And, now, another chapter in our continuing saga series about how to find work-at-home, home-based businesses, and freelance opportunities. But this is no ordinary post. We liked what we saw at Indeed.com so much we’ve added the list of jobs they offer right here on our site. With the help of our custom search string, our work-at-home job search page now delivers just home-based opportunities. And you can further customize it to the exact kind of home-based job that fits your skills.

Indeed.com hit the information highway in 2005. They’ve since emerged as the fourth largest job board on the web, and were named one of the Top 10 best sites for 2007 by Time Magazine. Partly owned by the New York Times, they post over a million jobs each week, and they keep their links fresh by purging job posts every thirty days. Over five million people visit Indeed.com every month.

Indeed.com is a so-called ’scraper site’; in other words, they scrape jobs from thousands of job boards, career sites, and newspapers including the huge job boards we’ve covered in this Finding Work At Home series: Career Builder, Monster, and YahooHotJobs. That means less work for you as you search for the perfect work-at-home job. Of course, it also means that some of the job links will be from low-life companies out to scam you. But that’s where our Job Search page comes in. We’ve developed a way to weed out the majority of the junk so you don’t have dig through a haystack to find your needle.

If you’re wondering how Indeed makes money, they encourage employers to sponsor their posts to move them higher in the listings. Job searchers, however, pay nothing to use the site. If you’re wondering if we make money by showing you thier jobs, the answer is ‘yes’. They pass us a little cash for everyone who signs up for a free account from our job search page, but:

a) it costs you nothing;

b) you could go directly to them and we wouldn’t earn a dime;

c) like all things you’ll find on this web site, we don’t endorse anyone we don’t believe in;

d) unlike the huge majority of work-at-home web sites, we don’t pontificate about how to avoid scams on one hand, and feature Google ads that direct you to them on the other so we can pocket a few bucks from leading you astray; and

e) we told you so you know it’s legitimate business relationship;

f) we gotta eat.

The Indeed.com interface looks like a Google or Yahoo search page, so you don’t need to know anything special to do a search. They also offer full Boolean search if you know how to use it, which allows you (and us) to do a great deal of job search customization. For example, if you’re looking for a telecommuting job in the healthcare or pharmaceutical field but don’t want to work in sales, and you don’t want to work for XYZ Corp, search on the phrase:

(telecommuting OR telecommute) AND (healthcare OR pharmaceutical) NOT sales NOT “xyz corp”

Click on any resulting job and use Indeed.com’s Refinement Options to focus on a certain company, job title, type of employer, or full-time versus part-time work. If you want to eliminate jobs based on any of the refinement criteria, just add the words to your keyword search following another NOT command (e.g. NOT Poughkeepsie). Alternatively, go to the Advance Search page and enter what you want in the boxes provided.

Indeeds’s site also offers several unique and useful features. For example, type “SEO” (search engine optimization) in the search box and then click on Trends and you’ll see that SEO job posts have grown by 200% over the past 2 years. Use the Salary button and you’ll see that the average salary for a job that includes the term is $55,000 nationwide and $68,000 if your optimizing in New York. Want to know what it’s like to work at Kinkos? Type it in the search box and click on Forums and you’ll find out from people who work there.

Job alerts can be delivered via RSS feeds, to a your MyYahoo account, or by installing any one of a number of plugins from their Tools menu. Google click-through ads clutter up the landscape,;but hey, they help make the service free to you, so deal with it.

Prior posts in the “Find Work At Home” series:

Part 1: Monster.com

Part 2: CareerBuilder.com

Part 3: YahooHotJobs.com

Part 4: Craigslist.com

Part 5: ComputerJobs.com

Part 6: Odesk.com

Future posts in this series will include:

Jobster.com

SimplyHired.com

MomCorps.com

DreamJobs.com

Tjobs.com

Dice.com

IT Toolbox.com

Cybercoders.com

JournalismJobs.com

Jobs.Problogger.net

________________________________

Home-based business owners stay tuned for posts about how to make the most of these and other project and freelance job boards:

Elance.com

RentaCoder.com

Guru.com

Also don’t forget every Friday is our Work At Home Scambusting series. More about that here.

Don’t want to miss out on the latest Work At Home advice?

Add us to your favorite RSS feed.

If you’re looking for a way to work at home you’ll want to read this interview with Josh Breinlinger, Director of Marketing for oDesk Corporation; all they offer is work at home jobs. If you have trouble finding work where you live, there’s good news-employers often have trouble finding people with technical skills where they are. That’s where oDesk comes in as a matchmaker.

They’ve created an online marketplace that allows companies to hire, manage and pay remote technical workers no matter where they live. Most of the work they offer is web development and software development, but they also have jobs for writers, graphic designers, and folks with SEO expertise.

