Dear Dr. Civitelli,
I’m a mom looking for a flexible schedule, maybe a work-at-home job. Are all work-at-home job sites scams or are there any legitimate remote jobs? If there are some legitimate possibilities, where do I find them?
Signed,
Madeleine
Chicago, IL
Dear Madeleine,
There are definitely legitimate work-at-home jobs, but you do have to be careful because so many advertised remote jobs are scams. In fact, the work-at-home job experts at RatRaceRebellion.com estimate that the scam:job ratio is about 60:1.
Home-based job experts and authors Christine Durst and Michael Haaren warn that job seekers should clear of jobs where you are asked to pay an application fee or make an upfront investment, where the ad says that no experience is necessary but the implied earnings are unrealistically high, where the prospective employer asks for personal financial data, or the posting itself creates false scarcity by stressing that only a few openings exist.
Here is a list of remote job search sites (updated for 2020 because of COVID-19).
If you land a job you like but the work is on-site, don’t lose hope. Flexible work expert Pat Katepoo says that many people who telecommute were able to do so by convincing their boss at their current full-time job to allow them to do so. Ms. Katepoo sells reasonably priced proposal templates to help you negotiate flexible work schedules such as telecommuting, compressed work week, part-time, job sharing, and maximum maternity leave.
Another option for people seeking work-at-home careers is to be self-employed and to offer expertise to customers or clients.
While finding or creating a flexible schedule might be challenging, please don’t give up. It is worth some effort to find the best solution for your work/family integration.
Hope this helps!