I just received a pleasant email from a work at home seeker basically telling me to "F off". Strangely enough it was after receiving one of my tips about preparing your home office for working at home.
In general I try to provide as many tips as possible to better prepare job seekers to work at home and edge out the competition. It's not enough to just provide you job leads because that's only half the battle. I send out these additional work at home tips because as a person that hires work at home seekers from time to time, I think it's important for you to know what we as employers expect. However during my "travels with work from home seekers" I've noticed that there are two camps and schools of thought. On one end you have the newbies who are fresh, eager, naive and haven't been jaded. Then on the other end there are the ones that have been around the block a few times. They have grown to become cynical and skeptical about any work at home opportunity whether legitimate or not.
Honestly I really sympathize and feel for the latter group. Who can blame these folks? Everyday there are some new slick bastards promising the equivalent of the Brooklyn Bridge but deliver nothing more than an empty wallet and awful aftertaste. So when I get a few nasty emails from these folks I don't take it personal. I've been there. But for those of you who haven't reached the late stages of the "Angry Work At Home Seeker Syndrome" (AWAHSS). I would like to share some tips that will help you avoid this contagious disease. Trust me you don't want to catch this career halting affliction, because ultimately you end up missing out on a lot of great work at home opportunities. Furthermore you just won't make money at home being bitter and angry.
So let's get proactive.
3 Best Ways To Avoid Job Search Frustration…
1. Follow Directions
As someone that has been on both sides of the fence as a work from home seeker and an employer I have some great insight on this topic. Nothing makes me hit the delete button faster than receiving an email from a prospective work at home employee that failed to follow my specific directions in a job description.
If a work at home employer states in job description, No resumes! Then don't be a trailblazer and send in a resume. I know how it is when you get in that submitting resume zone. You're just trying to get out as many resumes out there in the hopes that someone will respond. However when you don't follow the specific directions that an employer provides in a job description, It tells the employer you lack attention to detail and can't follow directions. And would you want to hire someone like that? So be sure to read those job descriptions very carefully and ask yourself have I addressed this employer's request?
2. Be Easy
Get your mind out the gutter, that's not what I was implying! Here's where I was going with that statement. Virtual employers are inundated by tons of emails and resumes everyday. Often they're already overwhelmed and frustrated because so many prospects are ignoring the 1st tip. So when they come upon your resume, the least you can do is make it easier for them to hire you. Try the following technique.
Prioritize your skills and work history based on the specific job description you just read. Yes, it means that you'll probably have to take a few extra minutes to adjust your resume each time you apply at a given position. But trust me it makes a world a difference for the hiring manager to be able to easily scan a resume and find the skill set being sought within a few seconds rather than trying to scan through your whole resume like a scavenger hunt which incidentally they won't!
Here's an example. Let's say you read a job description where a typist is needed that has experience with Microsoft Word, Excel, and typing 90 words per minute. It doesn't make sense for you to send in a resume where the first job listed is your experience as a Burger Flipping Technician at McDonald's. Sure you may have worked at a doctor's office typing 100 words a minute and was your company's resident Microsoft office wizard. But I won't know that because you buried it on the last page of your resume which incidentally I stopped reading after the first job within 10 seconds. Don't be difficult, Be easy! You shouldn't make an employer struggle to figure out if you qualify for a given position. Just give up what they want right upfront and be quick about it.
3. Network!
Ever heard the expression, "It's not what you know, it's who you know" or "Birds of a feather flock together." Well the same applies for work at home seekers. LinkedIn is a wildly popular professional social network website totally geared towards this concept! It's where people can connect with other friends and colleagues but in a work and networking capacity. It's not really geared towards working at home but you never know who you can run into on Linkedin that can offer you a partial telecommuting arrangement. With that said there are other great places where you can meet people that already work at home or provide leads on companies that are hiring work at home seekers. Visit parenting and work at home message boards and actively participate. You'll make friends but more importantly you often hear about work at home positions before they get out to the general public. Below are some great places to network with other work at home seekers:
CafeMom.com
Mylot.com
WAHM.com
Bonus Tip
Well those are my 3 tips. Hopefully you won't post obscenities in the comment field below because I tried to give you some further insight. lol
Here's another bonus tip for you, Stay flexible! Too often work at home seekers become so fixated on one type of work at home job that they let other great work at home opportunities slip away. I know it was a big road block for me which caused me to be one of those bad mouthed cynical work at home seekers. Learn from my mistakes, explore different opportunities. There is a world of possibilities out there if you're open minded and really serious about working at home!
