From CNN.com:

Jobseekers often ask me what the difference is between a “standard” resume and a telecommute resume. Here are the differences:

1. Telecommute resumes have to really stand out.

Recruiters and hiring managers are flooded with resumes when they post a telecommute job. I spoke to a recruiter who stated he gets between 750 and 1,000 resumes, each day, every time he posts a project. It starts to taper off a little after the third day.

So after just three days, he could easily have more than 2,000 resumes to sort through.

Because of this, you absolutely have to have a resume that stands apart from the crowd. I don’t mean that you should add all kinds of clip art and colorful graphics. You should take time to make sure your information is presented in an easy to read and eye-pleasing format.

You will need to emphasize your skills, particularly your ability to work independently, and your time management skills.

2. Telecommute resumes are highly scrutinized.

You are competing with people all over the country instead of just local applicants. The telecommuting employer has the “cream of the crop” to choose from. They are going to analyze and make judgments on what they find in your resume. (READ ENTIRE ARTICLE)

Telecommuters are individuals who spend part, if not all, of their working hours at another location other than the workplace. For most people it is their home. In order to do this one must have a variety of “telecommunication technologies” such as a telephone, Internet, various computer programs and a fax machine at one’s disposal.  

 

Telecommuters need to have excellent skills when it comes to the laborious task of telephone interviews. The first most important phone interview tip is to always be prepared in case you are contacted for an interview, no matter what time of day it is. Many employers do not give telecommuters the heads up in advance about when they will be calling to speak with them. 

 

Another important phone interview tip is to get ready for your interview in much the same way you would for a regular “in person” interview. Anticipate what questions you might be asked and have appropriate answers in your mind (or written on paper) before the interview even begins. Be ready and willing to answer questions about your educational background, work experience and skills. Also be prepared to tell the prospective recruiter or employer what you could do for him or her. 

 

Prepare a list of questions you wish to ask the interviewer. Always ask at least a few questions as it shows that you are paying attention and that you are very interested in the position in question. Keep in mind that phone interviews are sometimes more difficult to gage because you have to rely completely on the spoken word. Neither the interview nor interviewee is able to pick up on body language or any nuances of behavior but instead must go by the words and questions they are presented with and the pitch and intonation of words. Tread carefully and maintain a balanced, professional and courteous tone of voice at all times.  

 

It is essential in a phone interview for a telecommuter to speak as a person in the know. Don’t indulge in too many “ums”, “okays”, “I don’t knows” or “uhs” as these words don’t carry with them an air of knowledge or confidence. Always have your resume nearby so you can consult it during your phone interview. After all the interviewer is looking at your resume, why shouldn’t you be as well? 

 

Other important tips include turning your call-waiting feature off so there are no interruptions; making sure you are alone in the room and there is no noise anywhere nearby to disturb the interview and having a notepad and paper handy to jot down any relevant information that you glean from the interview. 

 

About the Author:

Charissa Bear is the owner of http://www.momsinc.biz, a work at home mom resource site dedicated to helping moms find home based careers.  

At the present time there is an estimated “100,000 home-based phone representatives” employed throughout the United States. According to predictions made by the Gartner Group, it is believed that by the end of 2006 approximately ten percent of all call centers scattered throughout the United States will be relying on the skills and services of work at home call center agents for the widespread success of their businesses.  

 

Call centers are becoming a bigger and better industry all of the time. They comprise a large percentage of the customer service work that many companies engage in. In a general way a call center refers to “a variety of actual business functions, ranging from call centers designed to handle customer calls, tech support systems, help desks, or even outbound customer call agents.” Call center agents (work at home or on site employees) are trained to manage many ‘call’-types, including regular telephone inquiries, faxes, e-mails and web requests.  

 

Many call centers find that costs are lowered and the overall efficiency of a business is increased when work is “home sourced” out to work at home call center agents. Also referred to as “working remotely” these at home or remote agents often are more productive and happier and also report greater levels of job satisfaction than those who work in other capacities. Walking hand in hand with these positive characteristics is the fact that work at home call center agents tend to be loyal to their companies and not as likely to be jumping from job to job. In a lot of ways these agents get the best of both worlds- they get to have their cake and eat it too.  

