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December 28, 2020

How to Get a Work-From-Home Job You Absolutely Love in Four Easy Steps

As we say goodbye to 2020 and hello to a new year full of opportunities, one of your goals may be to transition to a job that lets you work from home or offers more flexibility for you to work on your terms. If so, you are in the right place to find the resources you need to make this the year you transition to working from home or to life as a mompreneur. Let’s make a plan!

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Think About What You Want

As you think about working from home and your career goals for 2021, consider:

  • What type of work do I want to do? Am I looking to build on my existing skills and experiences or go in a new direction? Do I prefer being part of a virtual team or working solo? Is it time to start my own business? 
  • How do I want my workday to look? Do I want to be on the phone for a good portion of the day, or do I prefer solo work? Do I have concrete blocks of hours to do focused work, or do I need something that I can work on in short bursts of time? Can I work full time, or is part-time a better fit?
  • How does my budget look? Do I have a runway to start something new? Can I work on a project-by-project basis?  Do I need a job that offers a steady paycheck? How will my expenses change when I work from home? 

 

The questions above can be tough to answer. These resources can help:

  • Check out the Top 10 Work From Homes Jobs for Moms. This list can open you up to new possibilities you may not have considered in the past but could be an excellent fit for your skills, interests, and abilities. 
  • Read success stories of others who successfully made the transition to working from home.
  • Review these tips for finding at-home work without a lot of experience, if you’re new to the workforce, or returning after a long absence.

 

Consider Additional Training

As you narrow down the type of job that interests you, take a look at the training and credentials needed to get a job in this field. Online training is available for many at-home jobs. Several free training classes are available in the resources section on HireMyMom. You can find training on starting a virtual assistant business, work as a bookkeeper, a social media manager, a content creator, and more. 

 

Start Your Own Virtual Assistant Business                                                                                                                                                

If you’re ready to start your own business this year, consider becoming a virtual assistant (VA). As a VA, you take care of many tasks, including email response, appointment setting, travel planning, and calendar management. You can work as a general VA, who does a wide variety of tasks or become one with a specialty in a particular industry or need. 

VA work is catching on quickly. It’s a great business model because it solves a problem so many people have — squeezing more tasks into a day. It’s also an excellent lifestyle for moms who want to control their own time, skip the commute, and put family first while still keeping professional ambitions alive. 

At HireMyMom, we’ve partnered with four different training programs to help our members learn more about this business opportunity and acquire the skills needed to launch a VA business.

 

Find Job Opportunities

With a clear vision about your plans, it’s time to start looking for your work-from-home job. Having a plan to find job opportunities will make you more successful. Start by taking the Online Job Seeker 101 class available through HireMyMom.com for proven strategies to help you find and land jobs. Then, set aside an hour each day to find jobs that interest you, tailor your resume and cover letter, and apply. To find jobs:

  • Sign up as a Mom Professional on HireMyMom so you will have exclusive access to legit, work-from-home opportunities.
  • Research the types of employers that may need your skillset or offer the jobs you hope to land. 
  • Talk to friends, neighbors, and family members who may have leads.

 

Get Started!

Once you land your work-from-home job, it’s time to manage the logistics of working from home. 

  • Designate a quiet place to work and set it up with the tools you’ll need to work efficiently.
  • Identify your optimal work hours.
  • Talk with your spouse and kids (depending on their age), and ask for their support as you begin your new work journey.
  • Make a plan for your kids so you can find the time you need to work.
  • Consider ways to overcome the hurdles that are likely to pop up, such as internet outages, school holidays, and the general distractions that can come up when working at home.
  • Look at new options for managing day-to-day chores and household responsibilities that free up more work time for you.
  • Review my favorite productivity tips for moms who work at home.

 

 

Enjoy Your Success!                                                                                                                                                               

You’ve worked hard to get to this point, and I know that you will be successful in your pursuit of a job that lets you stay professionally engaged while working at home. I can’t wait to hear your success stories—best wishes for a happy, healthy, and prosperous 2021.

 

 

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March 16, 2020

How To Start Working From Home – 5 Important Steps

As we enter 2020 there has been a shift in the way we work. 

About a decade ago working from home was considered a luxury but with the small to medium sized businesses booming and becoming the key drivers in our economy, remote employment is emerging as the new trend.

If you’re thinking about transitioning over to a work from home job this article is for you!
In this article, we’ll cover five steps to help kick-start your journey to remote employment.

