Getting a Work from Home Job – 5 Common Mistakes

Dear IL’ites,

It’s about 8 months since I posted this work-from-home opportunity. As I updated in that thread some time ago, my friend found two people for the job through IL. Today, I updated the thread once again and told how everything is working fine for both my friend and the two ladies. These ladies are working 8 hours a day for him from home and he has increased their pay by 50% etc. Read that update for more information.

In this past 8 months, countless people have showed interest in that opportunity. As I helped co-ordinate this process, I learnt a lot about what NOT to do when looking for a work-from home opportunity. I wanted to share that with you so that you can avoid those pitfalls and land a good job for yourselves.

1. DON’T BE CASUAL - Just because it is a work-from-home opportunity, it doesn’t mean that you can be casual about it. ​

Many of the respondents didn’t even take the time to read the requirement in full. While the requirement clearly said “Excellent command over written English (no compromises here)”, a lot of them emailed me using sms short forms. Several had monumental spelling mistakes (spell check anyone?). Several didn't care to use the right case (e.g. capitalizing "I") and used "....." in their sentences. Many had horrendous sentence construction that made the email incomprehensible. I got a few emails where the resume was attached and nothing was written on the body of the emailJ Sorry ladies, for most of those emails I hit the “delete” button quickly. ​

The requirement said “Important: you need to demonstrate your written English skills to him. If you are a regular contributor in this or other forum, he will use that as a way to evaluate. If you don't contribute here, making a few well-written posts would help him evaluate your candidacy”. Almost 90% of them didn’t think it was important. There was absolutely no effort made to prove their English skills. The only two made the effort got the job. ​

2. DON’T BE LAZY – As provocative as it may sound, a lot of them were just lazy in going after this opportunity. 8 out of 10 private messages I got was “I am interested. Please tell me more”. No specific questions about the opportunity, no effort to demonstrate their candidacy, nothing. Initially, I politely responded to many of them. But over time, I couldn’t keep up. So I just had to ignore them. If she can’t follow that instructions that I mentioned, it is unlikely that she will follow the instructions for the job. ​

3. DON’T BE SLOW TO RESPOND – For whatever reason, the speed with which business is getting transacted has tremendously increased. When I asked interested ladies a few follow-up questions, many didn’t respond for 2-3 days. By that time, a lot has happened and the opportunity vanished. A good motto is the Fedex one – “absolutely overnight” in your responses. If it takes more than 12 hours to get a response from you, it gets construed as lack of interest, lethargy etc. ​

4. DON’T ASK SALARY QUESTIONS FIRST – For many of them, the only question they had in mind was “What is the pay?”, “How much can I earn” etc. While that is important in evaluating the opportunity, you first need to know what the opportunity is. Initially, ask questions about the expectations, responsibilities, logistics of the job etc. Pay should be the last part of your conversation. When you ask blunt pay related questions in the beginning, it somehow doesn’t sound right and doesn’t set the right tone for the conversation. ​

5. DON’T BLATANTLY ACCUSE THEM OF SCAM – It’s true that there are several scams for work-from-home opportunity. And it is understandable that you want to protect yourself against such things. But the way to go about that is to ask the details of the role in an objective manner and then decide for yourself whether it is a scam or not. One person wrote to me in her first private message “if this involves me paying money, please ignore my email”, another said “can you prove to me that this is not a scam”. I felt offended and didn’t respond to those emails. If being a member of this wonderful community, I feel offended, think about what a stranger will do. ​

Sorry if I was a little too strong in my message. But, I want no ambiguity on my communication. I see a lot of talented ladies and they show desperation in wanting to land a work-from-home job. But ladies need to match you actions with your intentions. Hope the above helps with that. All the best!

Bharthi