Work at Home Possibilities - inbound customer service

One of the most common work-at-home jobs is an inbound customer service representative (CSR) or as some in the work-at-home world call it, "phone work." Many people start their careers as work-at-homers by doing some kind of phone work such as this. These jobs are common and there are lots of companies that hire for them, so the jobs are relatively easy to get. Another great thing about them is that often the training is paid and begins right away (though sometimes there is a wait). So if you need a paycheck now, you can start earning asap.

The requirements of working over the phone vary from company to company. But there are two requirements that are almost non-negotiable with everyone. You must have silence in the background and you must purchase a headset.

There are so many companies that will hire you to work at home doing different aspects of customer service. Here are some of the most common (legitimate) companies. Not all are hiring right now, but continue to check back because their hiring needs could change at any time.

• 1800flowers.com - Look at their requirements here. They are hiring temporary employees - apply here.
• Alpine Access - Look at their requirements here and apply here.
• Arise - **One of the very few work at home jobs where you will have to pay a fee to start** Info and apply here.
• Convergys - Info and apply here.
• Teletech - Apply here.
• West (or Work at Home Agent) - Info here and apply here.
• Working Sol - Info here and apply here.

There are a couple of other companies, including U-Haul and Staples.com that do hire at home employees from time to time but not regularly, so I did not include them above.

Keep in mind that with many of these companies, you will be considered an independent contractor, not an "employee." That means you'll have to withhold your own taxes. For more info on that, see my post about working at home and taxes here. If you're just getting started, also check out my post about spotting a scam.

I mentioned that this is one of the most common work-at-home jobs. If this is the type of work you do, tell us about it! If you know of other companies like these where people can be hired on to work from home and you can share them, please do so.