Working at home sounds like a dream come true to most people. No tromping out in the cold weather, no need for business clothes, and perhaps a way to truly have integration of family life and work without being fired. But, what sorts of positions can you find that you can do at home?

Inbound Call Center Agent

An inbound call center agent takes calls using their home phone and computer system from the comfort of their home office (or kitchen table), taking orders for products and services. For example, you may work on a project for well-known home shopping networks or food chain establishments. You’ll be trained, and have practice calls before you get started. You will make between $8 and $20 dollars per hour from home doing this. Some positions are independent contracting and some are full-fledged employees.

Outbound Call Center Agent

An outbound call center agent makes outbound calls to a list of leads given to them by the company they work with. They will try to sell something to the person they are calling such as magazine subscriptions, vacations, or even provide political information during election season.

It will depend on which company you choose to work with what type of calling you will do. You’ll be trained, provided a script, and learn to be a professional at this type of calling. Typically, on these positions you’re required to hit a certain level of sales to keep your position. The highest earners make about $60,000 per year.

Fundraiser

Every year you likely get fundraising calls. Well, they hire people who work from home to do the fundraising. The pay is usually hourly, from $8 to $20 per hour depending on the program you’re involved with. With less experience you can expect to earn less money since some of this is based on time on the phone and funds collected. Phone work can be challenging, but with more experience you’ll always earn more money.

Adjunct Professor

Believe it or not, colleges and universities contract with adjunct professors to teach and or grade their online courses. If you can get your foot in the door there are a lot of opportunities with online teaching at the college level. You will typically need at least a master’s degree in the area you want to teach, and a doctorate definitely will expand your opportunities.

Answering Service

This is a lot like some of the call positions mentioned above in terms of pay, but instead of dealing with sales you’ll be answering for businesses and taking messages and/or transferring calls as needed. You could be answering for various doctors’ offices, apartment complexes and other businesses during their lunchtime and off time. You’ll do this from your computer set up right from home.

Customer Service Rep  

A customer service rep can work in a variety of ways such as via phone, text, email, chat windows and so forth. You would be trained thoroughly on the products and services and likely need to pass a test for each business you’ll be serving to handle customer problems and issues remotely. The pay can range from $8 an hour to $20 an hour.

Online K-12 Instructor

You may not realize it but there now fully online schools, and also some land-based schools that offer some of their less popular courses online. If you have a teaching certificate in the areas needed and experience teaching, you should have no problem finding an online teaching position. The pay is depending on the school. Some schools make you a full employee, and others work you as if you’re an adjunct contractor.

Travel Agent

Yes, travel agents still exist and companies are hiring travel agents (sometimes called travel consultants) to answer phones and help customers plan their trips. Usually you get paid a combination of base pay, and/or a percentage of sales with these types of jobs. So, you might have to make a lot of sales to make enough money as usually you don’t make more than 10 percent or so per sale. But, many travel agents love what they do and often get travel perks too.

Transcription Service

Many types of businesses use transcription services. There are many work-at-home opportunities for transcriptionists. Most of the time the transcribing is medical based but there are also opportunities for other types of transcribing. A good transcriber can make about $45,000 a year right from home. Sometimes you’re an independent contractor for several companies and other times you will be an employee, depending on your choice of company.

Appointment Setter

Many businesses such as the insurance industry need appointment setters. As an appointment setter you’ll be calling leads who have expressed interest in meeting with someone to discuss the product or service being provided. You’ll simply call the prospect and make the appointments for the business owner adding to their calendar. You may also call back to confirm the appointments 24 hours in advance. Pay can be hourly, or on an appointment-by-appointment basis.

There are many work-at-home positions that you can find today due to the advent of high speed internet and the relatively inexpensive cost of making long distance calls today. It’s important to check out any company before committing or offering your information to them before you get started, to avoid being scammed. Typically, other than buying and providing your own technology, you should not have to give the company any money to get started.

Second-Act Careers by Nancy Collamer