Looking for an online job can be a daunting project for even those of us who’ve been online for several years. But for someone just starting out in this digital employment world, it can be nothing short of overwhelming. Helping us out on our journey, we’ve got another great article by Tammy:
The Classic Do’s and Don’ts of a Work At Home Job Search
By Tammy Embrich
Many work at home job seekers are on a mission today, especially due to the critical, economic conditions of today’s society. It’s unfortunate that a significant number of individuals have lost their brick and mortar jobs and are in desperate need of some income. Some of these job seekers are steadily searching for their ideal job online.
Sadly, I see people everyday go about searching for a home job the wrong way. Basically, they simply don’t know WHERE to search and end up looking in the wrong places. Well of course, this puts them more at risk of getting scammed. Also…they go about searching with the wrong attitude or they are searching for only one type of job and are set on finding that specific job and nothing else. One needs to realize…there are various work at home options available.
I have put together some helpful do’s and don’ts when searching for an online job. Take your time in reading through them.
Do take the time to create a professional, well-written resume, including a cover letter. A legitimate company will require this from you. You will need to proportion your resume for the specific job you are searching for.
Below are some helpful sites for creating a resume…
http://www.quintcareers.com/resume-dos-donts.html
http://www.resume-resource.com/ – offers free resume templates, guides, and more
http://www.jobsearchtech.about.com/library/weekly/aa082597-3.htm – lots of free and inexpensive resume sites
http://www.tbrnet.com/resumes/resume-examples-and-formats.php3 – offers a free trial account
Do keep submitting your resume and applying consistently. It may take several times before you land a job. You need to be patient and submit to a LOT more than just a handful of companies.
Do make a chart of the job companies that you have submitted your resume to, including the date. This will come in handy and won’t result with you double submitting.
Do take breaks from your time on searching. If you devote ALL your energy on job searches, you’ll get stressed out, frustrated, and most likely give up.
Do visit job boards regularly.
Below are a few job boards for your searches…
http://www.careerbuilder.com/
http://www.indeed.com/
http://www.genuinejobs.com/
http://www.ratracerebellion.com/
http://www.careerbank.com/
Do visit work at home forums regularly. Set up an account on these forums and ask questions about specific companies and find out some of the well-known scams out there.
Below are a few forums for your searches…
http://www.real-wah-jobs.com/forum/
http://www.worldwideworkathome.com/forum/
http://www.wahm.com/forum/
http://www.wahcheck.com/forum/default.aspx
http://www.freelancemom.com/forum/index.php
Do visit work at home related websites
Do visit work at home blogs. Blogs have become progressively popular and a lot of them list job leads regularly.
Do tell all your friends to spread the word that you are searching for a job online. These friends will tell their friends and so on.
Do your own research on the companies that you would like to apply. It’s so easy these days to fall for all the scams that clutter the Internet.
Now for the Don’ts
Don’t approach your work at home search with a bad attitude and think that all job opportunities are scams. There are legitimate positions to be found.
Don’t set your mind on just one type of job. Be open-minded and explore all your options, according to your skill sets.
Don’t apply for a job online before researching the company first to check for scams.
Below are a few sites for searching for scam companies
http://www.bbb.org/
http://www.ftc.gov/
http://www.ripoffreport.com/
http://www.scambusters.org/
You can also type the company name into Google.com and the word scam to find any bad reports.
Don’t pay for a work at home job. Of course there are a few exceptions to this. For a customer service position, you will most likely be required to purchase a head set. For transcription work, you will need a foot pedal. A company may also require a background check from you.
Don’t be afraid to ask for assistance with your search. Forums are excellent for asking questions. Create a career-networking relationship with the members of the forum.
Don’t let the poor economic conditions of society stop you from consistently applying for jobs.
Don’t quit your brick and mortar job before securing a work at home position that matches your income.
Hopefully, the above tips will assist in securing a legitimate home-based opportunity. Happy job hunting!
Article Written By: Tammy Embrich
Tammy owns and operates two work at home websites, a work at home forum, a recipe site and three blogs.
She offers free work at home job leads for the job seeker, business work at home articles, tips, and more. You can visit Tammy at Work At Home Jobs and Work At Home Forums/.
There are a lot of scams out there and there are a lot of opportunities that would not fall into the ’scam’ range, but, are just not exactly worth your time. You have to be smart and keep your wits about you when trying to obtain work at home. Tammy Embrich has seen her fair share of scams, rip offs and just plain crummy opportunities and she has written a great article to get you thinking about how to protect yourself – and your time and your money – in this arena.
Work At Home Jobs–3 Questions To Consider Before Applying By Tammy Embrich
I’ve been in the work at home industry for nearly ten years and I’m still dismayed at all the work at home job scams that I see. But there is one difference over the years…unfortunately, these scammers have grown much wiser at scamming the average home job seeker. These same desperate searchers keep falling for these scams time and time again and of course, this only sets them up for even MORE fear of being scammed. And sadly, it all makes perfect sense that they end up giving up.
