October 2008 – The Work At Home Blog

Work At Home Resumes – Are You Making It To The Short Pile?

When you come across what looks like a perfect work at home opportunity, it can be frustrating to wait for a reply after applying. If you don’t hear back you wonder if it was something you said or something you didn’t say. The fact is, some companies that offer telecommuting jobs are just so backlogged with resumes that you might not hear from them unless you do two important things:

You follow their directions closely first and then
You make sure you stand apart as a cut above the others in the short pile

A hiring manager will generally sift through the large pile of resumes and glance quickly to decide if the pile will go into the trash or into a short pile to be looked at more closely. In work at home opportunities there is often a larger number of applicants than the advertiser initially expected so it starts off as a process of elimination before it becomes a close look at skills and suitability.

Here are some tips for getting from the tall pile in the resume inbox to the short pile of resumes actually being considered.

Follow Directions!

Follow directions! Because the interviewer has to weed through a lot of responses, they’re not going to read it if something is off from the start. Some companies put a test in their classified ad to make sure you can follow instructions such as asking for the resume to be sent in a specific format. Be sure you read and re-read the applying instructions otherwise you might get deleted before you’re even read.

Are You Qualified?
Don’t apply unless you truly are qualified. This is almost always true in a high demand work at home job because of the vast number of resumes coming in. Some hiring managers get hundreds or even thousands of responses when they send out a call for new hires so typically aren’t looking for an inexperienced intern. There are times when these types of learning opportunities are available but generally in the highly competitive telecommuting world those are few and far in between unless you have an inside scoop.

Personalize Your Application

Take the time to personalize the application. You might be sending your resume out to 100 work at home jobs a day but each prospective employer needs to see that you’ve taken the time to understand their advertisement. While it’s ok to use a template that you update for each job you apply for instead of taking the time to craft a brand new resume and cover letter, if you send a form letter you might be ignoring a specific direction on the classified ad and you won’t appear original enough. Take some time to research the company and you can inject a bit of this research into your resume. Showing you’ve taken the time to learn about the company can set you apart from the crowd.

Do you work at home? What are your secrets for standing apart in the crowd?

Work At Home Job Lead: Work As A Google Rater

If you’re interested in working from home as a Google quality rater, there is a lot of call for this if you have specific language skills in French, Dutch, Persian, Italian and other languages.

Job application URL: http://www.google.com/support/jobs/bin/topic.py?dep_id=1094&loc_id=1628

More information:

http://www.wahm.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=180800&PN=1

Who/Where/When/What’s A Google Rater and How Much Does It Pay?

Google raters are under NDA (non-disclosure) so you’ll have to apply to find out.

Work At Home Job Lead: Help Desk Jobs

WAH Help Desk Job lead: If you’re looking for a tech support help desk support work at home job, consider applying to a company like Telvisio. Many jobs like these pay telecommuters for the time they’re on the phone. If you’ve got experience with this company, feel free to comment below about how you enjoy working for them.

Help desk jobs operate all over the world 24/7 and are often great paying if you’ve got experience and a good broadband connection.

Help Desk Telecommuting Tip:

Why work as a telecommuter in the tech support field? This is a flexible type of job that often has many shifts available. You could conceivably have flexible hours with the ability to put in a lot of overtime hours. Saving money on commuting and dry cleaning could make this a great option.

Most people who have small children underfoot wouldn’t find this to be the right type of job since you cannot have background noise unless you have a door you can close and in-house childcare.

This job lead not verified, researched or qualified by the wah blog. Apply at your own discretion.

Work At Home Job Lead: Telephone Interviewer Jobs

If you want to be paid piece work for interviewing on the phone, you can find these types of jobs that offer you positions calling people with interviews about consumer product use, election polling, etc.

These jobs typically require you to pay for your own long distance calls but many online calling plans can be purchased with unlimited calls through your long distance company or VOIP provider.

