Use the WWW wisely! How to find good work at home websites and ditch the bad ones!
posted October 1, 2009 - 8:30am
THE WWW MAZE
How to remain optimistic despite finding only teeth-gnashing grinds at the bottom of our web tea cup!
Working your way through the wonderland that is web world in order to find truly valuable telecommute information
and job vacancies is like navigating your way, in the dark, on your own, around an oversized maze in the middle of a cornfield in Timbuctoo! After many hours of fruitless effort you end up with nothing other than a migraine and a desire to start the day again! Oh, and did I mention, that after paying the hefty admission charge, you might be out of pocket too?
No wonder then, that we, as job hunters, often give up almost before we have started. It becomes so hard to differentiate between the good and the bad websites that we all suffer. So many scam artists do such a good job of “dressing up” their sites as above-board, presentable resources, that it’s only when we have spent valuable time and (often) money that we can see how ugly and menacing they really are.
We are all consumers in this regard: All those who telecommute, wish to, or employ those who do!
How does it affect us?
Employers
In many boardrooms, when teleworking is mooted as a potential benefit to offer employees, it is almost immediately thrown out of the door with the exercise being repeated year after year. The perceptions of remote working and remote workers are poor, good information seems limited and feasibility is questioned. Employers become hardened against the thought of allowing individuals to telecommute or they become reluctant to employ those who do. If the web is full of scammers, perhaps those who work remotely are scammers also – wanting to take an easy ride whilst draining limited corporate resources?
What about corporate security? The employer, quite rightly, can ask: If I haven’t worked with this candidate before, how do I know they are credible? How can I ensure security of finances and company hardware/software? If the net is only giving me the bad guys..what are my chances of finding the good ones? Background checks can only give me so much information – but not everything I need to know.
Job Seekers
Candidates become disheartened, disillusioned and bewildered. How much time have YOU wasted trawling through those sites offering wonderful opportunities – only to find that the only opportunity there is the one putting money in the advertiser’s pocket!
Why is it that candidates hit a brick wall at every turn? Why do we find anti-scam sites that turn out to be anything but? How lousy do we feel when our internet searches for real jobs are fruitless? Why ARE some of the info sites SO boring?
Established Home Workers
For those who work from home already, looking for resources to increase our client base, or find free/reasonably priced resources; we waste precious hours trying to track down information that might not actually exist.
Should we even bother? The answer is YES, we should! The key is to educate ourselves BEFORE we launch into the WWW twilight zone..so we can hone in on the sites that really matter…and tune out to those that don’t.
Below are some tips to help you:
Steer away from scams Understand what search terms work and what to avoid Sort the good from the bad FAST – so you don’t spend precious time on…very little Get the most from those sites that workFind the torches that will help you light the way…away from the scams
A number of government sources exist to help us by highlighting those scams we need to avoid and by illustrating useful points of reference. The Federal Trade Commission site (www.ftc.gov) is one such site.
Particular parts of government sites like this dedicate themselves to informing the consumer and, thereby, arm us with information to sort the good from the bad.
BEFORE YOU START your general net search – visit the government-run sites and MAKE A LIST of all the types of scams they mention. Note down keywords and terms that scammers use when they advertise. List all website addresses for highlighted scams (if they are available). The US administration sites exist to help us and the information published is thoroughly researched before it appears on the site. Government sites do not make a profit from us and therefore all information is objective and intended to help. Make the most of the info! That’s what we pay our taxes for!
Now, you may feel that you can take this advice..and stuff it, but I sincerely hope you don’t!
The Federal Trade Commission works hard to educate the consumer, and in the Telework world – the consumer means US: We ALL suffer at the hands of scammers.
Get the Most from the Sites that Work!
At the most basic level, if you find a job site that you like and that gives you some of what you need – bookmark it to your favorite sites list!
- Create folders within your favorites list: Telework Info Sites, Telework Employers, Scambusters, Telework Employer Resources…whatever folders apply to YOU
- Check in to those sites daily or weekly.
Informational sites should never be stagnant. They should always aim to educate you an keep up to date on latest telcommute/telework trends and issues in the marketplace Telework Employer sites will update regularly with new jobs and company information. Keeping in touch with the site will enable you to hit the ground running, ahead of the competition.
© Maria Daly 2008-2009 (formerly Telework International LLC)
To read all of my articles at Xomba just click on: http://www.xomba.com/user/mdaly
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