Several people have asked lately " How did you get a job working from home?" Well,the answer is simple- I just got lucky. I had worked for a major company off and on for twelve years when they decided to do some downsizing. Lucky me,I was one of those who was let go. Frankly,I was secretly relieved because though I loved the steady paycheck,I had grown to hate the job. I was in a rut and needed to get out but had been stalling for so long that it took that jolt to wake me up. I just happened to have a friend who had a friend....who worked for one of the companies you see listed all over every work at home message board you will ever come across (LOL) and she suggested putting in an application. After my friend got hired pretty quickly, I decided to put my application in too and the rest is history! I learned very quickly that we just happened to apply at the very moment they were looking for a new group of agents, or it probably would have been months or even years before we would have had a job. As it turned out, when my first job ended and the new one began,I never even missed a day of pay. Call that LUCK people- it rarely happens that way in the telecommuting world. I see message boards full of posts asking for help in getting on with some of these well known WAH companies and there really isn't one single factor or piece of advice to give to anyone but I have found that there are alot of DO's and DONT's when finding and keeping a WAH job. First off,timing is critical to you getting hired. Everyone knows there are "peak" times and "slow" times. This is pretty simple to understand since we all see a hundred new faces at our local department stores in the weeks leading up to Christmas and then BAM,they disappear after the New Year. Telecommuting companies are the same way. They get contracts for new clients and there are a certain number of agents needed at any given time slot that need to be filled in order to fulfill the clients customers needs.If long term agents aren't fulfilling the hours that are provided,the company needs someone to pick up the slack one way or another,so this is when they may go on a hiring hunt for fresh faces....or um, voices maybe ? LOL...this also happens when a new contract is picked up. The virtual call center company needs to get a large(or small) group of qualified agents trained and ready to go to meet the expectations of the client in order to maintain a certain level of productivity to keep the contract they just picked up. This is where you would probably open your email and see a response to an application you submitted eighteen months ago and gave up on waiting to hear anything back on. Second piece of advice, BE FLEXIBLE when applying for telecommuting jobs. We all want to be our own boss,but we need to be realistic when offering our services to telecommuting companies. Who in their right mind would hire someone who puts down on their application that they are only available for 8-9am and 1-2pm Mondays,Wednesday and every third Friday of the month? Seriously,we need to be able to meet their needs,then work on meeting our own. This is just a matter of getting your foot in the door. Most of these companies are extremely flexible when it comes to scheduling every week. Some of them even let you schedule yourself five minutes before you log onto the phone and work! It doesn't get any easier than this folks!And if you cant spare a minimum of ten hours per week devoted to a company,why bother to try working for them at all? Some of us need to work just to make a credit card payment every month,some of us need to work to support our disabled spouse and a couple of kids every month. Everyone has needs and personal issues,don't let yours keep you from at least getting considered for a WAH job by restricting yourself on your application. Next piece of advice,make sure you have all of the computer/office requirements they ask about BEFORE you apply for a job. This is a quick way to NOT get hired for a job since they could call you at any moment and ask you to perform a certain function for training and you can't do it because you were not honest about having say,high speed internet or a phone line with no call waiting feature.It certainly isn't professional to have Aunt Martha call you while you are on the phone with a customer and you get kicked off of your call manager system while trying to handle a call in a required amount of time.Now while I'm on the subject of professionalism,lets talk about a QUIET uninterrupted work place,shall we? Think of how you would feel if you call Company "A" to make a transaction over the phone with your credit card and you hear a crying child,a barking dog and a tv blaring"Desperate Housewives" in the background. Would you feel comfortable giving this person your personal information? I would not give even my NAME to someone like this, since I would be afraid they would be on a plane to the Bahamas next week compliments of my American Express card account. I know this should go without saying,but I have heard stories of people losing their WAH jobs for silly things that they could have been in control of.Last, but certainly not least, when applying for one of the many jobs you will come across, make sure you are actually QUALIFIED for the position you are asking for. Why waste your time AND the time of the company by applying for a job with which you have zero experience in or dont have the time and patience it would take to learn ? This is the beauty of a company picking YOU out of the thousand or so applications they received. When you get hired for one of these jobs,do it and do it WELL-otherwise, rest assured,there are a million or so other people waiting who are more than qualified and willing to give it their best shot. Most importantly, use common sense when applying and accepting a job you find.I can't stress enough the importance of research,research and more research when starting your quest for the WAH experience. It is definitely worth your time and effort and the wait it may take to find the perfect job for you and the only thing I can say at this point is GOOD LUCK to all of you!

-Allison

TOP 10 WAYS TO AVOID WORK AT HOME SCAMS

1. Research the company and always check them out with the Better Business Bureau
located in their city http://search.bbb.org/search.html. Review their
work-at-home scheme information at: http://www.bbb.org/library/workathome.asp

2.  Ask for at least three references of people they have worked with. Contact
each person and ask about their experiences with the company.

3.  Be cautious of any company that asks for money to apply for a job.

4.  Don't be fooled by ads claiming you can make large amounts of money in short
periods of time. And be cautious of companies that require you to sign up
immediately. If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is.

5.  Get specific information (in writing) from the company such as how long they
have been in business, where they are located (not just a P.O. Box), how many
customers they have, what their refund policy is (read it thoroughly), how long
it takes to get paid and if there are any restrictions on payments, etc.

6.  If you do invest in a business opportunity, use your credit card instead of
cash. It may be easier to dispute the charges with your credit card company
rather than trying to get your money back from a fraudulent company.

7.  Research current scams on web sites such as ScamBusters at:
http://www.scambusters.com.

8.  Call the National Fraud Information Center at (800) 876-7060 for information
or visit their web site at: http://www.fraud.org.

9.  Report any scams or fraudulent companies to the Federal Trade Commission
www.ftc.gov, your state's Attorney General and the National Fraud Information
Center, PO Box 65868, Washington, DC 20035, (800) 876-7060.

10.  Don't invest in any opportunity that you are not sure about. Instead, find
something that you are interested in and will enjoy doing. (Do what you love, and
the money will follow.)