STEP ONE: Do You Have the Right Stuff?

It takes a certain type of work ethic to be able to sustain and succeed in remote employment.

Here are some of the most important core competencies:

Time Management

Time management is an extremely important skill to have. You’re doing everything remotely from communicating with your boss and coworkers, answering emails, and handling day-to-day tasks as they come in. This is where time management comes into play. Being able to quickly prioritize and plan out your day from the start will help ensure success as a remote worker.

Discipline and Focus

It’s easy to get distracted when you work from home. With family at home, unexpected guests showing up at the door, and being tempted to complete a chore or two, things can quickly add up.

Stand your ground, have some rules of the home in place while you’re working remotely, and set your business hours so that friends and family know when they can contact you or even put your phone on “do not disturb” when you have work to complete.

Strong Communication Skills

Because you’re working remotely, strong communication is a vital skill to have. Whether you’re sending out emails, conferencing in a phone call or jumping in on a Zoom meeting, communication is the key to success in the remote work world. It’s important to communicate and acknowledge tasks, deadlines and project statuses to your team.

Ability to Work Independently

For the most part, you’re all on your own. If you’re someone who needs to be around others and socialize, remote work can sometimes feel isolating.

The good news is that there are ways to still socialize when you have a work from home job. You can join an online Facebook community (HireMyMom has an Online Community for example) or make time to attend networking or social meetings in your area.

Check out this blog for a more comprehensive piece on the core competencies.

 

STEP TWO: Finding Your New Work From Home Career Path


Transitioning to a work at home career can be life changing (in a good way), and it’s important to make sure you’re setting yourself up for success. There are so many different remote work professions to choose from. Here are some of the most popular:

  • Virtual Assistant
  • Copywriter / Content Developer / Blogger
  • Digital Marketing Specialist / Marketing / Advertising
  • Accountant / Bookkeeper
  • Customer Service / Client Support Specialist

It’s important when deciding on what jobs to apply for to assess what you have in your “toolbox”. Your toolbox contains your education, work experience, and any additional training you received that you could incorporate into the position you are applying for.

It never hurts to take a course or two to brush up your skills or learn some new ones. There are several online and in person options available. It’s best to do a Google search to find out what programs are offered as well as a search on YouTube to find any free training.

If you’re interested in becoming a Virtual Assistant we offer two great programs; our 31 Day VA Training Program and our 6-Month In-Depth VA Training Program.


For a more in-depth look at these professions and others including pay rates check out our article “10 Work From Home Jobs For Moms”.

 

STEP THREE: Do You Have the Right Tools?


Working from home does require some necessary tools to get started. Here are some you may need:

Computer and Backup
It’s important to have a good computer to work on plus a backup system in place should your system go down. And having a laptop is convenient for those working remotely since you can pick up and work from anywhere including the coffee shop, the pool or even on vacation.

Programs / Apps
Some key programs and apps you may use when you work remotely include G-Suite  / Google Docs, Zoom, Slack, Trello, Asana and other project management tools. There are also time tracking services like Harvest that are helpful for tracking hours.

Designated Workspace
It’s important to have a designated area so you can tune in to your work and tune out any distractions. You should have a desk area, proper office chair, and good lighting.

 

STEP FOUR: Where to Find Legitimate Work from Home Jobs?

The best place to find work from home jobs is online. There are however some considerations as to which job sites you should avoid.

Some questions to ask yourself when deciding which sites to apply to:

Does the website take commission every time you are paid?

Do they carefully screen employers before allowing them to post a job? (See Spotting Work at Home Scams)

Are you competing with thousands of applicants all over the world or is it a smaller niche site?

Is the website easy to navigate and use?

Do they have customer testimonials and good reviews?

It’s important to go with a website that features high quality job postings from reputable businesses. There may be a small cost to join the website but this is a good thing. It means there’s a filter in place to provide quality employment opportunities and greatly reducing the candidate pool so you are not competing with hundreds or thousands of other job seekers.

(HireMyMom has a great selection of jobs to choose from. Give your career a kick start, learn more here).

 

STEP FIVE: Resume, Cover Letter, and Interview Skills


Having an updated resume and cover letters tailored to each individual job increases your chances of getting hired with a quality employer. It’s also helpful to brush up on your interview skills so you can leave a lasting impression and land the job you want.