What most people don’t know…there is a solution to this. You can prevent yourself from being the fallen victim of a deceitful Internet scam! The secret is knowing exactly what to look out for when conducting a search for a legitimate work at home job.
Below are the three basic factors to look for in the legitimacy of an online company
1) Does the company provide contact information?
Contact with the employer is the most important. If you’re going to work for an employer, of course you will need to easily communicate with that person. Same as an offline job…you need communication. A legitimate company will always provide a real working phone number and/or a email address.
2) Does the company explain in detail exactly what you will be doing?
If the company is vague about what you will be doing and also states that you will easily earn X amount of dollars in a very short time, then you can bet it’s a scam. If you see this on a company website, don’t read any further…move onto the next job lead.
3) Does the company ask for start up fees or registration fees?
You should never have to pay for a work at home job. A legitimate company will not require start up or registration fees from you. The only fees that may be required from you is from a background check, headset (usually for customer support work), or a foot pedal (for transcription work). Sometimes you will find a company that will pay for all equipment needed to complete the job duties. But, if a company requires fees other than for stated above, then they are a scam. Don’t waste your money and fall for these schemes.
By following the above tips, hopefully your job search will be considerably less difficult and more importantly…you won’t be scammed from your efforts.
One Last Tip: If the job sounds “too good to be true,” than it most likely is.
For example: If the company states you will have guaranteed earnings of $25 per hour or more, I’d be skeptical of such a statement, and I would be sure to contact the employer directly to back this up. Always follow your gut instincts.
Much success to you with your work at home job search!
I get asked that question all the time! There are oodles and oodles of people out there that want to learn how to work at home on their computers. I know when I started out, I really, really wanted to find a way to make this work! I chased (and paid for! eeps!) a lot of scams, participated in a lot of programs that stole tons of time from me, with little to no return. I’ve learned the hard way on a lot of these things and when I look back at some of the waste – wasted time, wasted money – I just shake my head!
Who Should I Listen To, Lisa?
One big mistake that people just starting out online make is following and attempting to learn from, too many people. I definitely made this one. I’ve got my ‘chosen mentors’ narrowed down to just a few now and things are working a lot better. One of these awesome people is Lynn Terry, of Clicknewz and Self Starters Weekly Tips. Lynn has been working as an entrepreneur, most of those years online, for about 12 years now. And the really super cool thing about her is that she’s really nice and really approachable. The ‘OMG, Lisa – what’s wrong with you?’ part is that I’ve known her, followed her, since at least 2003. That is how long I’ve been a member of her forum, anyway. I have been listening to eighty-seventy-thousand other people, too, though! Now she is one of my few – and my head is not spinning quite as much as it used to!
Back to the question people ask me all the time – other stay at home moms that want to continue to stay home with their kids are usually who ask me how this all works. How do you get paid to blog? How does affiliate marketing work? How do you get listed in the search engines? I try to answer them, but, I think my answers come out disjointed. I try to start from the beginning, but, I always wind up zig-zagging and then I have to say, “Wait, back up a minute, before you do this you have to do that and it winds up being a dizzyingly circular talk! Ha!
How Do I Get My Own Site Up?
I did a few how-to posts in an effort to get started explaining things from the beginning – Lisa, how do you make money at home blogging? and Make Money Blogging – Part II. The first post will really help you just get started with your blogging. The second post offered some helpful resources for more research. Again, though, I don’t feel that I’ve explained things well.
But Really, Lisa, How Do I Get Started?
That is one thing that Lynn is really good at – explaining how, step-by-step, to do all the different things that we do. And she has a new post up, called, Starting A Free Online Business – that offers so much help to someone just wanting to get started! She just has a great way of explaining things! I’m pretty good at teaching little kids stuff, but, for some reason, I’ve really found it difficult to teach people what I do online. Lynn is awesome at that – the important thing is, you really need to follow the links within her post. She has written tutorials on just about anything and everything to do with internet marketing and she links out to them. Follow those links! Dig through her site! You will learn a lot from her!
Look at the categories of her blog on the right sidebar, also – you can dig through those to specific topics of interest to you. And if you can’t find something, use the search at the top right of her page. If it has to do with online marketing, I’ll just bet Lynn has blogged about it!
Seriously, when getting online, you need to be careful. There are some smooth characters in this arena that will win you over with their charm. All the while you think you’re learning the very best stuff from them, they’re draining your bank account or your paypal. Lynn is a REAL PERSON, not out to drain anyone’s anything. She is very smart in marketing, the online world, and entrepreneurship – you can’t lose stickin’ with her!
I recently explained here on the blog that my lack of work online is actually caused by information and life-overload! I’m learning SO MUCH and it is absolutely wonderful, but, sometimes too much learning – and not enough DOING – can be a bad thing! And then, of course, there’s all that ‘regular life stuff’ that gets in the way, too! I can get distracted and overwhelmed in nothing flat!