1) How long has your job board been active?

Re: oDesk was founded in 2004.

2) How many open positions do you have on average?

Re: We have ~300 new jobs posted every day.

3) How many offer telework?

Re: All of them. There are no postings for local hires, all work is done remotely.

4) How many employers use your service?

Re: We have around 30,000, of which about 8,000 are active each month.

5) Do you do anything to verify the authenticity of a project post?

Re: We validate credit cards of buyers, but more importantly, we guarantee the people doing the work work thru our system that they will get paid.

6) Do you have a feel for the percentage of jobs that are filled on your site?

Re: Varies a lot depending on the category. Most are around 50%.

7) What do your consider your niche to be?

Re: Majority of work is technical, web development and software development, but categories like writing, graphic design, and SEO are expanding rapidly.

8) You seem to specialize in projects vs. jobs, is that correct?

Re: There is a large range. You can see some of the info on jobs at http://www.odesk.com/community/oconomy. While the majority of individual job postings are for relatively small projects, you’ll also see a good number of jobs for 1/2 year or more.

9) What are the most needed skills?

Re: There is demand for everything, but some of the newer tech skills are in very high demand, eg Ruby, Ajax, etc.

10) How are you different from your competitors / Why should a job candidate use you?

Re: Always free to register and participate in our network, including free skills certifications. And payment for work thru our system is guaranteed. We try to take a lot of the hassle out of the process.

11) Are any fees paid by the job candidate?

Re: Nope.

12) Are your jobs scraped or aggregated from other job boards?

Re: No. All jobs posted by oDesk buyers.

13) Are your jobs fed to any other job boards (such as CareerBuilder, HotJobs, or others)?

Re: They are listed on Indeed and SimplyHired.

14) What % of your posts come from recruiters?

Re: As far as I’m aware, very very few. Almost all of the positions are direct relationships with oDesk buyers for remote work.

15) Where do the majority of your posts come from (recruiters, end users, newspapers, etc.)?

Re: End users. Mostly small-medium sized businesses.

If you’re looking a way to work from home or a telecommuting job, visit oDesk.com and see what they have to offer. What do you have to lose? Unlike many scams out there, it’s entirely free.

In our continuing search for job boards that offer legitimate work-at-home and home freelance business opportunities, we ran a cross a site called ComputerJobs.com. We were impressed with the quality of work-at-home jobs on their site so we decided to learn more about them. Here’s a summary of the interview we conducted for our forthcoming book with Michael Turner (of MarketingMax ComputerJobs’ public relations representative) to find out more about the company.

First, a little background on ComputerJobs.com.

The company was started by Mike and Nancy Gilfillan in 1995. Since that time they’ve risen to become a leading Information Technology (IT) employment Web site. Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, and acquired by JobServe in 2006, ComputerJobs.com mission is to be the first place IT professionals visit when using the Internet to look for computer-related jobs, career information, or industry resources.

In the early ’90’s, Mike was working as a computer programmer in Atlanta. While researching a book called Atlanta’s Project Based Computer Jobs, he realized that many computer professionals lacked good job hunting skills. He also realized that looking for a job in the Sunday newspaper was about as inefficient as using a punch card—and nearly as frustrating, for both the job seeker and the job advertiser.

Recognizing that computer professionals would be quick to embrace the Internet, Mike and Nancy created a Web site called AtlantaComputerJobs Store. Contracting firms were eager to attract some of the thousands of computer professionals already using this new computer network. The word spread quickly among Atlanta programmers that there was a cool new way to find a job—free, and right where their fingertips were comfortable, on the keyboard.

In the 17-plus years since it’s humble beginnings, ComputerJobs.com has expanded to include nationwide and even international employment opportunities.

Here’s what Mike had to say:

(Q) How many open positions do you have?

On average, ComputerJobs.com has tens of thousands of IT specific job postings on the site.

(Q) How many employers use your service?

Upwards of 20,000 use ComputerJobs.com’s services.

(Q) Do you do anything to verify the authenticity of a job post?

ComputerJobs.com’s has a dedicated Client Services team that audits the jobs that are posted to the web site. Finding a job can be frustrating, and we try to make the process as painless as possible.

(Q) How much do employers pay to list a job? Is it a success fee or posting fee?

ComputerJobs.com understands the relentless pressure to hire the best IT talent, hire them fast and still control hiring costs. We incorporate a variety of customized services and features designed to assist employers. Employers can pay as little as $350.00 for a four week pay-as-you-go posting. There’s discounted pricing for larger packages.

(Q) Do you have a feel for the percentage of jobs that are filled on your site?

