~*~*~ THE RAT RACE REBELLION TELEWORK BULLETIN ~*~*~ Dear Reader, A NOTE FROM THE EDITOR Chris and I hope you had a wonderful holiday season, and were able to duck out of the rat race a bit to spend time with loved ones. This first issue for 2009 brings some choice hand-picked jobs, news of a US Navy program letting sailors work at home, advice on mystery shopping scams, and some freebies for the budget. Enjoy, Good Luck, and Be Well. “NAVY TESTS WATERS ON HOME-BASED WORK” Bad pun, good news – The US Navy announced this week a pilot program to let active-duty personnel work from home. According to the Navy’s press release, the pilot will be open to the following eight officer billets (job slots): * Deputy, Manpower Requirement Branch * Center for Career Development Assistant Liaison Officer * Navy Personnel Command Planner/Strategic Roadmaps – Production Management Detachment * N131 Head Professional Development * Staff Ops and Plans * IRR Force Management Head Planner * ADP Program/IT/Web Products Support * Director AED/AMD Career Management Fine print: “Only officers eligible for shore duty as part of their normal sea/shore rotation may apply. Interested officers must request a chain of command recommendation be sent to their detailers via an e-mail nomination by either their commanding officer or executive officer. The nominating e-mail should state that the officer is a volunteer and provide justification on why the officer is suitable for this pilot.” Great idea. Heck, the Commander in Chief (aka President) works from home. Why shouldn’t the commanded? The press release is at http://www.navy.mil/search/display.asp?story_id=41582 . ALPINE ACCESS CONTINUES TO SEEK BILINGUAL SPANISH-ENGLISH AGENTS IN U.S. Virtual call center Alpine Access is still advertising for full-time, bilingual agents for incoming customer-service calls. For more, see lead no. 2 below. CALL CENTER CONVERGYS SEEKS 100 AGENTS Call center giant Convergys, with a staff of about 75,000 globally (most of its agents are in brick-and-mortar centers), recently announced plans to expand its home-based workforce by 100 agents. Just for the record, the company also plans to hire 400-800 onsite agents in North and Latin America, and is expanding in England and the Philippines as well. For more, see lead no. 4 below. “WATCH PHONE” DEBUTS -- THE SLOW DEATH OF “VIRTUAL” Chris and I have long talked about how the notion of “virtual” will be swept away (or at least heavily eroded) when instant-access video communications roll in. Cisco is pushing its “telepresence” technology – you can see it on the TV show “NCIS,” for example – and now LG Electronics has taken a nifty step in the same direction with a videophone wristwatch. The watch comes in several models (some are even waterproof), and includes a touchscreen for calls, and a tiny speaker and camera. The examples I saw online go for about $200. Now, all they need is good voice-recognition technology (it looks like they have ear buds and mics for private conversations), and a lower price, and we’re set. That is, if more than the “early adapters” buy them… (Kids would. They’d love ‘em. If I were LG, I’d give a bunch away to students.) For more, see http://www.3gwatches.com/?gclid=CJq_tonc8pcCFQsaHgodSjE2Dg. FROM THE R3 MAILBAG -- QUESTIONS ABOUT WORKING FROM HOME, AND OTHER RAT RACE TOPICS DEAR R3: I got an email from a company that wants to hire mystery shoppers. I applied with them, and they sent me a cashier’s check to use for shopping at the mall. All I have to do is deposit the check and wire them the money that’s left over when I finish shopping. Is this a scam, or can I shop with the money? R3: The only “money” in this scam is your money. The cashier’s check is worthless. Wait, it’s worse than worthless; it may have been stolen from another bank, and you’ll get in big doo-doo when you deposit it and try to put it back in the system. Scammers often steal cashiers’ checks to make their schemes look legitimate. Other banks will accept them for deposits, until, inevitably, the bad check is detected. In the meantime, you’ve wired unrecoverable funds to Nigeria / Senegal / Romania / fill in the blank -- and just for dessert, you may be in trouble with the Feds. Do NOT “shop with the money.” Report the scam to the authorities. For US residents, see the Internet Crime Complaint Center, at http://www.ic3.gov/default.aspx . FRUGAL AND SIMPLE LIVING Here are this week’s giveaways and promos, from that Fabulous Font of Wonders, the Internet. (Fine Print: If you see something you like, be sure to grab it fast, as free stuff goes quickly on the Web. We have no control over supplies, or when the vendors decide to halt their offers or fulfillment.) Enjoy! Free photo at Walmart for Three Kings Day celebration: http://instoresnow.walmart.com/Hispanic-Holiday-Article_ektid60868.aspx