Online Job Hunt. How can I know if the site is legitimate?

You might also give craigslist.org or guru.com a try. I've used both of them to look for work I can do from home. I know that Sozobe has been rather successful with craigslist to find editing freelance work.

Guru.com has both a free and membership service. You get a few job listings from the free service and lots of them from the membership side. They also provide an escrow type of invoicing/payment system.

Careerbuilder is definitely legit. I have used them before and have gotten interviews through them.

A few others:
www.monster.com (I got my third most recent job through them)
www.dice.com (for techies such as m'self; I got my last 2 jobs through them)
www.truecareers.com (for college grads only; you need not be a recent grad)

I strongly advise not splitting your focus, and only looking at a few such sites for general stuff, and also target specific companies where you'd like to get work and go directly to their own websites. E. g. I realize this does not specifically apply to you, but if you wanted to work at, say, Apple Computers, it would pay to also look at Apple's own website and check out their career/job postings.

Another thing I advise is to follow whatever is offered by the state. Massachusetts has a rather good online system now (they didn't used to).
Massachusetts (Job Quest, click on Internet Search Tool): https://web.detma.org/Jobseeker/CM1.ASP

For New York (Department of Labor): http://www.labor.state.ny.us/careerservices/CareerServicesIndex.shtm

I found my most recent 3 jobs online. My job search times ranged from about a month to almost 3 years. In part, that depended upon what I was doing in the search, but it also depended upon the economy and the demand for what I do, so it wasn't just due to the online thing. I had the best success doing what I suggested above:

• focus on only a few general job search websites, and make those the big ones. Be as detailed as possible re what you want.
  
• Concentrate on a few specific companies you want to work for, and follow their online postings as well and
  
• Use the state's resources

Happy job hunting!

butrfly and Jes, Thanks for the info and the advice.

Jes, I have no particular company in mind. Fact is, I have no particular job in mind. I'll do some more exploring, and I'll check out the sites you and butrfly suggest.

I appreciate the help.

I'm following this too...

Thanks for the heads-up, Butrflynet.

I wouldn't say I'm rather successful, but I get the occasional job -- and I really think that with your experience and resume you would have a MUCH easier time getting the good jobs, Roberta. Plain ol' humble Craigslist has really worked well for me. Look in the "Writing/ Editing" section of pretty much any major city, as there are many part-time, home-based jobs that don't require that you live in the city that offers the job.

Here is a sampling:

http://newyork.craigslist.org/wri/
http://losangeles.craigslist.org/wri/
http://seattle.craigslist.org/wri/
http://boston.craigslist.org/wri/

Mooches grassy ass, Soz. I'll investigate. I was hoping to find something not related to my regular work. But if I can expand my client base, then maybe I won't need a menial job to help me financially. Although I did spot one menial job that pays quite well. I'm going to explore.

Oh, I see.

As far as I can tell, the very best possibilities for home-based work are in the writing/ editing category. One of the jobs I looked at when I was getting links paid $55/ hour, though it required specialized computer knowledge. They also are far more likely to be legitimate. Stay away from "data entry" positions, and pretty much anything that's marketed to stay-at-home moms. Obviously, but it bears saying, stay away from anything that requires any money for you to get started. Sometimes they're laughably obvious, sometimes they're quite clever.

As a concept, I'd be wary of that menial job that pays well. Menial jobs usually don't pay well.

Whenever people have come on here asking for how to make money from home, I've suggested writing/ editing -- and you are about the only one I've so advised who is actually thoroughly qualified.

Soz, I truly appreciate all the cautions. I was sufficiently uncomfortable with what I was seeing to come here and ask. There is one thing I will look into. Otherwise, I'll pursue writing and editing. Although writing and editing make me tired. I was looking for and hoping for something that I could do without thinking. I don't know why I thought someone would pay me for that.

Fact is, I never tried finding editing jobs online. I always had clients. Now I will turn my attention there. I've got craiglsist. Any other suggestions?

This is how I earn my money, so I can tell you that the best sites for finding writing/editing work are:

http://writersrow.com/deborahng/freelancewritingjobs.html (this is my fave - Deborah checks that sites are legit and only posts those that make you a living wage)
http://www.poewar.com/
http://thegoldenpencil.com/ (job leads twice a week)

There is also a great discussion list on Yahoo where members post jobs: [email protected]

Also, this site is a great forum where you can ask questions and get support as you look for editing/writing work: http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/ (this is also a great site to ask whether anyone has worked with a specific person - to make sure they are legitimate)

If you are willing to work as a virtual assistant, one very good, legitimate site is: http://www.teamdoubleclick.com/ (look over their webpage and follow the links to sign up as a contractor)

Also, there are a few websites that list warnings about non-legit work sites and ads. The best are:

http://www.writersweekly.com/
http://www.anotherealm.com/prededitors/
http://craigslistcurmudgeon.blogspot.com/

Good luck - it is possible to make a good living this way. If I can do it, so can you!

sigh...I'd love to work at home, without a salary cut....

TIP: Work at home jobs can be found by clicking the "telecommute" option in the search engine on craigslist.

Yep, that's true.

I found that the vast majority of the telecommuting jobs are in the writing/ editing category, so I've skipped that step. But that's how I looked for jobs the first couple of months.

One kind of home-based job that doesn't take much thought but sometimes pays OK that I didn't mention is phone jobs. That's an automatic "no" for me so I discount them, but there are a fair amount of them. Doing surveys and whatnot.

you have to be a really hard person to do phone work....very stressful...hang ups, getting yelled at, pressure to make quotas....it's not like anyone wants to hear from you.

Yeah, even if I could do those I'm not at all sure that I would. I've done equivalents -- door to door stuff for Greenpeace and such -- not very fun.

I've been making a living by editing/writing/proofreading from home for over 15 years. I've never had to look for work; it's always come to me. Lately I've found that I can't make ends meet with what I'm earning. The jobs are being outsourced. Long illnesses have caused me to lose touch with people I used to work for. I've tried reestablishing the contacts. But I want more. I don't much care about a career. I need to earn money.

canuckwrite, Thanks a lot for all the helpful links. I will investigate.

Chai Tea, When I started working at home, I took a major salary cut. When you combine the lower pay with the absence of benefits, it's a big loss.

So far my investigations have revealed that the vast majority of work-at-home jobs are for marketing and sales. I assume some of it is on the phone. I won't do it.

I'm taking the day off (haven't had a day off in several weeks). Manana I will resume the hunt.

bm

What does BM stand for?

Every time I see it, I see one more turd on the plaza...

but people doing that mean Book Mark, so as to get a notice of this thread on their whaddyacallit, brower email thing.

Mostly only the nicest people drop bm's....







Waves to Heeven..

Thanks, Osso. I had similar mental image. Couldn't figure it out. Internet abbreviations can be a challenge.