 

A remote agent is loosely defined as a “call center or help desk employee working away from the main office, either occasionally or full-time.” Some people simply think of work at home call center agents as telecommuters who do their work from their own home instead of in the office.  

 

Call centers that make the decision to institute a remote agent program experience many benefits from giving their employees the opportunity to be work at home call center agents. These benefits include the necessity for less office space (which is a definite money saver); the ability to both bring in and hold onto key agents; voice communication via the telephone when a work emergency should arise; constant support and feedback between employer and agent; a link from office to office and the ability for the company to hire temporary and seasonal staff as well as disabled individuals. Finally working from home has been shown through a variety of studies to increase levels of productivity and to allow for easier flexibility for scheduling work hours for agents.

 

About the Author:

Charissa Bear is the owner of http://www.momsinc.biz, a work at home mom resource site dedicated to helping moms find home based careers.  

There are tons of women looking to work from home and not everyone wants to have a business that involves retail sales. If you’ve been at your search for a work at home business or career for any length of time, you’ve likely heard that there are telecommuting positions in medical coding, as well as opportunities to open your own medical coding business and work from home.

Medical coders work with doctor’s offices, hospitals and many other service types to code medical documents with numbers for insurance and billing purposes. The growth in the medical coding job market is expected to grow at a much higher pace than most industries over the next eight years and with an average income of over $25,000 in 2004, it is no wonder that this has been a big interest of women looking to work from home.

In addition, medical coding is an opportunity with many options. From being employed outside the home, to telecommuting for an employer from home, to telecommuting for a freelance medical coding agency to owning your own medical coding business that could one day blossom and allow you to even employ other medical coders from home. The medical coding career has numerous options to fit any mom’s career desires.

But not just anyone can be a medical coder. It does require training and skill and beware of any company that tries to tell you otherwise. As with many other industries in the work at home field, some of the “opportunities” you’ll find are scams designed to play on the intense desire many women, especially mothers, have to work from home.

There are various ways to educated to enter the medical coding field. Specialized degrees for medical coders are offered by many colleges as are qualified training courses that give you the education you need to get certified. Be sure to check out any program you look into (especially if it isn’t at a college and is instead offered by a private company) before you shell out any money to get involved.

So how do you know what the scams are and how do you “check out” programs offering medical coding training or opportunities? One way is to network within the community. Visit the websites of the American Academy of Professional Coders and the AACCA. You can also find books relating to the medical coding career on Amazon and well-reviewed e-books on the topic such as the Medical Coding Career Guide.

Another way is to research, which can be done for free. You can use sites like those above as a starting point. By searching in Google, Yahoo and MSN you will find many sources of information. It may take you a few weeks to compile a decent amount of information, but you’ll be better off for doing so before you spend any money working towards this career.

If you don’t have time to research – or are impatient – you can find information at the resources above. Whatever you do, don’t shell out money to any opportunities before understanding the industry and checking out the program with professional organizations.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

R. Hoffman is a long time work at home mom with a highly successful business consisting of numerous websites. When she’s not glued to her laptop, she juggles the needs of her three active children and travels whenever possible. She can be reached through It’s a WAHM Thing - she’s not sure what the final product will be, but welcomes input!

Finding a legit telecommute job can be difficult. Telecommute jobs are in high demand and hundreds if not thousands of other people are competing for the same position.

So how do you stand apart from everyone else? Your résumé.

Your telecommute résumé the first and often the only document a potential employer has to make a hiring decision with. Here are some tips specifically for your telecommute résumé to keep it on the employer’s desk and out of “file number 13”.

I have consulted with telecommute résumé expert Jennifer Anthony of Résumé ASAP to get a list of the top five telecommute résumé mistakes. Here they are!