We have to rely on our clients to notify of us about the jobs that they fill from our site, which doesn’t always happen. So we don’t have specific percentages, but we have consistently high client renewal numbers.

(Q) What is your niche in the job board marketplace?

ComputerJobs.com focuses solely on the IT industry. ComputerJobs.com specialty sites help our clients funnel qualified IT candidates into specific industries, such as Aerospace, Engineering, Financial, Government, Healthcare, Insurance, Manufacturing, Pharmaceutical, and Telecommunications. This provides candidates the ability to highlight their specific industry expertise.

(Q) What are the most needed skills?

Although it varies, the top search terms by clients this month are Windows, Security, SAP, SQL Server and Architect.

(Q) How are you different from your competitors / Why should a job candidate use you?

ComputerJobs was founded by IT professionals for IT professionals. ComputerJobs has always sought to provide candidates with the experience that we would like to have when searching for a new job. This includes such features as Job Alerts to keep candidates aware of the latest job opportunities, the ability to upload a resume in a variety of popular document formats and the ability to block certain recruiters from being able to view a resume. In essence, ComputerJobs has always tried to put the candidate first and in full control of their job search.

(Q) Are any fees paid by the job candidate?

ComputerJobs.com’s services are free of charge for candidates.

(Q) Are your jobs scraped or aggregated from other job boards?

In an effort to simplify recruiters’ manual efforts of posting jobs, ComputerJobs.com has worked with specific clients to develop custom applications to obtain jobs from their respective websites.

(Q) Are your jobs fed to any other job boards (such as CareerBuilder, HotJobs, or others)?

Jobs posted to ComputerJobs.com are posted to our parent company’s website, JobServe USA, as well as hundreds of small local boards through our exporting partnerships.

(Q) What percentage of your posts come from recruiters?

There is approximately a 60/40 ratio of recruiting companies vs. end user companies.

Aside from the high percentage of recruiter posts (click here to read our earlier comments on the recruiter vs. direct hire issue), we like what we see here. On the PJ meter they get a 5 all the way around. If you’re looking for a work-at-home IT job go to ComputerJobs.com.

Happy hunting! And do let us know how you make out!

Prior posts in the “Find Work At Home” series:

Part 1: Monster.com

Part 2: CareerBuilder.com

Part 3: YahooHotJobs

Part 4: Craigslist

Future posts in this series will include:

Jobster.com

Indeed.com

SimplyHired.com

MomCorps.com

DreamJobs.com

Tjobs.com

Dice.com

IT Toolbox.com

Cybercoders.com

JournalismJobs.com

Jobs.Problogger.net

________________________________

Home-based business owners stay tuned for posts about how to make the most of these and other project and freelance job boards:

Elance.com

RentaCoder.com

Guru.com Read the rest of this entry »

Craigslist, with a personality all its own, is a great place to look for work at home jobs if you have the patience.

The website is visited by more than 30 million people every month where they can view pages with 8 billion free classified ads, job posts, and service listings including 1.5 million new job listings. Despite selling 25% of its soul to Ebay in 2004, Craigslist has maintained a cult-like aversion to corporate falderol and greed. World headquarters in San Francisco is in a Victorian Era mansion, home for its 25 employees.

Job listings are free in all but 7 of the largest cities. Even paid listings in the large metro areas are substantially cheaper for employers to post compared to what they would pay in other media with similar “circulation.”

Craigslist does not accept job posts for business opportunities, multilevel marketing scams, positions that require upfront fees, or referral/network marketing. If you see such listings be sure to report the listers as companies that don’t play well with others.

Job searches are free on Craigslist, but there are two serious drawbacks when it comes to looking for telework on their site. The web site is organized geographically so if you’re searching for a telework job in San Francisco, you’ll miss one that’s posted in New York. There’s no way to search both cities at once. This doesn’t matter much when you’re looking for a traditional job, but a telework job could be anywhere. The second drawback is that no one policing the listings—there’s a lot of spam and other junk, and you have no idea who’s offering the work. You want to be extra careful evaluating the individual or company offering to pay you . . . if for no other reason so you know for sure you’ll get paid after you do the work.

Still, there’s telework to be had on Craigslist, and employers have “telecommuting is ok” as one of the parameters when they post a job., so you do too when you search. Take note, you will not get valid results if you type the word telecommute in the keyword box on the home page. You need to first go to the jobs page, and then either click the “telecommute” box or type the word “telecommuting” (not telecommute) in the keyword box. (If you do type “telecommute” in the keyword box on the jobs page, you may find some listings that include telecommute as a possible employee benefit.) Craigslist also offers a page for Gigs. If you’re seeking work as a freelancer or contractor, be sure to search there too.

