Now, the easiest answer is to take a look at your interests and start a home business. No experience required; after all, you're your own boss. But not everyone wants to own a home business. There's a lot of risk and no guarantee that you will ever earn anything with a home business.
Landing any job without experience is difficult, short of applying at fast food restaurants and such. Landing a work at home job is even more challenging. However, if you are willing to take some time to pick up a few skills, you can improve your chances.
The first skill you need is typing. How fast can you type? How's your accuracy? Spelling?
You'll want to be typing at a bare minimum of 40 wpm, but the faster the better. If you aren't at least that fast, search for free typing tutors and you'll find plenty online. Build your speed up. You will spend a lot of time typing at pretty much any work at home job.
If you're interested in data entry, you'll also want to work on your 10-key skills. Data entry often involves a lot of numbers, and if you can use the 10-key part of your keyboard effectively you will improve your productivity. Most work at home jobs pay on production, so this skill can help you to earn more money.
Perhaps more important than either of these two skills is your comfort level on a computer. Most work at home jobs require a lot of time on the computer. Fortunately, you'll be using the same programs over and over, but you need to learn to use them quickly. Just work on your computer skills, learn to use a word processor and maybe a spreadsheet such as Excel. Get comfortable with your internet browser. You probably use Internet Explorer. Make sure you are good with your email program as well.
These three skills will be good for you in many work at home jobs. Now you need to look at the particular kinds of jobs you are interested in to figure out what else you need to learn. If you want to do medical transcription, for example, you'll need to look into the better medical transcription schools.
The challenge when you lack experience is proving that you do indeed have the skills required to do the job. Fortunately, there are ways to prove yourself before landing a job.
Head on over to Brainbench . You might have to pay for the tests, but you can take tests that will prove you have skills relevant to the job. Most of the tests cost about $50 each, but some are free. They recommend about seven tests in the customer service category, but I don't believe you would need to take all of them just to get a job, so don't panic. Definitely take the typing test; it was free when I checked. Only pay if you think you need to prove a skill and you can afford it.
Can taking tests really help you to land a job? It certainly can't hurt. When you lack experience you need to find other ways to show that you can do the job. Take a look at the job requirements and try to figure out how you can show those skills in a resume.
If it's more creative work you're looking for, and you need a portfolio, one of the best ways is to find someone who needs a small job and do it for them for free. You'll get something you can refer to as experience, and they'll get the work done. Don't make a habit of working for free, of course, and in fields where you don't need a portfolio, this won't help so much.
Finally, keep in mind that even people with great work experience often take several months to find a work at home job. It is not an easy task. Keep trying and work on your skills.
Each week I find hundreds of work-at-home job announcements from companies looking for qualified employees to hire. Despite the abundance of work-at-home jobs, millions of people who want a work-at-home job continue to fall victim to scams and deceptive schemes. If you have been struggling to work at home, here are the three steps you must follow to be successful.
Step One: What can you do?
You wouldn't use a search engine and sign up for the first thing that sounded good in a traditional job search; yet, so many people take this approach to finding a work-at-home job. One of the most important ideas you need to understand is that work-at-home job searches are just like traditional job searches. Employers are looking for people with specific skills and experience to fill specific jobs. You won't simply sign up for a work-at-home job. Instead you'll need a professional resume or application that sets you apart from the competition. All this starts by listing your skills and experiences. Don't limit this list just to job skills. Also include volunteer experience, hobbies, and interests. Note the duties and activities your "jobs" involved and the things you've learned from your experiences.
Step Two: Look for jobs
Most people get in trouble in their work-at-home job search because they look for the wrong jobs in the wrong places. In Step One you learned that work-at-home jobs are no different from traditional jobs and as a result you've made a list of all your experiences. In Step Two you need to begin to search where employers post jobs. You can find work-at-home job announcements on job sites such as Monster.com and Careerbuilder.com by using "telecommute" as your keyword. You still need to watch out for deceptive job ads on general job search sites. The best way to avoid them is to remember two rules: 1) never pay money to get hired and 2) never give or use your personal bank to help a company do business.
If you're serious about finding a work-at-home job, consider using a work-at-home job database. These services are not free (you're not paying to get hired, you're paying for the service of having someone else screen work-at-home jobs and allowing you to access their database), but they make finding jobs fast and easy.
Step Three: Apply, Apply, Apply
A successful job search requires creating a stellar resume or application. Remember, you're competing against hundreds, maybe even thousands of other applicants. You're resume or application needs to set you apart from all of them. You do that by tailoring your resume to the specific skills and experiences the employer is looking for. If the ad is for a transcriptionist to help a public speaker, share how fast you type, whether or not you have transcribed for other speakers or in the topic area the speaker specializes in. Indicate specific equipment or software you have experience with. Fit the resume to the job and you'll be showing the employer you're the exact person he's looking for.
Also, do as the application says, no more, no less. A common complaint with employers is that the applicants don't follow the directions. Don't try to be cute or creative. Use strong, active verbs to outline your skills instead of crazy font or gimmicks.
Finally be ready to apply to many jobs over time. Work-at-home employers are notorious for not getting back to applicants about their submissions, so you need to keep applying, following-up, finding more jobs and applying some more. Successful home-based employees find their jobs by never giving up the search.
With hundreds of employers looking for qualified home-based workers, the would-be telecommuter has many opportunities to find a job. However, like traditional jobs, work-at-home jobs are earned by showcasing skills and experiences.
Both Stephanie Foster & Leslie Truex are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Stephanie Foster has sinced written about articles on various topics from Credit Cards, Shopping and Pets. Stephanie Foster runs to help stay at home moms find practical ways to. Stephanie Foster's top article generates over 823000 views. to your Favourites.
Leslie Truex has sinced written about articles on various topics from Work From Home, Work From Home and Computers and The Internet. Leslie Truex owns Work-At-Home Success and is the author of The Career Woman's Guide to Work-At-Home Success due out by Adams Media in 2009. Get free jobs and job search resources with a subscription to her ezine! Visit. Leslie Truex's top article generates over 27100 views. to your Favourites.