1. Wild designs or frilly fonts.

If you want to be taken seriously for consideration, avoid using cursive fonts or cutesy clip art. Leave this to personal use; it does not belong on business correspondence. Also, check your e-mail signatures. You don’t want to send your résumé out and then sign your name “Mommy to Sean and Sissy” with little angel graphics around their names.

2. Résumé templates.

“I know for a fact that recruiters hate templates and would rather rip their hair out than read templates”, Jennifer Anthony

Recruiters and hiring managers spend their day (often overtime) sorting through hundreds of résumés. Templates are hard to read, and the design elements often don’t show up correctly on a monitor other than that your own. Hiring managers need to be able to scan your document quickly to see if you are qualified before moving on. If they can’t find out in 6-8 seconds, your résumé is trash. It is better to start with a blank document and look at other résumé examples for inspiration.

3. The selfish objective statement.

If you are using the same old objective statement as everyone else, your résumé may be thrown in the trash because you did not put forth the effort to create a personalized résumé.

Here is an example objective you should avoid:

“A telecommute position allowing me to utilize my knowledge and expertise working from home.”

Why? This statement opens up many questions. What kind of telecommute position? What is your knowledge and expertise? Also take note that using the words “me” and “my” sound very selfish. Instead of telling them what you want, you should be showing them what you have to offer them.

Here is an example of what you can use as your headline:

“Talented and experienced virtual assistant, skilled in all aspects of office management within nonprofit environments.”

(More headline examples can be found at RésuméASAP).

This is targeted and to the point. The reader knows this person is an experienced virtual assistant who is especially skilled in a nonprofit role. No wasted time.

4. Irrelevant Experience.

Don’t list irrelevant work experience just to fill in space. If you are applying for a transcription position, your customer service experience at the local fast food restaurant does not apply. What matters is how much transcribing experience you have, how fast you type, how good your spelling and grammar skills are, and how accurate your work is. Any work experience that deals with these skills can be listed.

5. Personal Information.

Leave off information like how many children you have, how long you have been married, or that you happen to love scuba diving

Let’s look at children and spouses for instance. Some people may see this as stability, but many others look at it as a liability. They may have questions about how you will work out for them with the responsibilities. How often will this person miss work because his/her kids are sick? Is his/her spouse supportive of the telecommuting role? Can he/she work efficiently if the children are home? Employers are not allowed to ask, so why put this on your résumé. Personal information should be left off.

If you write that you love scuba diving, you may think this makes you look like a well-rounded person. However, it could give someone the idea that you love scuba diving more than work. It is best to just leave this kind of info off.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Nell Taliercio is the owner and founder of www.telecommutingmoms.com – which is a leading resource website with work at home jobs and everything a telecommuting mom would need. Come visit us today!

This article is available for reprint with author’s resource box intact and all links live and clickable. Copyright is reserved by author.

Scams are every where online. Just about every where you go online you will find ads for so-called “easy and fast money” jobs. Anything that promises “easy money” or “big bucks part time” is full of it. Don’t waste your time on something that promises fast and easy money because it’s not going to happen.

Let’s delve into the scams out there and then talk about resources you can use to research a company!

Common work at home scams to avoid

Typing “Jobs” - you can type in typing jobs in any major search engine and you’ll pull up many of these so-called “jobs” typing for “easy” money. Most of the time you will pay a fee, and then they will send you information about how to place ads in local papers to “sell” this so-called job to others. This simply is not a “job” and it’s nearly impossible to make a decent income with this. They post testimonials that are either made up or of successful internet marketers in order to persuade you into believing this is a great “job” for you.

Envelope Stuffing - I’m sure you’ve seen this one everywhere and might have fallen for it. I sure did. Not once, but twice! I thought, “Well the first company was just a scam but this one looks legit” and, yes, I was wrong. I got scammed by this little sucker twice! Please do not fall for this tempting “job”. What you’ll probably receive (what happened to me) for your “small fee” (which is usually how its worded) is a letter telling you to place that same “envelope-stuffing” ad in newspapers, magazines, online sites and anywhere else you can get your ad. The only way you will earn money is to pass on this scam to other moms who desperately want to work at home. There’s no stuffing of envelopes involved. You simply pass on this scam to others and get paid by charging a fee…the same way it happened to you. Please don’t fall for this HUGE waste of time and please don’t pass this scam on to others.