Free sample Gas-X Thin Strips: https://secure.novartisotc.com/secure.novartisotc/gasx/trial_alt.jsp Free sample Ensure shake: https://ensure.com/registration/register.aspx?s=sample Free sample Reach Access Flosser: http://www.reachaccess.com/sample_accept_decline.htm Free mini Mr. Clean Magic Eraser: http://mrclean.com/en_US/sharethelove/signup.do For more freebies, see http://www.ratracerebellion.com/freebies.htm. RAT RACE QUOTE OF THE WEEK “People say that life is the thing, but I prefer reading.” -- Logan Pearsall Smith Rebelliously Yours, Michael Michael D. Haaren, Editor-in-Chief The Rat Race Rebellion =>=> New Leads for Home-Based Jobs and Projects <=<= *Editor’s Note: All positions are screened, but we can’t of course “guarantee” the legitimacy of any hirer or lead, so please do your own ‘due diligence’ as well! Also, please note that on occasion the hirer will decide to change the description or the availability of the job or project shortly AFTER the summary is published here. (Unfortunately, we have no control over this.) Therefore, be sure to read the underlying ad carefully, and apply promptly for any job that interests you. 1. KGB Seeks “Special Agents” KGB, a competitor of Cha-Cha’s, emailed us this week to let us know they’re recruiting Special Agents. (Special Agents are independent contractors who get paid for supplying brief answers to questions.) According to their site, “Special Agents combine ingenuity with research skills to solve real problems for real people every day. Some questions require a serious answer, others require a sense of humor, and some require both.” For more, see http://www.kgbkgb.com/work4us/Positions. 2. Alpine Access Bilingual Spanish-English Agents US-based call center Alpine Access seeks full-time bilingual Spanish-English Agents (employee status) for incoming calls. Requires a HS diploma or equivalent. Paid training provided. For more, see http://tinyurl.com/95vzxh. 3. Princeton University Seeks Psych. Study Participants (Paid) “We are a group of researchers in the Princeton University Psychology Department looking for people to help with our research by participating in various studies for pay. Completing this quick, one-page online form will enable us to verify your eligibility for our paid studies.” For more, see http://www.princeton.edu/~study/paidresearch/. 4. Convergys Seeks 100 Home-Based Call Center Agents Christine Timmins, Convergys’ Sr. VP of Operations for the Americas, was recently quoted at Cincinnati.com as saying the company is looking for approximately 100 Agents. For the Cincinnati.com piece, see http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20081230/BIZ01/812310301. For Convergys’ home-agent page, see http://www.convergysworkathome.com/ . 5. HR Project Manager Technologies American Express is seeking an HR Project Manager Technologies to serve as the primary contact for HR technology, tools and processes in Europe. For more, see http://tinyurl.com/9rmsgq. 6. Animators A New York-based company is looking for animators “to do finals/cleanup and/or coloring for a 10min animated short film.” “Pay is $20 per second of animation for finals, and $5 per second of animation for coloring (same person can do both).” For more, see http://tinyurl.com/9w2fou. 7. Google Ads Quality Rater - French Language ”As an Ads Quality Rater, you will be responsible for reporting and tracking the visual quality and content accuracy of Google advertisements. Ads Quality Raters use an online tool to examine advertising-related data of different kinds and provide feedback and analysis to Google.” Part-time, 10 hrs.-20 hrs. per week. For more, see http://www.google.com/support/jobs/bin/answer.py?answer=54455. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~Advertisement~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Chris and Mike here -- Do you need writing experience to qualify for freelance writing, blogging, proofreading or editorial jobs? Want to demonstrate your expertise for hiring managers or prospective clients? We recommend Helium (it’s free). You can get writing experience with an easy-to-start blog, and be eligible for compensation while you learn. You can also choose among many popular topics, and build your credentials while you write about what interests you. For more, click here. http://www.helium.com/?ad=680&placement=HAP002 ~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 8. Reviewers of Content and Fairness/Sensitivity Issues Educational services provider Pearson is seeking Reviewers of Content and Fairness/Sensitivity issues with a "personal knowledge of, experience in, and sensitivity to ethnic, gender-related, geographical, and socio-economic concerns. Opportunities are independent contractor work." For more, see http://www.pearsonedmeasurement.com/careers/testdev.htm. 9. Medical Transcription Editor Acusis is looking for an Editor with a minimum of three years experience. Must be proficient in Word and have a strong background in acute care transcription. For more, see http://www.mtjobs.com/job_detail.cfm?RowID=16918. 