10 Best Work at Home Jobs
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Steven
Rothberg, president and founder of CollegeRecruiter.com, says "an
increasing minority" of entry-level workers, are attracted to these
gigs. He says he believes social introverts make good candidates. "They
like working with people (but) they like interacting by e-mail and by
being on the phone. They dislike working in person with a lot of
others," he says, due to meetings and other "time-sucking problems" at
an office.
Self-motivation, discipline, job skills and
independence are key characteristics for at-home workers, says Stephanie
Foster of Poway, Calif., a former medical transcriptionist who runs the
Web site Homewiththekids.com.
A growing number of employers
appear to believe telecommuting is a good deal for them as well. It
reduces overhead expenses, allows access to talented workers who may not
be available locally, provides off-hours support and helps retain
employees, says Sara Sutton Fell, CEO of FlexJobs.com, a Web site that
aggregates hand-screened telecommuting/work-at-home jobs. "We've seen a
real broadening of the audience of both employers and job seekers."
Consider
these 10 jobs -- some rather traditional and others unexpected -- for
interesting at-home work and good (if competitive) prospects.
1. Virtual assistant
This
is a field with much potential, in part because the title description
covers many things. "You can fit your offerings to what you know how to
do," says Foster. One can own a virtual assistant business or work from
home for a company that makes you available to other employees or
clients. Homewiththekids.com, for example, currently features a dozen
such companies. Small businesses hire virtual assistants to help when
they can't justify a permanent employee. The International Virtual
Assistants Association, which Durst co-founded in the 1990s, began with
28 members and has grown to more than 600, who charge from $15 per hour
to more than $100 per hour.
2. Medical transcriptionist
As
Foster knows, being a medical receptionist is a demanding job, and
nearly every company listed on her site seeks applicants with experience
and/or training from certain schools. The work involves listening to
and typing up dictation from doctors -- some of whom have difficult
accents, slur words together, and even "eat, drink, chew gum (and) talk
to other people in the room" while dictating, she says. But hearing
about medical matters can be interesting, and good transcriptionists are
in very high demand. Expect initial earnings of less than $10 per hour,
but some transcriptionists earn $20 or more per hour.
3. Translator
Those
with fluency in more than one language translate audio files or
documents, not just word for word but often with cultural differences in
mind. "Companies can access home-based translators with hard-to-find
language skills without being held back by geographic location," says
Fell.
Foster's site lists 15 companies that seek home-based
translators. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Outlook
Handbook 2008-09, which groups translators and interpreters, notes a
projected employment increase of 24 percent over the 2006-to-2016
decade, much faster than the average for all occupations.
The
national mean hourly wage for translators and interpreters was $20.74,
with a mean annual wage of $43,130 as of May 2008, according to
estimates by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Some industries pay
significantly higher, with the highest paying jobs generally in the
management, scientific and technical consulting services areas, in which
the mean hourly wage was $56.50 and the annual mean wage was $117,530.
4. Web developer/designer
Information
technology is the sector, Durst says, where most of the home-based
hiring is being done. Terri Orlowski, a virtual assistant and Web
developer based in Ledyard, Conn., offers services such as custom Web
site design, template modification and redesigns, code updates, hosting,
and usability reviews. She previously held administrative positions in a
variety of industries, and makes a higher per-hour rate now. The job is
in high demand. Of the more than 15,000 new monthly work-from-home job
postings on Odesk.com, Web developers are in the greatest demand, says
spokeswoman Elizabeth Gordon. A list of companies that post at-home tech
jobs is available at ratracerebellion.com.
5. Call center representative
When
you phone to order something from a catalog or infomercial, a big
office with rows of cubicles may come to mind. But the person on the
other end of the line is likely to be sitting in a home office. "It's a
huge and growing industry," says Durst of companies that hire
independent contractors to take calls from home. She says the
"home-shore movement" started in response to complaints about the many
companies that looked offshore for workers. While some Web sites, such
as Alpineaccess.com, actually hire representatives, most use
subcontractors. Just be aware that the pay may be by the minute rather
than by the hour, so you may not be paid for time you spend waiting by
the phone. A list of companies that hire call center reps can be found
at Homewiththekids.com.
6. Tech support specialist
Call
centers also hire technical support specialists to work remotely. Kate
Lister, co-author of "Undress for Success: The Naked Truth About Making
Money at Home," names it as one of her top three "best-bet work-at-home
jobs." And according to the Occupational Outlook Handbook, jobs for
computer support specialists (on-site and remote combined) were expected
to increase by 13 percent from 2006 to 2016 -- much faster than the
average for all occupations -- with 71,000 new jobs.
7. Travel agent
Scams
abound in the travel industry -- particularly organizations that charge
for information on how to break into the field. But operating a
home-based travel agency can be an excellent business, says Tom Ogg of
the Home Based Travel Agent Information Center. "Real home-based travel
agents have experienced robust growth over the last decade, and there
are probably around 35,000 of them and growing." A growing (although
small) number of people earn $100,000 or more a year, he says. "A solid
business concept and plan focused on profitability will take you a long
way to achieving your monetary goals." There's also the joy of helping
others enjoy their leisure time.
8. Teacher
From
postsecondary education to elementary schools, there are opportunities
for students to learn virtually. Along with that, come opportunities to
teach (and tutor) virtually. While distance learning is not new,
advanced technology, collaborative multimedia software designed for
schools and high-speed Internet connections have created more
opportunities for teachers and students to work together from afar, says
Fell. Durst has also noticed more teacher jobs being posted, and she
knows of one professor who works mainly online and makes six figures --
although income "depends on how many hours you're applying to it and the
type of classes you're teaching." A resource center for online teaching
jobs can be found at GetEducated.com.
9. Writer/editor
Yes,
the print publishing industry has been suffering, but Durst is seeing
frequent listings these days for writing, editing and proofreading,
particularly for the Web. Even those without writing experience can join
the blogosphere. Not only can blogging be lots of fun, Foster says, but
also there's money to be earned blogging for someone else's site,
getting paid to post on your own blog or through revenue-sharing
arrangements. A list of blogging opportunities, for which the pay range
is less than $5 per post to more than $20 per post, can be found at
Homewiththekids.com.
10. Franchise owner
It's
a no-brainer: Owning a business can be the road to at-home work. For an
initial investment, franchises may offer a ready-made business with
brand awareness, a system and a territory, says Leslie Truex, founder of
the Web site Work-At-Home Success. She advises considering businesses
that target the over-50 crowd or the self-employed, involve health and
wellness, relate to the "green" movement, or involve electronic or
online devices (i.e., accessories, applications).