[Guest Post] Finding a Work from Home Job

Today’s guest Post is from Career Step, a leading voice in online business education. Do enjoy reading and leave a comment
Just imagine how good life would be if instead of weaving your way through daily traffic to reach your office, all you needed to do was to walk a few steps to the next room.

What would it mean for your family if you had more time to spend with them? How impressed would your boss be to notice a sudden spurt in your productivity because all the time and energy you save on commute, meetings and idle office chat is now spent on actual work?

What about moms who never have it easy whether they decide to work or stay at home? What if these stay at home parents could care for their babies, while making a financial contribution and feeling mentally alive?

All the above situations may sound too good to be true, but they’re not. “Work from home” are the three magic words that can turn these dream situations into reality!

But before we go any further, it must be said that finding legitimate work from home opportunities may actually turn out to be harder than finding an office job. Why, you ask? Simply because for every genuine work at home job, there is scam waiting in the wings ready to make a meal of innocent folk.

So, here are some steps you can take to find real work from home job opportunities without falling prey to online scams:

Negotiate with your employer
The best place to start searching for home-based job opportunities is your current workplace. You may be surprised how receptive employers can be to the idea of working from home provided your profile allows telecommuting. They have as much to gain from it as you, so don’t hesitate to broach the subject with them.

Be honest about your situation and explain why you need to work from home. It’s possible that to begin with you will need to convince your employer of your trustworthiness. You can offer to telecommute for a couple of days in a week to start with and gradually move to a full-time work from home arrangement.

Change your approach to job search
Before you start looking for work at home opportunities, you should know that you may have to change your approach to job search.

Broad job search engines like Monster.com or Simplyhired.com are great for finding regular office jobs, but may not be very fruitful as far as work at home options are concerned. You should focus on websites that post work from home jobs or freelance opportunities exclusively.

You can also use keywords like “telecommuting,” “freelancing,” “consulting,” and “work from home” jobs on search engines like Google or Live to find work. However, be wary of the results that are thrown up as a lot of them could be scams.

Use the power of Internet to network

Internet is probably one of the best gifts of man to mankind! Cyber space is exploding with information and communication of all kinds and you can use it to your benefit when it comes to looking for home-based work.

Become a member of industry-specific discussion forums to network with professionals with similar backgrounds and interests. Some of these platforms may also host job listings, so that may work to your advantage.

You can also use professional networking websites like LinkedIn to connect with potential employers or recruiters. Make sure your CV is updated on such websites to harness best opportunities.

Get vocational training
At times, the field or the profile you’re in may not allow telecommuting. Does that mean you give up on your dream of working from home? Not necessarily. If you are willing to invest some time and little money into a vocational training program, it’s possible to start over.

This may work the best for people who are not the main breadwinners in the family as starting over would mean lower wages to begin with.

Some work from home options that can be explored after completing a vocational training program are in fields like medical transcription, medical billing and coding, graphic design, virtual assistance, legal transcription, technical writing, web development, etc.

Other work from home jobs like customer support, data entry, sales and telemarketing may not require specific training, but generic skills like communication, problem-solving, convincing power, typing speed, etc.

And if you’re lucky enough to have a talent for something like painting, photography, cooking, or music, you can turn your craft into a full time home-based business!

Just bear in mind that if you go out looking for home-based careers without any vocational trainingor experience, all you will find is trash!

About Career Step
Career Step is a leading vocational school with almost 20 years of experience in providing online career training specifically designed to help students acquire knowledge and skills needed to quickly transition to a successful career after graduation.

8 Ways to Use Social Media Effectively

That the social media is the new form of communicating and contracting businesses and getting one’s dream job is no longer news. But how effective is it working for you personally and for your business? As with everything in life the social media has it rules of engagement. If you follow them, the time spent on your various networks and groups will be more meaningful to you and your business.

But before you start joining various social networks you must know why you are online. This must be clear to you before your first tweet or post or article. When you are definitely clear on this, you would know what conversation to take part in, people/ company to accept as friends or follow. If you have been online for some time now take some time and re evaluate the reason why you are on facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or Google+. Ask your self am I fulfilling this purpose? If you think you have lost track it never too late to re strategize and focus on you social media goal so you can gain effectively from it.

To effectively use the social media, it is very important that everyone is;

1. Authentic and maintains a credible behaviour. – Don’t pretend to be who you are not let the real you come through in your conversation and what you have to offer if you are a business owner.

2. Have a picture on your profile people want to connect with you first before any wonderful message or product you have to offer. Expect it is a company page/ profile do have your picture on display.

3. Be careful what you write and who you ‘friend’ online. Before accepting anyone as friends especially on facebook be sure to check out the person’s profile. Yes profiles can be doctored but be sure to check a potential friend out before hand. If you have mutual friends see who they are.

4. Plan your time wisely or you just might spend the whole day moving from one profile or site to another site without a predetermined purpose. Know what you want to post and how many people you want to leave a comment on their wall.

5. Have an aim to your social networking daily, weekly and monthly. What do you hope to achieve with your online presence. This will help you engage with others properly.

6. Don’t be a broadcaster learn to converse with others. Reply people’s tweets, leave a comment on their wall. If they say something that resonates with you leave a comment or like their post. It mustn’t all be business add a human voice to your discussions but don’t over do it. Have a balanced mix.

7. Let the topic of discussion / blog post on your web site tie in as much as possible with your tweets and facebook entries if you are a business owner.

8. Use social media to build long lasting relationships, get new clients, and launch your business or your products. Above all use the social media to get the message across that you are real and can be trusted.

Use the social media wisely and effectively.
Do leave a comment I would love to hear from you

To your Success,
Pamela Evbota