recommend a good work from home type job that is repetitive and uses the computer.

January 7, 2009 5:35 PM

I am looking for a PT job that can be done on the computer. I see ads in craigslist about working at home, earn xxx per week, etc. but was wondering if someone has tried any of these and have any recommended jobs like this? My mom would like to try some of these out since she'll be at home most of the time and thought some side income would be good. Thanks,
posted by brinks to work & money (11 comments total)

As a rule, those jobs almost always require you to buy in to an initial package. Or they involve stuffing envelopes and other menial tasks.

Go ahead and call the number. If they ask you for one red cent, you know what the deal is. And don't pay them anything, no matter what. If it sounds the least bit too good to be true, it is. Just be shrewd about it and approach things logically. You're not *actually* going to make thousands of dollars a month by stuffing envelopes.
posted by disillusioned at 5:44 PM on January 7

CNN has an article on this today:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/worklife/01/07/home.scams/index.html

You'll note the URL contains the word scams-- according to the article only about 2% of these types of listings are legit.
posted by justkevin at 5:50 PM on January 7

You can be a ChaCha guide. There's been a lot of discussion on Metafilter about it. Notable this one.
posted by nitsuj at 5:53 PM on January 7

Those ads are bogus. And, unfortunately, the number of part-time, at-home, mostly-unskilled jobs is fairly low. Off the top of my head, I can basically only think of medical transcription. I mean, I work from home... but, I'm running a business in a technical field.

Always remember, a job pays you, not the other way around.
posted by Netzapper at 5:54 PM on January 7 [1 favorite has favorites]

Amazon's Mechanical Turk allows you to complete very small tasks for _very_ small amounts of money.

https://www.mturk.com/mturk/welcome

It's likely not even minimal wage, but it's legitimate and may lead to something more real.
posted by bottlebrushtree at 6:38 PM on January 7

Article from ABC News.
posted by cda at 7:14 PM on January 7

All of my income is earned from home via the computer and a few years ago I pretty much ran down every kind of lead I could find on this business. The short answer is, it is possible to earn reasonable income from home but there is not much in the way of shortcuts or a "conventional approach" to doing so.

A possible exception is that I did not follow up the phone bank/telemarketing options because I'm just not interested in that kind of work.

The reason is simply the demand for this kind of option vastly exceeds the supply of jobs that will allow employees to telecommute. If someone is going out of their way to get their job in front of your eyes, 99% they are scamming you. There is the odd factor - like, I have found legitimate at-home work through Metafilter Jobs but then again, that's Metafilter Jobs, not Craigslist. Further, the work has not been uncomplicated (i.e. uncertain hours or work continuity, limited duration, mediocre pay, odd conditions are issues that have popped up for me in nevertheless perfectly legitimate jobs). And if it hasn't happened already I would be surprised if people don't start trying to scam Jobs eventually like they try to scam other aspects of Metafilter.

I found there were sites that I think legitimately tried to identify valid opportunities (many directed at "at-home moms" type constituents) but they were always heavily beset by the scammers and also a lot of wishful thinking that had honest people propping up probably-scams (and legal but basically useless set-ups)

My best and only reliable job: someone I know through family connection, and utilizes specialized skills I have. Most cases I know of are like that. Otherwise people convince their bosses in a regular job to let them telecommute and make the transition. This is another side of the issue: just as there are a lot of hopeful people who would love a small reliable income they could earn from home out there to exploit, legitimate employers have legitimate concerns about hiring someone sight unseen who they are going to trust to do a good job completely under their own supervision.
posted by nanojath at 8:51 PM on January 7 [1 favorite has favorites]

One search term that might help is "SAHM" (for Stay At Home Mom) jobs. There are a lot of websites geared to helping folks work from home on a part-time, flexible schedule. One I like is Money Making Mommy.

Obviously a lot of jobs don't pay that well, but if she was just doing it to get some extra spending cash it's not a bad way to waste some time online. She might be able to get jobs like data entry, forum moderating, or answering surveys. If she has a lot of English training there are also jobs proofreading and editing, although I think you work for pennies in the beginning until you build a little trust.

And Nthing what everyone else said about a lot of the Craigslist posts--scammy scam scam! I'd find a few job-aggregating websites that post jobs she might like, and check those; let them weed out the scams for you.
posted by Bella Sebastian at 9:01 PM on January 7

Most of the "jobs" you see advertised are scams. I run a website on consulting and, because so many people get targeted by scammers, I have a page on how to avoid work at home job scams. It's one of the most popular pages on my site and I think it's because so many people run into those scammy ads. It's embarassing to fall for a scam and I think most people won't tell you that they've been scammed.

From what I've seen, most work at home jobs open up for *existing* employees of the firms or through word of mouth. Sometimes, you will find legitimate jobs advertised on a jobs board, such as the one on this site or some of the really big names, like Monster or a big newspaper. But most of the people I know working from home have started their own businesses. The ones who have businesses that resemble jobs are the consultants and freelancers who have just one or two main clients. Most people with strong, long lasting businesses try to diversify their customers bases, though.
posted by acoutu at 10:00 PM on January 7

I doubt your mom would be willing to do anything too risque, but for anyone interested (feel free to MeMail me) I do know of a legit work at home opportunity in the adult text chatting industry.
posted by justonegirl at 7:48 AM on January 8

If there is a medical or legal transcription company in town, they may have contract work.

If your Mom can write well, and could become a pretty good blogger, people do make money with google ads on blogs.

Home-based child care is hard work, requires setting up the house appropriately and getting training and licensing, but there's usually need for child care.
posted by theora55 at 8:23 AM on January 8