Eddy – thank you, thank you for all the wonderful tips. Like the rest who commented, I, too, am becoming frustrated getting this home job thing. I am a newbie so you can just imagine the excitement and vigor I have when looking and eventually applying. What’s not so great is the so-called, preference of these employers as regards location. I already have commented about me located in another country and employers trying to boot us out despite being qualified. 🙁 Poor us, huh? Just hope there would be someone out there who hires and eventually pays. Some employers gave me a chance but end up booting me out because of whim and did not pay me. Reported him at Rip Off and it worked well. He paid me! But does it have to go that far? You are an employer and I guess you would know the passionate worker versus the getting on with this job just for the sake of getting it on. You know what i mean? But despite all of these things, still hope to get one work at home lucrative job. I don’t mind putting all my eggs into it as long as my efforts and passion is reciprocated. Good job, Eddy! Keep it up!
I hear ya Felicity!
In terms of employers excluding you because of your location, try visiting my international page if you haven’t already:
http://www.workathomenoscams.com/international
I also added a new job board to this site that may also help you, so be sure to check it out as well:
https://www.workathomenoscams.com/2010/02/09/new-work-at-home-job-search/
A lot of folks have had great success with Amazon Turk:
https://www.workathomenoscams.com/2008/07/29/work-at-home-with-amazoncom/
So you should give that a try. At the end of the day keep plugging away. It will happen in time. There are a lot of folks that frequent this blog that have found work at home jobs or alternate ways of making money from home. You will be one of them soon enough. Take care and thanks for the love!
Hi Stacie,
You’re quite welcome!
Competition for traditional work at home will always be fierce. But you can still make money while trying to secure those jobs with non-traditional work at home opportunities:
http://www.workathomenoscams.com/recommendations
It’s not a lot of money but it’s better than getting nothing.
With that said, I’m glad you’ve decided to explore Medical Transcription. It’s definitely a career that has been in demand for many years and will continue. We’ve listed a recommendation for a company that provides training on the following page:
http://www.workathomenoscams.com/typing
You can get MT training anywhere but the company we list on that page provides job placement and financial assistance. These are the obstacles that tend to turn people away from this career. Most career training doesn’t provide any of this so that’s why we’ve recommended that particular company.
Hope it helps.
Eddy
Eddy,
Thanks so much for the article. It is very frustrating never finding an end to the search for work at home. I currently work outside of the home, but have been searching for just over 2 years now for legitimate work at home opportunity. I’ve found a few, but the competition is fierce, and as Mignon stated above, the competition is only going to get stronger.
I have seen you mention medical transcription in many of your articles and/or blogs recently. I am currently looking at attending school for this, as it seems like it is one of the few legitimate things continuously out there. I was looking at CareerStep, which appears to provide very good schooling for this sort of thing. Have you heard anything about the different schools or have any recommendations. I’m sure it’s in another article that I missed somewhere.
Thanks Waheed,
I’m glad you’re able to appreciate the advice.
You can receive more of our articles, tips, etc by subscribing here:
http://www.workathomenoscams.com/subscribe
You may also want to read the following article:
http://www.workathomenoscams.com/read
And we have much more advice listed in our articles page:
http://www.workathomenoscams.com/articles
Hope it helps.
