One of the most popular career related questions I am consistently asked is, "How can I find an employer to hire me to work from home?"  It’s an understandable desire.  After all, what mom wouldn’t love to have the flexibility of a work-from-home arrangement combined with the guarantee of a paycheck?  Talk about the best of both worlds!  

But like all employment arrangements, work-from-home employment has both positive and negative aspects.  So before I explain how to find these positions, let’s examine this relatively new working arrangement a bit more closely:  

Not all “work-at-home” jobs involve being home 100% of the time.   Some jobs, such as working as a reservations agent for a virtual call center, are 100% home-based (these positions are commonly referred to as virtual jobs).  

Other opportunities, such as being a mortgage broker or mystery shopper, require that you be away from home some of the time, since portions of your job must be performed away from the home.  

Still other jobs, particularly at the professional level, enable you to work at home but require that you physically check in with clients or at the office to attend meetings, conferences and other important face-to-face events.  So be aware that while you will be home-based, you may still need to deal with being away from home at least part of the time.  

Many people who find work-at-home opportunities are actually paid as independent contractors, not as employees.  Consequently, you may only be compensated for hours worked and you will be subject to interruptions in your cash flow.  If your idea of working from home involves a true employer-employee relationship, complete with steady paychecks, benefits, invitations to company picnics and the like, this might not be your best flexible option. 

Finding a professional level work-at-home job as a new hire is quite difficult to do.  Think about this from the employer’s viewpoint and it’s easy to understand why this is true.  Most employers offering legitimate work-from-home schedules are understandably reluctant to give remote jobs to new employees, preferring instead to offer these arrangements to seasoned employees who have demonstrated their value and work ethic. And because working from home is so attractive to most people, it’s usually easy for a business to find an eager work-from-home volunteer internally, without having to incur the expenses associated with recruiting a new hire.   

Many advertised work-at-home jobs are lower-level opportunities.  Data entry, telemarketing, reservations and customer service are some of the positions that are relatively easy to locate online.  Jobs do exist for more professional level positions, such as executive recruiters, translation experts, researchers and copywriters – they just tend to be a bit more difficult to secure. 

As you can see, work-at-home employment is not quite the miracle solution a lot of moms would like to believe it is.   But as technology improves, and companies grow comfortable with the concept of telecommuting jobs, more employers are waking up to the benefits and cost savings of having a virtual workforce. It’s still not the norm, but as time goes on it’s getting easier to find these jobs. 

What types of jobs can I expect to find?

Focus on looking for opportunities that can be realistically and easily performed from home.  Telecommuting jobs typically meet one of the following criteria:  

1) Work is completed independently.

2) A telephone or computer is used to perform the work.

3) Your assignments require minimal supervision.

As you consider this option, think about ways to repackage your skills to fit into jobs that are compatible with working from home.  For example, if you used to be a corporate recruiter, you might be able to convince an employer to hire you to do home-based resume screening and preliminary telephone interviews. Or, if you used to work in corporate public relations, you might interest an employer in hiring you to create marketing collateral, such as brochures, sales packets or copy for advertising campaigns.

Where can I find these positions? 

Network:  Just like when you look for a “real” job, the best way to find work-at-home jobs is through your network of contacts.  Chances are you know (or at least know people who know) a company or small business owner who would just love to have access to your expertise without having to put you full-time on payroll.  With the trend towards outsourcing and the growth in small business, many firms have a need for assistance with tasks that are peripheral to their core business duties.  Home-based entrepreneurs in particular are often delighted to outsource tasks like bookkeeping, telemarketing and web design to home-based professionals who work on a project or as-needed basis.

Contact Companies Directly:  If you know of a specific company that you would like to work for, take a look at the career section of the company’s website to see if they have any virtual jobs listed.   If not, put together a compelling letter that explains how you could help the company and send your pitch to the appropriate department.  In general, your earning potential will be much higher if you source the work directly, as opposed to contracting your services through a third-party.

Look on the internet: There are well over 40,000 different job bank sites on the internet.  Although most of the sites post full-time positions, you can sometimes find quality telecommute or work-at-home assignments simply by plugging terms like “freelance” “virtual” or “telecommute” into the keyword search system.   

In addition to the “regular” job boards, there are sites that specialize in project and telecommuting work. Here are a few to consider.  Please note that these sites are listed for informational purposes only.  While I have heard good things about these sites from users, I cannot vouch for each and every job they post, so please use good sense and smarts when evaluating their opportunities.   

Telework Recruiting  http://www.teleworkrecruiting.com/

Telecommuting Jobs http://www.tjobs.com/

Careers From Home  http://www.careersfromhome.com/

Jobsandmoms.com   http://www.jobsandmoms.com  

© Excerpted from FlexJobs: Your Work, Your Life, Your Way! By Nancy Collamer.