Assembly/Crafting Scams- If you want to make money with assembly or crafting your best bet is to start your own business and sell your work online, locally and at fairs. The so-called jobs online for assembly or crafts are scams. Usually you will be required to buy supplies or a kit and then, after days or weeks of work, you would send in your work for payment. What usually happens is your work supposedly didn’t meet the standards they have and they will either send it back for you to fix or they will keep it and not pay you. If you get the chance to “fix it” and send it back you’ll again be told it didn’t meet the standard. It’s a nasty on going cycle and the end result is that you’ve wasted your hard earned money on the “kit” and you’ve wasted your valuable time for nothing.

Processing Government Refunds- Boy this one sounds pretty interesting huh? Yet another scam for you to avoid. What the meat of this scam? Basically you’ll see ads that you can earn $500 to $1500 a week processing 3rd party government refunds via your computer. You are told that you’ll get a list of people who might be home owners and might be entitled to a refund by HUD. They make you pay up to $300 (or even more) for this list. What you’ll do is contact these people and try to get them to share the refund with you, BUT what they fail to tell you is these people can get refunds FREE by calling HUD themselves.

So, if you go through this list and find a few people owed a refund, phone them up and tell them why you’re calling, one of three things will happen:

1. They will hang up on you

2. They’ll listen to you, then tell you that their going to research this themselves. Doing so they will find out they don’t need you and can get the refund on their own. Therefore you make nothing.

3. You find someone who actually takes you up on your offer. You “help” them get the refund they could have done on their own and you collect your portion. You’ve basically scammed that person out of all the money owed to them by withholding the fact that they can do this on their own and collect all the money.

Just stay away from this - it’s bad for all concerned. And in fact, the HUD site warns people of these so-called “tracers” … that the public can collect a refund without a “tracer.”

Chain Letters- This usually guarantees you to earn large amounts of money with a one time small investment. (See the trend? Scams ALWAYS ask you for money.) The typical chain letter scheme usually requires you to mail the chain letter, along with a specified amount of money to six (or more) people. And then they must do the same. There just simply aren’t enough people in the world to make this worth your time. AND, it’s illegal! The post office says that chain letters are a form of unauthorized lottery and may violate federal mail fraud laws. They also warn not to waste your money! Read more about this at US Postal Service Inspection Services

Medical Claims Billing- I’m sure you’ve seen this everywhere and it may have caught your eye. This one caught my eye, but I was fortunate enough to meet someone who told me to stay away. The ad will usually state you can make tons of money part time doing “Medical Billing/ Claims Processing. The fee for the software and training can be as high as $7500 or even more. You supposedly get a list of doctors and sample letters in order to gain clients. Although this isn’t necessarily the typical scam, it’s not as easy (or possible) as they claim it to be. If you want to do this I would take a local class on Medial Billing (or an accredited online school) and then get an offline job doing this…then build your client list and make it home-based.

What have we learned from the examples above? If you have to pay a free, it’s a scam, rip off or just not worth your time! So stay away from the above scams.

I would also like to discuss some common red flags to look for with any job offer.

They ask a fee - you should NEVER pay for a job

They claim it’s easy work - a real job is never easy

They claim you can earn great money for little work - a real job will never claim you can make riches with little to no work.

They have testimonials about the “job” - a real job offer isn’t going to need testimonials posted. Why would they? If they aren’t trying to sell something to you, then they won’t need to convince you that it’s worth your time.

If it says “no kits, no fee’s, not MLM…etc.” - a real job isn’t going to post that in their job ad. If you find a “job” advertised like that you can guarantee it’s a business opp. or outright scam.

The words “No Experience Necessary” - although there are some jobs out there that don’t require experience they often won’t make that a big part of their ad (or at all) and usually you find this on scam ads.

