a few tests to determine your sales skills.  The better salesperson you are, the more opportunities you will have to get more calls (which means more income), and get the kinds of calls where you can earn a commission (which, again, translates into more income).

When looking for work from home jobs, it’s important to be wary of the advertisements.  Many ads that advertise online work from home jobs are actually ads for network marketing or other related marketing opportunities.  There is nothing wrong with network marketing but it is more of a business than a job and requires a particular mind-set and usually a lot more investment capital than a legitimate work from home job.

There are also ads that talk about working from home by placing ads on Google or filling out surveys.  These are not work from home jobs and, in many cases, take you to a website that attempts to sell you a system that makes finding these surveys easier, or an ebook that talks about adwords, adsense, or affiliate marketing.  Essentially, these are marketing opportunities of a different kind.  One can make good money with adsense but it does take time and is not the home based job opportunity that you might be looking for.

Perhaps the most important requirement for being successful with work from home jobs is your mind-set.  It’s important that you have a good work ethic, one where you are able to be disciplined enough to work independently without someone watching over you and where you are able to stick to a schedule and work effectively during the time you’ve allocated for work.  It’s important to have somewhat of a business mentality, since, essentially, you are working for yourself.  If you meet the requirements that a work from home employer is looking for, then you can take advantage of the benefits that work from home jobs can offer.