Re: work from Home…
**This article from Reader’s Digest would help you.
What Work-at-Home Jobs Are All About**
If you’re willing to do your homework and use common sense, you
can find real toil-from-your-dining-table jobs, ranging from
telemarketing and virtual assistance to software development and
graphic design. It will also take you only a few clicks to see scams
worthy of a loan-seeking Nigerian prince. “Any kid in his basement
can make a decent-looking website,” warns Alison Southwick of the
Better Business Bureau. Indeed, one industry observer put the
ratio of scams to legitimate jobs at an astonishing 54 to 1. (Check
out BBB guidelines.) And no matter what, don’t send anyone
money, account numbers, or your Social Security number until
you’re well along in the hiring process and know exactly whom you
are dealing with.
Arise.com, workingsolutions.com, liveops.com, alpineaccess.com,
and westathome.com specialize in outsourced call center jobs that
can be done from home and generally pay $7 to $14 an hour. Read
the fine print, though, and you’ll find that some pay only per
minute you’re on the phone (like LiveOps, which takes calls for
infomercial customers), while others guarantee an hourly rate.
There can be charges for a background and credit check (not
unusual in this industry) as well as training, incorporation, and
equipment fees: a headset ($75 or so), high- speed Internet
access, a dedicated landline, and current software.
Then there are sites such as virtualassistants.com and tjobs.com,
which are in effect job boards that charge a fee for access to
listings. The trade-off is that you don’t have to weed through
postings to find ones geared toward home workers and there are
fewer scam listings. But anyone willing to do the work can
How to Find a New Job
The latest tips for job fairs and sites to help you land your next job.
By Cathie Gandel and Hilary Sterne
Additional reporting by Neena Samuel and Kathryn M. Tyranski
From Reader’s Digest
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generally find the same listings on free job boards, then do the due
diligence him- or herself. Momcorps.com is a free job board geared
toward stay-at-home mothers as well as a staffing service that lets
you post a detailed profile. Pay $9.95 a month and your profile
jumps to the top of an employer’s search.
Virtual marketplace sites—like elance.com, odesk.com, and
guru.com—link up freelancers who have specialized skills (like
video editing, blog writing, or Web developing) with employers by
having candidates bid for jobs. Grumblers complain that they’re
competing with offshore workers who give lowball figures to win
assignments. Sometimes the better listings cost extra-from $9.95
per month to $129.94 per quarter, depending on your field and the
site.
Some of the most attractive work-at-home jobs can be found at
vipdesk.com, which hires virtual personal assistants for clients. The
catch? You need to submit a résumé and writing sample, agree to
a background and credit check, interview by phone twice, train for
ten days, provide references, and be available to work nights,
weekends, and holidays. And you may have to wait. Hourly pay is
$14 to $20.