A 900 number to call for more information - any legitimate company will call you or provide you with an 800 number. If they are a smaller company and don’t have an 800 number, then if you inform then you don’t wish to use your long distance to call them, they will usually call you.

Resources-

The Better Business Bureau

Web Assured (”Watch List” to see complaints on companies)

The Federal Trade Commission’s Consumer Response Center

Scambusters - newsletter you can join too

The National Fraud Information Center

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Nell Taliercio is the owner and founder of www.telecommutingmoms.com – which is a leading resource website with work at home jobs and everything a telecommuting mom would need. Come visit us today!

This article is available for reprint with author’s resource box intact and all links live and clickable. Copyright is reserved by author.

Let me ask you a question: are you tired of using job sites only to find scam after scam? I bet you’re nodding your head in agreement to that question. I know that I was sick and tired of spending all my time online searching for telecommuting jobs only to find scams. Any type of free job site is going to have a few scams, but some sites have more legitimate jobs than others, and some are easier to use than others.

There is one job site that I enjoy, have found the most legitimate jobs from, is the easiest to search through, and has a good variety of jobs. This site is http://www.craigslist.org/. If you’ve never used this job search website, I would start using it today!

What makes it such a superior job lead website? Well, let me tell you what I personally like about it. I like that there is an option to search telecommuting jobs only; not too many job sites have this option built into the search feature. You simply go to whatever city you want, select whatever category you want, and click on the telecommuting option. Then, it pulls up the telecommuting jobs! It’s sooooo easy!

I also enjoy that there are so many great categories, and there are some really diverse categories. If you’re looking for jobs in administration, biotech, writing, teaching or many others, you can find them at http://www.craigslist.org/.

I also enjoy that there are so many cities and countries to search through. If you’re searching for Canadian telecommuting jobs, there are options to search that country. If you’re looking for telecommuting jobs in Ireland, there is an option to search that country and many other countries as well. Plus well over 30 US cities!

To find the best results, I go to http://www.craigslist.org/ and start with the first city, Albany, and start with the first category, accounting and finance, and then start searching through every city and category! Sounds simple right? It is simple, but you need to stay committed to looking for jobs everyday.

Telecommuting jobs go fast, so searching everyday at Craigslist.org will be your best bet. You need to jump on the jobs the day they are listed. Is this going to take time on your part? Of course, but if you’re serious about working at home, you will find the time to search everyday for jobs.

Craiglist.org is one of the easiest job search websites I’ve found, and it’s one that I go to in order to find legitimate leads from every single day! My husband has even started using it to find offline jobs in our area.

I have other job search websites that you can try out listed on my MommysPlace site. I haven’t used all of the websites on this list, so please know that I can’t vouch for them all or tell you if they are the best to use. You should try as many as you want in order to decide which ones work best for you.

http://www.telecommutingmoms.com

Now get out there and get searching! I wish you the best with your job search.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Nell Taliercio is the owner and founder of www.telecommutingmoms.com – which is a leading resource website with work at home jobs and everything a telecommuting mom would need. Come visit us today!

This article is available for reprint with author’s resource box intact and all links live and clickable. Copyright is reserved by author.

“WOW! I can work from home and make money? I can sit around in my PJ’s and work whenever I want? How great, I want to be a telecommuter!”

There is much more to being a telecommuter than working in your PJ’s or working when you want to. Yes, those are nice benefits to telecommuting, but you’d be surprised by how much work goes into working from home. You usually have to work 10 times harder and longer than in your traditional job outside the home.

When I first started telecommuting years ago I thought, “How hard could this be?” Well was I in for a surprise! I found I wasn’t as motivated as I thought I would be. It was really hard for me to get up on time, get something to eat, and go to my “office” in order to start my day.

And once I did start my day I had to force myself to sit there and work for at least 3 hours at a time before I took a break. I couldn’t believe how different it was from working outside the home. Yes, it was very rewarding to work from my home, but it wasn’t all it’s cracked up to be. I thought from all the ads I’d seen online, that working would be a breeze.

