Work at home jobs – Customer Service

by

Customer service is one of the most popular work at home jobs. Like the “regular” on-site customer service job, work at home customer service representatives/operators assist customers over the phone, via fax, email and live chat. Majority of the customer service work are done through telephone, so a land-line telephone line often is required to perform the work. Other common requirements for work at home customer service include: high speed Internet, computer hardware (such as certain CPU speed and RAM) and software (such as anti-virus software), quite working environment and pass a background check. Besides regular interview process some companies have testing procedure and prefer applicants have previous customer service experience.

The type of customer service jobs includes general customer service, inbound calling, outbound callings, call centers operators, taking orders, airline reservations, telemarketing and help desk. Generally you can make anywhere from $6.00 to $15.00 hourly doing home based customer service jobs. Many companies do provide paid training.

One of the obstacles many people encounter is the requirement of quite working environment. For moms have young children or pets (such as dogs), often times its hard to avoid the background noise. To overcome this, you can try a good noise canceling headset. Another tip you can try is if you have touch tone phone, press *2*, this eliminates all background noise except your own voice.

Also, many work at home moms work the phone jobs while the kids are sleeping, such as early in the morning or late at night, or on weekends while there is someone (such as spouse) that can help with the kids. Some companies have flexible schedules you can choose from such as West and LiveOp.

Below is a list of legitimate companies that hire home based customer service representatives. They don’t charge you a fee to apply for the job, some make you pay background check ONLY after they decide to hire you.

  1. 1-800-Flowers.com
    (customer service, regular and seasonal)
  2. Accolade Support
    (help desk)
  3. ACD Direct
  4. Alpine Access
  5. Answer1
  6. Arise.com – (formerly Willow CSN, must incorporate, cost may be prohibitive)
  7. ARO, Inc.
  8. AuraLog – (some location restrictions)
  9. Blue Zebra – (appointment setting, administrative assistant)
  10. Brighten Communications – (telemarketing)
  11. Channel Blend – (call center agents)
  12. Cloud 10 .
  13. Convergys
  14. Customer Loyalty Concepts
  15. eCallogy
  16. Fil-Can Communications
  17. Grindstone
  18. HirePoint
  19. J.Lodge – (call center)
  20. LiveOps
  21. MicahTek, Inc.
  22. Niteo Services
  23. O’Currance (inbound calls, sales)
  24. onPoint@Home
  25. SCI Live
  26. Service800.com – (call center)
  27. TeLCare – (telephone satisfaction surveys)
  28. TeleReach – (appointment setting)
  29. TelExpertise, Inc. – (call center)
  30. Ver-A-Fast Corporation (newspaper subscriber customer service)
  31. VIP Desk
  32. VoiceLog, LLC – (verification agents)
  33. West At Home Agents
  34. Westat
  35. Working Solutions
  36. XAct TeleSolutions

Work From Home Options

by

Before you start looking for work at home jobs or home based business opportunities, you should know what are the work from home options, meaning:

1. Work at home job market – what kind of jobs that you can do from home and which companies offer home based employment opportunities;

2. Home based business opportunities – there are many business opportunities that can be operated from home, but you need to know which ones is a good fit for you.

Work at home jobs and home based businesses are totally two different concepts – one is a JOB meaning you working for someone else and work from your own home, another is a home based BUSINESS meaning it’s a business and you work on your business from home.

However, sometimes there is a ‘grey” area between the two – many work at home jobs are actually independent contractor jobs – you will get 1099 form and file your tax return as a sole proprietor. Also sometimes when you are very good at your jobs (you have extensive knowledge and skills), you can start your own business, look for your own clients and no longer work for others.

Here are some popular work from home options.

  1. Customer Service
  2. Data Entry
  3. Virtual Assistant (secretarial service)
  4. Accounting and Bookkeeping
  5. Transcription (including General, Legal and medical)
  6. Medical Coding Billing
  7. Writing
  8. Research
  9. Online Tutors
  10. Daycare Operators
  11. Event and Party Planners
  12. Crafting
  13. Web Site Design
  14. Real Estate Agents
  15. Home Organizer and Housekeepers
  16. Direct Sale or Sale
  17. Affiliate Programs
  18. Mystery Shopping
  19. Paid Surveys
  20. Blogging

Leappad

by

Johnny was playing with the LeapPad while I was cooking dinner in the kitchen.

Suddenly Johnny said: “Hi Mom, I know where Georgia lives!!”. (Georgia is the little girl in Johnny’s kindergarten class, also ride on the same bus with him.).

I was little surprised and I said really?

Then Johnny said yes mommy, come on, let me show you!

So I went over and saw Johnny was playing with the Leappad’s “Unites States of America” map, Then Johnny pointed his pen to the state of Georgia, and the Leappad said “Georgia”! 🙂

What do you do if you see a parent berating a child?

by

I was reading an article “Life’s 25 Toughest Questions ANSWERED!” published on the March 2006 issue of Reader’s Digest. One of the questions is:

What do you do if you see a parent berating a child?

Answer (in RD): “Take a deep breathe. If you truly believe you can help the situation, approach as someone showing sympathy – not as an accuse or member of parent police. Empathize with the overstressed parent. Suggest that he/she take a deep breath. Tell him it worked for you“.

I was curious to know the answer since I really wasn’t sure what I would do in this situation. Well, after reading the answer RD gives, not only I think it’s a good answer, it actually make me think about myself sometimes berating my own child!!

Now I have a answer to another question of myself: What should I do if I am about to berate my child?

Take a deep breath!!

[tags]parenting advice[/tags]

[!AdServe:family!]