What kind of work from home jobs are available in the market today?  In my previous post I probably made it seem like all work from home jobs (or most of them) are sales-based.  There are other opportunities besides sales and there are other positions available besides those found through the more popular virtual employment companies.

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.

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