Public Opinion Research, Inc is a company that regularly hires work at home phone interviewers. You can apply here at work at home phone interviewer jobs.

This job lead is not researched or qualified by The WAH Blog. Apply at your own discretion.

Make Money Writing How-To Articles At HowHub

Interested in getting paid to write how-to articles? Like eHow, HowHub is willing to share advertising revenue with writers willing to write how-to articles. If you join HowHub, you can make 50% of Adsense earnings. Your Adsense publisher ID is used directly in your profile and you can upload as many how-to articles as you’d like. HowHub has publishing guidelines and they do check all articles before they go live.

Will this be a big moneymaker such as eHow? Hard to say but How-To’s are a HOT niche and trend as more and more people look to the Internet in order to do it themselves.

My Opinion:

Making multiple streams of passive income is a great way to make money online from home and a site like this could net you earnings months after you’ve taken the time to write the article. It doesn’t hurt to join the site and try it for a while to see if you make any money at it. If it doesn’t pan out, you can continue writing for sites like eHow, HubPages, Squidoo or do your own ad-driven content websites.

If you’d like to join HubHow, click here

Happy Boss’s Day To Me! Work At Home Bliss

October 16 is boss’s day. Are you ready for it? Do you still have a boss or are YOU the boss?

If you’re a freelance work at home individual, time to treat yourself to something that shows your appreciation since you’re the boss! If you work at home and have a boss, send an e-card to show your appreciation for not having to ‘see’ your boss everyday!

As a work at home professional, here are some things I’m grateful to my boss (ME!) for:

Unlike at my old jobs, I never have the problem of someone else taking the credit for work I did! Ok wait..as a ghostwriter I kind of do but it’s ok ‘cuz I get paid extra for that!
If there’s a run in my pantyhose, no one stares.
If I feel like wearing pantyhose and no pants, no one cares.
The coffee is awesome here (it was beyond sludge at the Big Meatball [aka: where I used to work])
The boss’s door is ALWAYS open and she’s very approachable! She just ‘gets’ me.
When I need time off, I GET IT; no questions asked!
I have unlimited earning potential here
No daycare fees and I can watch the Y&R and Coronation Street every day from my job

If you want to learn how to be your own boss, check out Legit Online Jobs

or find wah job info here.

If you work at home, what do you love about being your own boss?

Freelance Work At Home Tips: Diversifying The Egg Baskets

Working at home as a freelancer has its perks. Beyond the lax dress code you can save money on commuting, dry cleaning, lunches, etc. If you’ve found a great work at home gig, it can feel like you’ve hit the jackpot. If you’re a freelancer, you really don’t have just one boss and it can be liberating to be self-employed. A lot of freelancers find one big client to help pay the bulk of their expenses and extra clients are ‘gravy’ clients.

But is it save to work for one source?

If you’re a freelancer, you might consider diversifying your streams of income so you’re paid from more than one source. Or, do your best to get a contract. Freelance writers, freelance photographers, freelance web designers that get the bulk of their work from one client are in danger of being unemployed if they don’t have any type of work guarantee. Today could be payday and tomorrow could be the bread line if you’re not careful.

If freelancing and you have no guarantees of specific quantities of work from a big client, you need to diversify your income so that if there’s no chance of a contract and notice of any volume changes, you’ll be safe.

What if the big client eats up all your time?

If they keep you so busy you don’t have time for anyone else, do your best to put a buffer amount in savings and keep the pavement pounded regularly to watch for other jobs just in case.

Some clients don’t ever give you a contract and the work never runs out but if you’re not watchful, the rug could be quickly pulled out from under you and you could find yourself in trouble.

Budgeting, savings, a contingency plan and keeping up to date on available work at home jobs in your niche will all be helpful.

Pajama Uniforms – Work At Home Ideas

Want to work at home but not sure what you’re qualified for? Here are some ideas of ways you can make a part-time or full-time income working with your PJ’s as your uniform!

