How to Tell Legitimate Home Jobs From Scams
Opportunities touted as "legitimate" home jobs are usually anything but legit.
By Laureen Miles Brunelli, About.com Guide
http://workathomemoms.about.com/od/workathomescams/a/scamhub.htm
When getting started working from home, figuring out which are legitimate home jobs and which are work from home scams can be tough. As you cull through the many Internet job postings and ads, a pattern of deception becomes clearer, which in turn makes the truly legitimate home jobs easier to spot.
You begin to learn to spot the work at home scams, in part, because of the sameness of all their pitches.
So to find the legitimate home jobs and avoid the scams follow these tips:
•Use common sense. Think about the logic of an opportunity from the other side. How would the promoters of the opportunity make money if they are paying you so much for so little work? Also if a company's marketing strategy is primarily based on seeming legitimate, that is likely because it is offering a work at home scam...or at the very least a poor money-making opportunity. That's why any job that promotes itself in search engine ads as a "legitimate home job" most likely is not legitimate.
•Do your homework. Do not send money to any organization without thoroughly checking it out. Keep in mind that most legitimate companies do not charge job applicants and that business opportunities are never risk-free.
•Know how to spot the work at home scam. One tricky scam technique is to set up a whole website dedicated to revealing work at home scams and then funnel people to the few "legitimate" home jobs, which, of course, are not legitimate. But there are so many other tricks so read on for more scams.
•Know what the typical work at home scam are. While the work-at-home scammers are always coming up with new schemes, they tend to be variations on a few themes. Some of the opportunities listed below can be legitimate home jobs, but often they are so be very careful with any of these. And some you should always avoid.
•Direct Sales or Multilevel Marketing (MLM)
•Pyramid Schemes - Always avoid!
•Business Start-Up Kits
•Anything Involving Cashing Checks/Wiring Money - Always avoid!
•Home Assembly/Envelope Stuffing - Always avoid!
•Becoming a Product Re-saler or Wholesaler
•Stock Trading Systems - Always avoid!
•Directories of Telecommuting Jobs or Businesses
•Taking Online Surveys
•Mystery Shopping
•Data Entry/Call Centers (Some are legit but, the lure of these jobs is used to sell bogus start-up kits and other scams.)
•Avoid job opportunities found on advertising on search engines and many websites. Keep in mind that truly companies hiring for legitimate home jobs, like any other employer, are looking for qualified, reliable people to do the work. Screening applicants is a time-consuming process. So those casting a wide net by using Google or search engine ads are not as likely to be legitimate.
•Don't pay for opportunities. And in the real-world workplace, employers don't charge employees to work for them. And there are so many free resources like this list of legitimate work from home jobs by industry. Scams, posing as "legitimate business opportunities" will ask for money. The pitch is business are expected to have start-up costs. However, true businesses are typically not simple exchanges of unskilled labor for payment, as in home assembly and envelope-stuffing schemes. And a real home business is developed over time with careful planning and research, not purchased online sight unseen.
•Report scams. If you suspect that you have been scammed, report it immediately. Contact your bank if you've given out financial information and report it to your state's attorney general or any number of other authorities. Read more about how to report a scam.
Getting Started Finding Legitimate Home Jobs
When getting started searching for work from home jobs, look to your own skills first. There are many careers for work at home moms, but most start with skills gained in the external workplace.
Problem is that some people, who may be just starting in the workforce, may not have those skills. Or some are coming from a career path that is not easily transferable to the virtual workplace.
However, there are companies that hire work at home employees in jobs requiring a high school education or less. And the skills gained in some careers that can't be done from home, like nursing or other jobs in the medical field, can actually be used in home-based jobs like medical transcriptionists or call-center nurses.
Disclaimer: Sponsored Links and Ads on this site for jobs or business opportunities are not endorsed by me. They are automatically generated based on the content of the page. What you should know about Sponsored Links and Ads
MY THOUGHTS
these scammers are all over the net. never never pay for any job.
Showing posts with label telecommuting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label telecommuting. Show all posts
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
why work from home scheme (telecommuting) will not work
Telecommuting -- why it will never work
The home office is not the best use of a company's workforce and seldom helps the bottom line
By Howard Levitt, Postmedia News
http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Telecommuting+will+never+work/3716819/story.html
Working from home or, more poignantly, "not" working from home is the biggest boondoggle in the employment marketplace.
Lobbying groups react with outrage to this suggestion. And no wonder, in addition to their inherent conflict of interest, teleworking has become politically correct. Worse, as employers move toward flexible working arrangements to accommodate the participation in the workforce of women, single parents, the disabled and retirees, its usage is increasing.
Yet, when employers analyze their bottom line, they find that teleworking seldom provides value.
That should not come as a surprise for several reasons:
NO CROSS-POLLINATION
Teleworkers are unavailable to exchange ideas with their colleagues at meetings, beside the water cooler or over lunch, let alone integrate with the team. However, the more meaningful relationships you have with co-workers, the more you are relied on for your valuable input. This problem is exacerbated when supervisors and co-workers leave, and you need to develop relationships with new ones.
OUT OF SIGHT, OUT OF MIND
When there is a project to be assigned, managers first consider the person immediately available. In my experience, most teleworkers become under-utilized, in part, because employers stop assigning them meaningful work because they are not in the office. Increasingly, they miss the opportunities their coworkers at the office enjoy.