10. Traditional Illustrator Aquent is seeking a Traditional Illustrator for a gaming company client. Must have an excellent portfolio. For more, see http://tinyurl.com/7s68la. 11. Researcher / Reporter - Real Estate-Related Inman News has posted an ad for a full-time Researcher / Reporter to prepare monthly research reports, write articles, and analyze in-house survey results. For more, see http://journalism.berkeley.edu/jobs/details.php?cat=newmed&ID=7190. 12. Programmer WelcomeNeighbor.com is seeking a programmer to "build a small program to convert the Access or Excel file(s) of student test scores into MySQL format (one INSERT per line) text file(s)." For more, see http://www.helpfulneighbor.com/Careers.html. 13. Arabic Language Translators Palerica, an Arabic Language and Cultural Consulting firm, is looking for freelancers with experience in one or more of the following areas (quoted from lead): * Translation * Military Translation * Interpretation * Desktop Publishing (DTP) * Software Localization * Website Localization “A US Security Clearance and/or experience in military translation is a plus.” For more, see http://www.palerica.com/freelance.htm. 14. RFP (Request for Proposal) Writer Manpower is advertising for an RFP Writer to “[m]anage the proposal process from receipt of bid to delivery of final product.” For more, see http://tinyurl.com/99fxon. 15. Instructional Designer Clarity Consultants is looking for an instructional designer to provide distance learning content for distributed learning and technology-enabled training initiatives. For more, see http://tinyurl.com/7ywydq. 16. Freelance Researchers / Writers for Multicultural Reports Mintel seeks freelance researchers / writers with the following backgrounds (quoted from lead): • Knowledge of consumer marketing in a multicultural setting • Consumer-based knowledge of cultural behavior, specifically lifestyle & trends For more, see https://home.eease.com/recruit2/?id=51195. 17. Internet Judges Lionbridge Technologies seeks Internet Judges (aka Quality raters). “As a quality rater you will be a key participant in helping determine the relevance of search engines. We are looking for quality raters who would work from home and review and rate websites based on an objective set of guidelines. Candidates must be avid internet enthusiasts. If you love browsing the web and have thoughts on which websites are good and which are poor and why, then we want to hear from you.” For more, see http://tinyurl.com/7ptg3w. 18. Freelance Report Writers – UK Household Goods Mintel seeks report writers “primarily to complete market studies within UK sectors such as Furniture, Housewares, DIY/Garden and Domestic Appliances/Small Electricals.” For more, see http://www.mintel.com/EMEAAPACjobopportunities.htm#job_8. 19. Mintel Ireland – Freelance Report Writers “At Mintel, we are looking to build and develop our network of freelance report writers who are available to work on a contract basis, primarily to complete market studies within the IrishFMCG sectors such as Food, Drink or Health & Beauty products and Household Goods categories.” For more, see http://www.mintel.com/EMEAAPACjobopportunities.htm#job_7. 20. Internet Assessors (Non-US) Lionbridge Technologies seeks Internet Assessors internationally, to evaluate the results of Web searches. “We are recruiting home-based workers and university students from around the world who are bi-lingual in English and their native language to join our Internet Assessor team focused on improving the quality of internet user experience.” For more, see http://www.lionbridge.com/lionbridge/en-US/company/web-site/internet-assessors.htm. ******************************* That’s this week’s issue, Dear Reader. Until next week’s issue, don’t forget to visit us for fresh job leads at http://www.ratracerebellion.com/job_postings.htm ! Rebelliously Yours, Michael -- Michael D. Haaren, Co-Founder & Editor-in-Chief Staffcentrix, LLC Email: mhaaren@staffcentrix.com Co-author of the bestseller on working from home as a Virtual Assistant, THE 2-SECOND COMMUTE, now available at Amazon.com or http://www.2secondcommute.com. See what else we’re up to on the Web, at http://www.WAHBoom.com (our new work-at-home site for Boomers), http://www.msvas.com (our Military Spouse Virtual Assistant community), and http://www.fse-entrepreneur.com (our Foreign Service spouse e-Entrepreneur community). ~*~*~*~*~*~*~ All contents copyright 2008 Staffcentrix, LLC, "The most trusted name in home-based careers."(TM, SM) All rights reserved.