After a few months of telecommuting, talking to other telecommuters, and just adjusting to this new way of working it all became much easier. I found that it was very fulfilling to be at home and be earning an income. It was nice to start my day when I wanted. My daily commute wasn’t an hour each way in rush hour traffic; it was down the hall in the bedroom we had set up for an office. It was very satisfying and a lot of fun!

I grew a network of moms who worked from their home too, and talked to them on message boards, email, instant messaging and chat rooms…they became my “co-workers”. I never realized how much I liked having co-workers, or people to talk to during the workday, until I began telecommuting!

So, does this all sound like something you’d like to do? Ask yourself these questions before you start telecommuting.

Am I focused?

What skills or experience do I have and can they work in a teleworking environment?

Do I have an area for an office and equipment?

Am I motivated or do I get frustrated and give up?

Can I work without supervision?

Can I manage my time well?

Do I listen to instructions and can I follow them easily?

Can I meet deadlines?

Do I have strong communication skills?

Do I have a strong work ethic?

There are even more things to consider before taking the leap into telecommuting. Such as, if you have small children will you be able to work with your child at home and if you go full time what will you do about healthcare benefits? Will you be able to live on part time income until you have enough work to maintain a full time schedule?

Many times when hired to work at home, you will not be making a full time income. You will need to obtain more than one job or work the one you have long enough to prove you’re a good employee so they give you more work. There are always exceptions to this rule, but in general it will take more than one job to make full time income.

But as most telecommuters will tell you “where there’s a will there’s a way” and if you really want to work from your home, you will. Just remember that it will take time to adjust to. Be sure to stay focused, motivated, dedicated, and have a positive attitude. It’s all necessary in your success as a telecommuter!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Nell Taliercio is the owner and founder of www.telecommutingmoms.com – which is a leading resource website with work at home jobs and everything a telecommuting mom would need. Come visit us today!

This article is available for reprint with author’s resource box intact and all links live and clickable. Copyright is reserved by author.

Question: How do I market myself online?

Answer: With a stellar cover letter and resume.

Okay, so let’s get into the meat of this. You know that you need to market yourself, and you can do that with a stellar cover letter and resume. But, why is that so important? Let’s think about this. When you apply offline for a job, you are competing with a handful of people (usually) and right there you have a better chance to get called in for an interview. Online jobs you are often competing with hundreds, if not thousands, of other applicants for the very same position.

In the “real world” you apply in person. Therefore, you can dress for success and put your best foot forward. You can impress them with your presence and personality. Online you can’t. What’s your “best foot forward” online?

That would be your cover letter and resume – how you present yourself on paper. Your cover letter and resume have to show your skills and your personality; it has to be your presence.

How do you put your best foot forward with your cover letter and resume? A telecommuting employer (one who hires work at home employees) is looking for different things on cover letters and resumes then those offline. Let’s talk about cover letters first. If you’re not sending a cover letter with your resume then this might be one of the reasons you’re not getting hired. The cover letter is your VERY first impression. Take the time to show you’re very serious about the job they have open. See if you can find who the head of HR is, and address it to that person. Tailor your cover letter to that specific position.

This is optional, but I always put where I found the position (for example, “The position I’m applying for is Customer Service, which I found at XYZ.com”). I always did that even with offline jobs, but it’s not necessary. I think some employers just like to know where you heard about their job. This is especially helpful online because jobs get passed around and around online. It could have started out on a certain website and then ended up on hundreds of others.

Make sure you pay attention to the job ad. Does it say you need DSL? Does it say you will be working with certain software? Whatever the requirements, if you meet them, put that down on the cover letter. The employer will scan over your cover letter, and you want what’s on yours to stand out and grab their eye. If you have what they need, you’re going to grab their attention – and that’s what you want!

Overall, you want to pay attention to detail, outline why you’re the best person for the job (without going on too long about how great you are), and point out that you have what is required for the job.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Nell Taliercio is the owner and founder of www.telecommutingmoms.com – which is a leading resource website with work at home jobs and everything a telecommuting mom would need. Come visit us today!