Eddy
WELL SAID DEAR..
i always thought that every time i made some hidden mistakes but when i read your tips it seems that these are not mistakes. It was just a lack of concentration. Your tips conveyed a lesson which we dont want to accept but we have to becauze you are right. We have alot of feelings and thoughts about work at home but a minor efforts and practice. thanks again
please forward more tips.
Hi Marina,
You’re quite welcome.
I hear your frustration. But one of the ways to avoid this is to basically focus on work at home careers that are available with little competition such as medical transcription:
http://www.workathomecareers.com/typing
You may need training but it eliminates a lot of the nonsense that many work at home seekers go through.
So that might be something to consider.
Hope this helps.
Eddy
Thanks for all the great “tips” on working from home. Frankly, I’m a little frustrated and angry with the whole concept because I’ve been looking for YEARS (yes, years) to find a genuine work from home job with zero luck. I’ve been scammed so many times that it stopped being funny quite a while back. Now I find that I’m leary of just about everything because even some of the so-called “legitimate” stuff has turned out to be scams. Shhheeesssshhh! Give me a break – anyway I won’t go on but I’m almost on the verge of giving up hope of being able to work from home and just accept that I may have to go back to the hour each way commute. I know there’s a mountain of competition out there, but good grief.
Mignon,
Thanks for the great insight. I think I’m going to feature your comment so all can benefit from the additional knowledge.
I’m actually going to write some more about support groups very soon. Boosting your skills is definitely a necessity which I’ve touched upon in other articles. Too often people think just because you can type or do data entry that your skill set is enough to compete in this competitive market. But it’s not.
The key is to get skills that are actually in demand.
So thanks again Mignon! We really appreciate those wonderful tips. Hope to see you as a regular here on our blog.
Eddy
Like it or not there is an incredible amount of competition out there and it will keep increasing daily. Above are some incredible tips on how to end the work at home location frustration. But here are two others I think you missed.
Support Group
Before deciding whether or not the work from home option is for you, sit and talk it over with your family first. Your family is your first line of support – both financially and emotionally. They need to be involved from the get go as their unhappiness or unwillingness to support your decision can often make or break you.
Boost Your Skills
Make yourself stand out heads and tails above the competition by mastering a high-demand skill. Search the job boards to see what most employers are really looking for. Some great low cost options to boost your skills can be found at your local library (there are many self directed books available), or via free online tutorials.
Other than that I think Eddy summed it up best. Good luck and God bless to all!
Nancy,
Just the fact you’re willing to be open to other possibilities will help you succeed faster at working at home than most of our counterparts.
Eddy
Thank you very much for the encouragement. I’ll keep on searching until I find that elusive at home position. Also, thanks for the tip to keep an open mind about other possible positions that are available — instead of focusing on just one that you have your sights set on.
Well Said Colleen!
Eddy
You hit the nail on the head when it comes to “following directions”. I have come across various programs and opportunities where the instructions insisted that you follow the directions given as written.
The same rule applies when applying for a job.
It is very important that a potential employee show that they are capable of following directions and if simple instructions cannot be followed from the get-go, then the potential employee needs to understand this is why they were not considered for employment.
It is also very important to not “put all your eggs in one basket” and to focus on that one job opportunity that you really have your heart set on.
The reality is that you may not be selected for that opportunity, so if you keep your eyes and ears open for other available jobs, you are setting yourself to become employed rather then becoming disappointed!
Thank you for the tips on working at home. I desperatly want to persue being able to working at home for income, but become very frusterated! I am having such a hard time finding a company with an actual job description, hours, rate of pay and details. Everyone under the sun wants to offer you “their proven system that will make millions…”, so long as you pay them to tell you how. Even then, I have seen too many people loose their money and not turn over one cent profit. Are there really companies that hire people legitimatly to work from home? I have two young children (single mom), no job, and now have no vehicle in an area there is no public transportation. If I could start earning money via internet it would really help out, but I am afraid by the time I find a job oppportunity it will be too late! This area where I live has also been riddled with layoffs, making getting a physical job difficult to get as well. Do you have any advice for someone in my situation?