I have been un(der)employed for two years. I was laid off from my last job when the economy finally tanked in my area and been struggling ever since. At first I resisted going straight back into the field I left. I wanted something different at first, but as time dragged on I just wanted something.
To my horror I discovered that I am nearly unemployable. Let me explain what I mean by that. I don't have a 4 year college degree, way back when I left college a few course hours shy of an associate's to take a promotion at the restaurant I worked at. At the time I told myself I would complete my degree or pursue one in business when things settled down (I was going for education at the time). Fast forward 10 years and I was working for a great restaurant chain in Louisiana and headed for a six figure income factoring in some lucrative bonuses. Things were grand and I was making a lot of money for myself and my bosses. then the aforementioned sucky economy.
We went untouched for a bit, but the decree of downsizing finally came from on high. I could go into a long winded rant about politics and other nastier things, but my busy location with it's lucrative bonuses ended up in the hands of my boss and I ended up in the unemployment line.
So back to the unemployable part. Apparently I am "over-qualified", at least that's what I keep getting told (so many times that I lost count). What I think they means is that my prospective employers are not comfortable paying me anywhere near the salary I have become accustomed to when they can have a fresh-out-of college graduate who will fall on their knees and worship them for a quarter of my old salary, nor are they willing to bring me in so far below my "worth" only to have me abandon them when something better comes along. That's not saying I wouldn't be content to work my way up in a new company, just the thought process of the folks I have been interviewed by as I understand it. As the gap between my last "real" job and the present grows, the interview calls become less and less frequent leaving me, an old fogey (at 33), out in the cold.
I have always toyed with working for myself. I have already proven that I can manage a successful business. I have made (and saved) a lot of money over the year for my employers, unfortunately I don't have the wealth or investors to drop one in my hands. I've toyed with a few things, a bit of writing here, some savvy ebay selling there, and I have thus far managed to keep my head mostly above water.
Now I turn to blogging as an outlet and possible source of income. I have learned a lot about the growing work at home job industry over the past two years, and I think that I may have a bit of information and anecdotes that others may want to have access to. I have also been slowly working on turning a hobby into a business which I will go into later.
Work at home jobs are different than "traditional" jobs in that they are are often pretty much willing to take anyone with very few questions asked, and those questions are usually along the lines of "do you have a phone and a computer that runs windows?". They tend to be a revolving door as old people leave and new people are hired so fast that there is a lot of opportunity to secure a position for the folks who are persistent.
Unfortunately for folks just looking into the possibilities of working from home there are around a dozen scams for every legit work-at-home employer, and the scams seem to be waaaaay better at advertising and search engine optimization. In the coming days I will be posting some tips, leads, and reviews on legitimate work at home jobs and opportunities to hopefully save a few folks some of the headaches I have had to deal with and time I have spent weeding through the bad guys.
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