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Legitimate Home-Based Jobs Go Begging All too often, legitimate employers of home-based workers have trouble filling openings. In a time of raging unemployment, exhausting commutes and ecologic distress, this borders on the perverse. Yet we see it time and again. Why? Therein lines a tale. Here are just a few strands from a much larger story. EXAMPLE: HOME-BASED CUSTOMER SERVICE AGENTS Back in the late 1990s, companies began to realize that they could bring their call center jobs back to the U.S. if they used home-based agents. This would address the customer backlash against offshore support and the political negative of "sending jobs overseas." The homeshoring movement was born. The movement grew quickly as surveys repeatedly showed the advantages of home-based staffing — higher productivity (people liked working from home), less employee turnover (ditto), and dramatically-reduced real estate costs, just to name a few. Companies could also recruit nationally as opposed to locally, widening the applicant pool exponentially. The employer pool grew, too. American Express, 1-800-FLOWERS, U-Haul, JetBlue, Home Shopping Network and over 80 more (see our list at http://bit.ly/hbmtOc) soon joined the fray. "Virtual call centers" like VIPdesk, Arise, LiveOps, Convergys and many more also began to hire tens of thousands of home-based agents. Almost every company we've named is actively seeking applicants. But the homeshoring movement — and telework generally — is like a plant in a rubber pot, growing faster than the pot can expand. The applicant pool, though large, should be much bigger than it is. Companies have trouble finding qualified job seekers. Why? The scammers have scared off millions of applicants. Our research shows a 60 to 1 "scam ratio" among work-at-home ads online. The authorities are overwhelmed. Warnings of scams abound, but con men change their games. People don't know if a work-at-home job lead is good or bad, and assume the worst. Legitimate jobs get much less publicity than scams. (With ad-supported media, it makes sense. "America's Most Wanted" will always get better ratings than "America's Best-Behaved.") The media spotlights the crime — serving as a warning function, too, of course — and gives scams more exposure than legitimate leads. Telework has almost no political or public-sector support. The lobbyists don't like it (just consider the ramifications of a home-centric as opposed to a car-centric society), which pretty much seals the deal. THE CASE OF ABOUT.COM Owned by the New York Times Company, About.com has been hiring home-based experts for years. Known as "Guides," these specialists, who number in the hundreds, maintain pages devoted to their fields and are paid per article and by page views. Over the years, in our virtual-career trainings and publications, we've often mentioned About.com openings, and we check them regularly. Yet many "Guide" positions, which now include topics in Spanish, remain unfilled — despite record unemployment — for extended periods of time. Some might attribute this to factors such as compensation, workload, copyright or some other variable, and these may play a role. But based on what we've seen in other telework sectors, we suspect that the largest factor is simply a lack of awareness of these openings among the general public. WHAT'S NEXT? Telework will probably be a "grass-roots" phenomenon, growing from bottom to top, with help from the companies who want and need to make it succeed and passionate advocates who understand its potential. In the meantime, it could use at least three things: Foxhound development, to reduce the foxes (scammers) in the henhouse; more buzz ("Forward this article!"); and, of course, political support. After all, aren't all politicians working remotely from their employers? Christine Durst and Michael Haaren are leaders in the work-at-home movement and advocates of de-rat-raced living. Their latest book is "Work at Home Now," a guide to finding home-based jobs. They offer additional guidance on finding home-based work at www.RatRaceRebellion.com. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com. COPYRIGHT 2011 BY STAFFCENTRIX, DISTRIBUTED BY CREATORS.COM |
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