Work At Home Resumes – Are You Making It To The Short Pile?

When you come across what looks like a perfect work at home opportunity, it can be frustrating to wait for a reply after applying. If you don’t hear back you wonder if it was something you said or something you didn’t say. The fact is, some companies that offer telecommuting jobs are just so backlogged with resumes that you might not hear from them unless you do two important things:

  1. You follow their directions closely first and then
  2. You make sure you stand apart as a cut above the others in the short pile
  3. A hiring manager will generally sift through the large pile of resumes and glance quickly to decide if the pile will go into the trash or into a short pile to be looked at more closely. In work at home opportunities there is often a larger number of applicants than the advertiser initially expected so it starts off as a process of elimination before it becomes a close look at skills and suitability.

    Here are some tips for getting from the tall pile in the resume inbox to the short pile of resumes actually being considered.

    Follow Directions!

    Follow directions! Because the interviewer has to weed through a lot of responses, they’re not going to read it if something is off from the start. Some companies put a test in their classified ad to make sure you can follow instructions such as asking for the resume to be sent in a specific format. Be sure you read and re-read the applying instructions otherwise you might get deleted before you’re even read.

    Are You Qualified?

    Don’t apply unless you truly are qualified. This is almost always true in a high demand work at home job because of the vast number of resumes coming in. Some hiring managers get hundreds or even thousands of responses when they send out a call for new hires so typically aren’t looking for an inexperienced intern. There are times when these types of learning opportunities are available but generally in the highly competitive telecommuting world those are few and far in between unless you have an inside scoop.

    Personalize Your Application

    Take the time to personalize the application. You might be sending your resume out to 100 work at home jobs a day but each prospective employer needs to see that you’ve taken the time to understand their advertisement. While it’s ok to use a template that you update for each job you apply for instead of taking the time to craft a brand new resume and cover letter, if you send a form letter you might be ignoring a specific direction on the classified ad and you won’t appear original enough. Take some time to research the company and you can inject a bit of this research into your resume. Showing you’ve taken the time to learn about the company can set you apart from the crowd.

    Do you work at home? What are your secrets for standing apart in the crowd?

Freelance Work At Home Tips: Diversifying The Egg Baskets

Working at home as a freelancer has its perks. Beyond the lax dress code you can save money on commuting, dry cleaning, lunches, etc. If you’ve found a great work at home gig, it can feel like you’ve hit the jackpot. If you’re a freelancer, you really don’t have just one boss and it can be liberating to be self-employed. A lot of freelancers find one big client to help pay the bulk of their expenses and extra clients are ‘gravy’ clients.

But is it save to work for one source?

If you’re a freelancer, you might consider diversifying your streams of income so you’re paid from more than one source. Or, do your best to get a contract. Freelance writers, freelance photographers, freelance web designers that get the bulk of their work from one client are in danger of being unemployed if they don’t have any type of work guarantee. Today could be payday and tomorrow could be the bread line if you’re not careful.

If freelancing and you have no guarantees of specific quantities of work from a big client, you need to diversify your income so that if there’s no chance of a contract and notice of any volume changes, you’ll be safe.

What if the big client eats up all your time?

If they keep you so busy you don’t have time for anyone else, do your best to put a buffer amount in savings and keep the pavement pounded regularly to watch for other jobs just in case.

Some clients don’t ever give you a contract and the work never runs out but if you’re not watchful, the rug could be quickly pulled out from under you and you could find yourself in trouble.

Budgeting, savings, a contingency plan and keeping up to date on available work at home jobs in your niche will all be helpful.