[Aside: Am I the only one in the world who continues to use the phrase: 'still pause'???! Quote from that last post: "Can’t the world still-pause while I get things in order here?" Ha! Along with my 'records' and 'albums' and 'eight tracks' and all the other phrases that keep me stuck in the 80's! 'Welcome to the 'how to work at home in the 80's blog, folks!']
Back on topic, though, I made that frustrated-I’m-overwhelmed-and-that’s-really-why-I’m-so-inactive-online post and the very next morning, Gary Vaynerchuk, one of the COOLEST dudes online, tweeted this:
That guy is always on! How does he do that? I responded back to him with this:
And let me tell ya – if he was selling ‘Gary’s Magical Motivation-in-a-Bottle’ – I would be the first one in line buying it! And really, just watching his videos gets you pumped UP! As a result of one of the answers to his above question, Gary made a video for GaryVaynerchuk.com. His topic doesn’t exactly address me in my current situation as a stay at home mom, but, I can definitely apply it and get some KICK A$$ use out of it! And I have! Watch the video and we’ll talk some more….
I LOVE THAT, PEOPLE! JUST LOVE IT! I have been using that since the minute I first watched the video. When I get tired, distracted, not sure what to do next – my brain whispers to me, “Hustle 2.0″ and then I get so excited, re-energized just from the thought of Gary’s inspiring message and holler out to my empty house,
HUSTLE 2.0!!!
Seriously, ya’ll – I just love it. It gets me centered and gets me focused. It’s so simple and so right on. Just sit your a$$ down and do something, you know? Make things happen! A bunch of lollygagging here and there is not gonna make anything work. Not. one. thing.
And another thing, being afraid of things working – forget that! Don’t waste opportunity, because, subconsciously, you’re afraid to succeed. Success is unfamiliar – we don’t (some of us) know what it looks like or feels like. What if it’s icky?
Are you crazy?! Hustle 2.0 and tell your subconscious to go fly a bloody kite!
That last bit, that lovely ranting lecture, was really meant for me, from me. I know I’ve done this multiple times in my life, but, quite recently, I let a very good opportunity, that I knew good and well was a great opportunity – pass me by. I was wondering about it yesterday and thinking that I probably let myself be ruled by my evil, Negative Nelly subconscious in letting that go. And that right there, folks, is nothing but just plain silly!
Sometimes I find myself in quite a stagnant place with my online work. I wind up paralyzed and usually spend my days mindlessly surfing the web. Some of it feels like I should actually be doing some of this web wandering – like reading up on new internet marketing techniques and happenings, but the rest of it is usually just nothing more than a wild goose chase. I can look at one person’s Twitter stream and get lost for two hours IN A SNAP! looking at the links they’ve posted and following through on their conversations, and then looking at the links their followers have posted…. Seriously – I’ll open ONE new email saying, ‘Joe Smith is following you’ and so, of course, I go check out his profile, so I can decide if I want to return the follow. I’ll check out his recent tweets, check out his website, follow a few of his conversations – and next thing you know – TWO HOURS have passed! All from opening one freaking email!
The crazy part of all of this is that a lot of this ‘mindlessness’ is actually caused by having too much on my mind! Here, let’s let my new friend, Gary, explain it. He said it so eloquently:
And that, my friends, is exactly where I’m at right now! And then some! I have so many blankety blank ideas bumping around in my head right now that it is driving me crazy. I’ve heard all kinds of different ways to deal with this and I think I’m gonna have to sit down today a few of them! I’ve been jotting things down in my notebook I keep beside me, but, that is just not helping. Well, it’s not helping near enough, anyway.
One thing I am thinking about doing, though I’m not sure if it’s the smartest way to go, is to just focus on one site at a time, and let the others sit and wait for their turn. I’ve got mountains of ideas in my head screaming at me for each site, though – so I don’t know if that will keep the peace in there or just make things worse.
And to top things off, there is actually life happening around me outside of my computer and the internet! The nerve! Can’t the world still-pause while I get things in order here? Sheesh! The kids have all kinds of band things going on almost constantly. (My daughter is now officially in band, too. So as of last night, we have three band members in the family – a trumpet, a trombone, and another trumpet. Yea!) There’s also that thing called school with all of it’s accompanying needs and demands. The housework is piling up. I’ve got a sore throat. (First sickness of the season – I went all summer without getting sick. Cool!) And I just found out that I’ll actually have FIVE kids for the weekend. I forgot I’d promised to keep my nieces. That means I have to keep track of two little kids at the football game Friday night. Oh my!
So you can see, all these things – kids, band, school, sicknesses, housework, nieces – they just don’t understand. I have work to do. Lots of work. Ay ay ay!
admin, April 14th, 2009 
Image by Getty Images via Daylife
Categories: Finding A Job Online | 
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