Here’s a tip that will save you time dealing with the issue that Craigslist searches are limited to only one city. A site called CrazedList, allows you search across multiple cities, regions, or the whole country. Before you get too excited, it’s not the solution it could be. The interface at CrazedList is the same as Craigslist, but when you do your search for telecommute jobs, what will come back is a long page with a mini-window for each of the cities that falls within the region you specified. You’ll then have to go to each mini-window and choose “jobs,” which will take you to a mini-window of jobs for that city. It’s not a terrific fix, but it is better than having to open a new window for each city.

Happy hunting, and remember—be especially wary of scams and low lifes that are attracted by the free listings

This is the third post in our “How To Find Work At Home” series. Yahoo’s HotJobs is today’s topic.

Through partnership deals with over 350 newspapers, HotJobs reaches almost 12 million users. Job searches are free because the employers pay around $370 per 30-day listing. Like Monster and CareerBuilder (see links to earlier posts below), HotJobs lets you enter keywords, pick a job category, and refine your search. But looks are deceiving.

While none of the large job boards manage to weed out all the junk, I’ve found you have to kiss more than the usual number of frogs on HotJobs. However, there are some legitimate work at home positions listed on HotJobs so let’s take a look at how their search engine works.

As usual, start your search on the advanced search page.

In the Keyword section, put these words in the “Any of These Words” box: telecommute, telecommuting, telecommuter, telework (include the commas). As we’ve suggested in the past, don’t bother searching on “work at home” or similar phrases because your results will be almost entirely junk. Note also that HotJobs does not support wildcard or Boolean searches in the primary search box so be sure to place your AND, OR, and NOT keywords in the lines provided.

Enter up to 3 job categories you want to search (you can leave any or all of them blank if you’re just shopping).

Leave the Location section blank unless you’re willing to commute some of the time.

Fill in the Salary and Experience fields if you like.

Choose whether you want only job posting that come directly from employers, or if you also want to see those that come from employment agencies. For more about that, there’s at good post at Job-Hunt.org.

It’s probably best to limit your search to listings from in the last 60 days unless, again, you’re just trying to learn more about who the work-at-home employers are.

Click “Search Jobs” and let ‘er rip.

You’ll notice the interface looks a lot like CareerBuilder’s. You can quickly refine your search by clicking on any of the sidebar boxes. I find the “Jobs By Company” section the most useful place to start.

The number of job posts per company is in parentheses next to the company name.

Our scam detector is beeping wildly at the first entry here: “CLICK HERE NOW. . . “. Say no more, we don’t need to go there to know they’re trying too hard. Hot Potato Promotions is on my radar as well. A quick web search and I see they’re selling a “business opportunity.” Wait a minute, I thought a job was where someone paid me, not the other way around. Next.

Skipping over IBM for the moment, I’m curious about the 575 openings for Online Administrative Management Consulting Ltd, as well as the next 675 listings for the same thing (except those have the LTD capitalized—maybe they’re upper management positions). Knowing I’m gonna be disappointed, I click on one of their jobs (which is posted in all capital letters—the web equivalent of screaming at someone). And guess what? More screaming:

Wanna bet the only thing that’s gonna change in my life if I go any further here is that I’ll be $9.95 poorer? This junk really ticks me off!

In a matter of minutes we’ve eliminated 1400 of the 1900 work at home job hits and further clicking will send another 500 or so to the trash. Even IBM’s posts, while they do reflect real jobs, require extensive travel. True, you don’t have a real office, but that’s because you’re expected to spend most of your time in other people’s and are rarely at home. You’ll find many other sales-type jobs among the work-at-home listings that are similarly unsuitable if being on the road most of the time isn’t your idea of telecommuting.

Here’s my best advice for using HotJobs. At the bottom of the “Jobs By Company” box you’ll see “more companies” in small print. Click on that and start your search with those that only have a few listings. This is where I’ve found a few work-at-home gems buried.

Nobody ever said looking for work you can do from home would be easy. If it was, everyone would be doing it and Starbucks would be out of business. What would we do then?

Prior posts in the “Find Work At Home” series:

Part 1: Monster.com

Part 2: CareerBuilder.com

Future posts in this series will include:

Jobster.com

Indeed.com

SimplyHired.com

MomCorps.com

DreamJobs.com

Tjobs.com

Dice.com

IT Toolbox.com

ComputerJobs.com

Cybercoders.com

JournalismJobs.com

Jobs.Problogger.net

________________________________

Home-based business owners stay tuned for posts about how to make the most of these and other project and freelance job boards:

Elance.com

RentaCoder.com

Guru.com Read the rest of this entry »