Virtual assistant. Virtual assistants can work from home, make money online, have a flexible schedule and work in their pajamas! You can work for one company or as a freelancer
Freelance writers. Freelance writers can make money writing online content articles, blogs, manuals, press releases and more.
Telemarketing. You can have a special phone account set up at home and do telemarketing in your spare time and make money from home.
eBay selling. A lot of people are are making money selling things on eBay. Worried you don’t have enough junk in your garage / basement to sell? That’s ok. eBay doesn’t have to be done with old stuff. You can set up an online store selling wholesale products that you don’t even have to stock!
Affiliate marketing. Promote products online through various programs and make a commission
Do surveys for cash. Some sites will pay you money for your opinion. Sign up with a bunch of these sites and get invited by the higher paying sites and you can get some great rewards
Socialize online. This is an interesting and relatively new concept. A lot of new sites pop up that will pay you to hang out, play games, post in forums and more.
Forum posting. Forums are a big thing for companies and online revenue sites and many of them need professional conversationalists to help them keep conversations moving or moderate discussions.

As you can see, there are a lot of ways you can put your computer to work! For some more ideas, take a look at Legit Online Jobs

Survey Cash – Opinions Wanted From Moms

Interested in earning money with surveys? Anyone can do it if they find out about the highest paying survey companies around. Market research is a vital tool for companies to make more money and their biggest target right now is women, especially Moms. Moms do a lot of the buying for their homes, their kids, themselves, their husbands and companies want their opinion so they can develop new products geared to what the average consumer wants.

Which Companies Will Pay for My Opinion?

There are a lot of companies that are geared for market research like Ipsos Reid, Pinecone and others. Not all panels are open to everyone and you can sometimes get on priority lists to get invited to surveys that pay above average. Some women who fill in surveys part-time can make enough to supplement their income nicely with very little work involved.

What do they want to know? Companies want to know:

What you’re buying
What’s important to you in terms of the brands you choose such as brand recognition, company culture, corporate responsibility and green living.
These companies also want to know what planned upcoming purchases you might have as well.
They may ask your opinion on potential advertising campaigns with logos, slogans and even want to send you free samples to try.

How much money can you make?

Some surveys will pay a few dollars and some pay the equivalent of a few hours wages. Certain market research groups that can be invitation only can pay hundreds of dollars for your opinion. Where can you find companies who want your opinion? There are a lot of them online. Some offer minimum amounts, some ask for courtesy surveys and some companies really don’t advertise for help but if you find out about a hiring campaign, you can make some excellent money.

For more information about making money with surveys, visit: Makemoneytakingsurveys.org – a respected organization helping people earn maximum cash from surveys with a membership that offers a money back guarantee.

Earn Money Writing With eHow

In the past, I’ve written for ehow as a ghostwriter working for a copywriting company and made good money at a flat rate an article. The thing about ehow earnings though, is that they can bring residual passive income month after month if you write for them directly. Why don’t I write for them directly and make passive income? The eHow writer compensation program is currently only open to U.S. residents and I am a Canuck. Drats.

eHow’s writer compensation program doesn’t give you a spefic pay per click commission structure. Much like Google Adsense, it’s a mystery. High paying keywords and great SEO will help you make more money from it.

If you write one ehow “how-to” article a day, within a few months you could be getting a very decent amount of money on a monthly basis. My writer friend Maria has been getting pretty monthly checks lately and just had her biggest cheque yet with almost $900 in September 2008 from her 202 articles which have been added regularly for the last several months. Even though she only wrote 11 new articles recently she’s earning from the last several months of work. Maria wrote a book about her strategy which is selling like hotcakes! I love freelance writing but when you sell it once, that’s it; your buyer gets to make all the future residuals. The eHow compensation plan lets you make passive income indefinitely!

Write one a day in your spare time and see what happens! Want to read a copy of Maria’s ehow book?