This article is available for reprint with author’s resource box intact and all links live and clickable. Copyright is reserved by author.

You’ve made it! Your cover letter and resume got you to the interview process… now what? First of all, I would like to give you a BIG congratulations for making it this far. Pat yourself in the back, do a happy dance. Okay, now let’s get down to business.

Not every work at home job will require a telephone interview. Some just hire you from what they see on your cover letter and resume, but you need to be prepared for those dreaded phone interviews. I say dreaded because often the thought of a telephone interview scares people.

What you need to realize is that they understand it’s a nerve racking process. So, take a deep breath, and have faith in yourself and your abilities. The most important thing to make the interviewer believe in you as a potential employee is that YOU believe in YOU as a potential employee. Again, the keywords “SELL YOURSELF” come into play.

Be friendly and upbeat on the interview, but don’t talk too long or about unimportant things. Don’t give away too much personal information, either. Basically, you just want to answer the questions asked of you. What I would do is really study the job, the requirements, and the company. Then write a “cheat sheet” before the interview to have on hand.

Here are some telecommuting interview tips and common questions I’ve run into:

Why do you want to work from home?

I personally would never say “Because I want to be home with my child”. I think that’s an obvious one and most interviewers will figure that that’s a reason. I would say something that would make me look good for telecommuting. Examples include: “I really enjoy working independently”, “I feel I really shine and thrive when working independently. I want to feel that satisfaction everyday when I’m working”

Why are you the best person for the job?

SELL YOURSELF! Again, those two important keywords! Listen folks, if you can’t sell yourself to this interviewer, you could lose this job to someone else who sells themselves better. You don’t need to brag, but really delve into why you would be the best for the company and job. Look at the job and company before hand. Jot down reasons why you would be best for the job so that you’re prepared for this question.

What your worst quality?

Yuck, I hate this question! I could never really come up with a great answer that didn’t sound like an outright lie. You don’t want to really point out your worst quality. Never say “I’m lazy” or “I get distracted easily” or anything that casts you in a bad light. On the other hand, you don’t want to say something that looks like a complete lie like “I’m a workaholic, and I don’t know when to stop”. I don’t see that as a bad quality, and most employers won’t either. They may call you on it and ask you to give them a real answer.

Don’ts of Interviewing:

Don’t chew gum on an interview. Don’t eat mints or have anything in your mouth. It’s simply not professional, and someone cracking their gum in your ear is very rude and annoying!

Don’t eat or drink while on the phone. Make sure you get all of that done before the interview.

Be sure to set aside time so that your household is relatively quiet. An employer will understand that you’re looking to work at home and, more then likely, want to be home with your kids so there may be noise from time to time. And they should be okay with that. (If they place a lot of importance on a quiet environment and yours is not quiet, you better pass on this job because you will probably lose the job. Don’t waste your time or theirs if you know it’s not a good fit.) However, if you can’t even take this interview seriously enough to devote yourself 100% to it, then you may lose the job because of it. The interviewer wants to know that they are the most important thing during the interview. The dogs barking, kids yelling, and you interrupting to quiet the house is not professional for business.

Don’t go on and on about how much you want this job and how badly you need to get this job. It’s a given that you want the job or you wouldn’t be interviewing, and it’s a given you need the job. The only time I would bring up that you want the job is when they ask you something like “Why do you want to work with us?” Then you can express why you want to work with the company. Don’t say anything like “You can’t even imagine how bad I need this job” or “I really want this job; it would be perfect for me.” The employer needs to know why they would benefit from you working with them. They want to hear the word “you” more often than “me.”

If you would like more tips for interviews and examples of questions, head over to www.mommysplace.net and once there visit the Interview Center.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Nell Taliercio is the owner and founder of www.telecommutingmoms.com – which is a leading resource website with work at home jobs and everything a telecommuting mom would need. Come visit us today!

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