Tips on Finding a Stay-at-Home Position

One of the best things about working from home is the flexibility that it provides. If you want to volunteer in your kids’ classrooms, you usually can. If you want to drop them off and pick them up every day at school, you can schedule your work day around these important times. Granted, you’ll probably work some early mornings and/or late nights, but the ability to be home with some of the most important people in the world makes it all worth it. In order to find a decent at-home position, follow these steps:

Know the Scams

The main downside to working from home is that it can be difficult to find a “real” job that is not a scam. As the Houston Chronicle notes, it’s important to know which work-at-home opportunities are offered by scammers; these include crafts making, envelope stuffing and multi-level marketing schemes.

In addition, run from any company that promises to send you a list of at-home positions for a fee; while this might sound like a good investment, the list is usually bogus.

Be Wary of Online Job Postings

Websites like Craigslist, Monster.com and Indeed.com typically have lots of posts for at-home positions. While it is possible to find a decent position from time to time, you’ll have to proverbially kiss a lot of frogs to find your prince of an at-home job. In addition to being notoriously low-paying, there tends to be a lot of competition on these sites, so even if you find something halfway decent, it can be hard to get hired.

Learn about In-Demand Positions

Fortunately, there are plenty of at-home positions that are legitimate, offer flexible hours and even pay pretty well. Some of the best work-from-home jobs, notes BrightHub, include being a freelance writer and/or editor. Many large and small city newspapers regularly hire freelancers to write some of their articles. If you are a good writer and enjoy the work, look in the paper for the local and feature editors’ names, and give them a call to see if they are hiring. Pay rates vary greatly depending on your experience, the publication and the length of the article, but writers can typically earn between $25 and $200 per story.

Another reputable at-home position is in-bound call taking where you take calls for some major retailers. A great source of info about this type of work is AlpineAccess.com. All that's required is a good phone voice and a quiet room at home. The average pay is $10 an hour.

Other at-home positions include sales, virtual assistant jobs, search engine evaluator, and online tutoring. Providing daycare for area kids is another option — although you won’t become super rich, but you can control how many kids you watch and your pay rate.

Network & Research

In order to increase your chances of finding an at-home position, you’ll have to do your homework. Before inquiring about a potential job, take some time to research the company’s website, and if possible, speak with someone who already works for the company. For example, if a mom acquaintance answers calls at home, treat her to coffee and pick her brain about her work.

An example of a great jobs website that offers plenty of helpful information about the company culture is LifeLock; in addition to reading about the company and the services that provide, you can sign up for Lifelock's automated email alerts that will let you know right away if a remote position is open.

What is your go to method for job hunting?

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