Need help? We have a collection of articles that offer tips on writing cover letters, advice on how to make your resume stand out, things to think about while preparing for a job interview and more. You can check them out here.

Are you ready to take that next step? Here are a few work from home success stories to inspire you: 

 

 

 

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December 18, 2014 0 Comments

Not Landing an Interview? 4 Things Costing You That Dream Job

You’ve polished up your resume and spent hours finessing your cover letter. You feel great about it and press send, confident that you’ll be getting a response ASAP. But 24 hours turn into a week and then a month, and still no call comes your way. You were feeling pretty confident in knowing how to land a job interview. What went wrong? Such a devastating scenario is not uncommon. If the interview for the career of your dreams is continuing to elude you, you might be falling prey to four mistakes job seekers frequently make. Here’s a look at each error, and what you can do to make sure none of them stand in the way of you and that corner office.

You have Skills, But Not the Right Ones

While reading the job posting in-depth, you probably cross-referenced your own résumé. Experience with marketing automation? Check. Familiarity with integrating CRM and marketing automation systems? Check. But wait. Hold your horses, eager one. Maybe the company you’re applying to uses Marketo and Salesforce.com, but your experience has only been with Eloqua and Microsoft Dynamics CRM. You might not see a difference, but the hiring manager will.

Failing to specify your exact experience, or having similar, but not exact experience to what is required can cause an employer to pass you over. The hiring company’s goal is to spend as little time training you as possible, so be sure to be explicit about your skills. If you notice a trend in specific skills you’re lacking, try to see if Coursera has a course on the subject, and get busy learning. If you come into the interview, you want your acumen to clearly back up what’s on your CV.

Background Checks Not Checking Out

Not all companies perform background checks on prospective hires, but many do. And seemingly insignificant things you’ve forgotten about can negatively impact such a check. Even though you’ve forgotten it, the hiring manager will see a big red flag and move on to the next candidate. Scour your memory for anything that could taint a background check. Did you have credit card fraud from identify theft years ago? It’s likely that hasn’t been cleared up. It’s advisable to look into a company like Lifelock for an identify theft protection service that’ll protect your reputation and even give you a one-million dollar guarantee.

Another form of background check, albeit more informal, is a look at your social media profiles. Be sure any of your pages that are public present your most professional image. Many a job seeker has been shunned thanks to a poorly worded tweet or an inappropriate Facebook photo.

Timidity and Fear

In life and your job search, you really can be your own worst enemy. People sabotage themselves in a variety of ways without even knowing it when going after a new career. A lack of confidence can prevent you from even submitting your application. Anxiety over being told no can keep you from asking the people in your network for a personal recommendation. A fear of public speaking can hold you back from completing the presentation portion of your interview process.

The best advice for surmounting these self-created obstacles? The old adage, “fake it until you make it.” Force yourself to send in your resume. Remind yourself that some people may reject your request for a recommendation, but that others will be happy to help you. And if public speaking is an issue, there’s never a better time than the present to brush up on this very valuable skill. Look into a Dale Carnegie course or a program like Toastmasters to improve your communication and your confidence.

You’re Barking up the Wrong Tree

Finally, you may have all the rest of the ingredients right, but are just going to the wrong place. When applying for a job, it’s best to go through the channels prescribed on the company’s website. Does it say to submit a Web form? Submit a Web form. You may think you’re being clever and unforgettable by showing up in person and asking to see the CEO, but you probably won’t get past the receptionist, and may cause a lot of annoyance too.

Remember that job applications often go through several layers of people, sometimes starting with a secretary or office manager. You never know who is responsible for the initial sifting of applications, so be courteous to everybody. And if you don’t hear anything back, it’s okay to be persistent but never be pushy.

So, there you have it. Investigate this “How to Land a Job Interview” tips. If there’s a position out there that is calling your name, it’s probably worth pursuing with everything you have. Don’t let avoidable gaffes obstruct your vision for your life. Make sure you have the skills needed, and are precise about communicating them. Keep your background checks sparkly clean by getting identity theft protection, and keep your social media profiles just as immaculate since you never know who’s looking at them. Push yourself to overcome any obstacles you’ve put in your way, and be sure you’re applying to the right person in the proper way. With this approach, you’ll be unstoppable. And that dream job will be inching closer and closer to your fingertips.

Check out these other great articles about interviewing tips as a work from home professional. Also check out our current job postings for mom professionals.

(Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.)

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