CORPORATE CULTURE
Increasingly, successful organizations have distinct cultures that enable them to succeed. Employees who seldom are in the office, cannot become familiar with their employer's style and values.
NO INSIGHT
It is difficult to produce good work if you don't understand your company's imperatives. Personal interaction with a supervisor provides the facility to understand the employer's needs, direction and personalities.
UNAVAILABLE
Even diligent teleworkers lack immediacy and reliability when decisions are made and work is assigned. In many cases, I have represented clients who terminated a teleworking arrangement when the employee more than once failed to answer the phone and often did not return urgent business calls for hours.
NO SUPERVISION
Not all employees are self-motivated. Some require monitoring, at least occasionally. In many of my cases, my firm has been able to establish the employees, who were supposed to be working, instead were conducting personal errands, visiting friends, even working elsewhere. I recently had two cases where my client learned, only after terminating the teleworking relationship, that the employee had been working for other employers at the same time -- a deception enabled by the teleworking policy.
NO NEW DUTIES
Many functions cannot be performed from outside the office. When the work being performed at home reduces, it is often difficult to find other work for the teleworker. Once accustomed to the lifestyle of working from the comfort of their own home, these employees invariably resist returning to the office.
DISTRACTION
Before approving a request to work from home or in dealing with an existing arrangement, there are a few things employers should consider:
- Only approve this for employees who work on commission, are paid by piecework or are otherwise remunerated solely based on discernible performance.
- In existing teleworking arrangements, are you obtaining value or has the employee been largely forgotten while receiving the same paycheque?
- Have a contract permitting the employee's reversion to working from the office, at any time in the future, if the employer prefers it.
- In the absence of such a contract, provide working notice of the return to the office. Otherwise, the court might deem the change to be a constructive dismissal.
-- Howard Levitt, counsel to Lang Michener LLP, practises employment law in eight provinces.
MY THOUGHTS
telecommuting is not something that can be implemented without much thought. there are jobs that can be done from home but there are certain positions that need to be at the office. work from home schemes can work with well-thought of procedure and with people who's mature enough to be left on their own.
The home office is not the best use of a company's workforce and seldom helps the bottom line
By Howard Levitt, Postmedia News
http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Telecommuting+will+never+work/3716819/story.html
Working from home or, more poignantly, "not" working from home is the biggest boondoggle in the employment marketplace.
Lobbying groups react with outrage to this suggestion. And no wonder, in addition to their inherent conflict of interest, teleworking has become politically correct. Worse, as employers move toward flexible working arrangements to accommodate the participation in the workforce of women, single parents, the disabled and retirees, its usage is increasing.
Yet, when employers analyze their bottom line, they find that teleworking seldom provides value.
That should not come as a surprise for several reasons:
NO CROSS-POLLINATION
Teleworkers are unavailable to exchange ideas with their colleagues at meetings, beside the water cooler or over lunch, let alone integrate with the team. However, the more meaningful relationships you have with co-workers, the more you are relied on for your valuable input. This problem is exacerbated when supervisors and co-workers leave, and you need to develop relationships with new ones.
OUT OF SIGHT, OUT OF MIND
When there is a project to be assigned, managers first consider the person immediately available. In my experience, most teleworkers become under-utilized, in part, because employers stop assigning them meaningful work because they are not in the office. Increasingly, they miss the opportunities their coworkers at the office enjoy.
CORPORATE CULTURE
Increasingly, successful organizations have distinct cultures that enable them to succeed. Employees who seldom are in the office, cannot become familiar with their employer's style and values.
NO INSIGHT
It is difficult to produce good work if you don't understand your company's imperatives. Personal interaction with a supervisor provides the facility to understand the employer's needs, direction and personalities.
UNAVAILABLE
Even diligent teleworkers lack immediacy and reliability when decisions are made and work is assigned. In many cases, I have represented clients who terminated a teleworking arrangement when the employee more than once failed to answer the phone and often did not return urgent business calls for hours.
NO SUPERVISION
Not all employees are self-motivated. Some require monitoring, at least occasionally. In many of my cases, my firm has been able to establish the employees, who were supposed to be working, instead were conducting personal errands, visiting friends, even working elsewhere. I recently had two cases where my client learned, only after terminating the teleworking relationship, that the employee had been working for other employers at the same time -- a deception enabled by the teleworking policy.
NO NEW DUTIES
Many functions cannot be performed from outside the office. When the work being performed at home reduces, it is often difficult to find other work for the teleworker. Once accustomed to the lifestyle of working from the comfort of their own home, these employees invariably resist returning to the office.
DISTRACTION
Before approving a request to work from home or in dealing with an existing arrangement, there are a few things employers should consider:
- Only approve this for employees who work on commission, are paid by piecework or are otherwise remunerated solely based on discernible performance.
- In existing teleworking arrangements, are you obtaining value or has the employee been largely forgotten while receiving the same paycheque?
- Have a contract permitting the employee's reversion to working from the office, at any time in the future, if the employer prefers it.
- In the absence of such a contract, provide working notice of the return to the office. Otherwise, the court might deem the change to be a constructive dismissal.
-- Howard Levitt, counsel to Lang Michener LLP, practises employment law in eight provinces.
MY THOUGHTS
telecommuting is not something that can be implemented without much thought. there are jobs that can be done from home but there are certain positions that need to be at the office. work from home schemes can work with well-thought of procedure and with people who's mature enough to be left on their own.
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