Tired of reading our and other posts on home work, freelance and telecommuting? Then it is time to change the activity and listen to some podcast.

Hiwired.com is the company that promises you to get max out of your technology and save your money. It has recently published a podcast on telecommuting. It is an interview with a new mom – Melissa. Before you  download the podcast two definitions that should make things more clear for our readers:

Telecommuting or telework is a work arrangement when employees get flexibility in working location and hours. In other words, the daily commute to a central place of work is replaced by telecommunication links.

Podcasting is the method of distributing multimedia files, such as audio programs or music videos, over the Internet using either the RSS or Atom syndication formats, for playback on mobile devices and personal computers.

You can download and listen to the interview following this link.

[source: Hiwired.com]

[tag]telecommuting jobs, podcast, podcasts, free podcasts, work from home[/tag]

In my post on call-center jobs I mentioned that the companies tend to outsource the work to home workers, not to some foreign companies. As a confirmation there was recently published an article in USA Today on this trend. The major conclusion is: you should not miss your chance and make use of the tendency.

It is predicted that within a few next years the number of home working service call agents will triple [according to IDC research] – it is a large home job niche. Three things that opened this niche are:

• Progress of Technology. All you need to become an independent agent is a phone and PC. And now over 60% of US households own this. We also witness a fast growth of fast speed Internet connection.

• Increase of costs. Both: for companies and employees: gas, housing, etc. It makes home job attractive for millions of people, especially for those who reside a long way from metropolitan areas. And we can’t state that we have achieved the top of the prices.

• Large number of potential workers. Call service jobs are a good fit for many people who can’t be employed with a traditional job: stay at home parents, retired people, disabled people, students and such.

See the benefits for the company outsourcing call center work: one hour of a traditional in-house call center costs 31$ per employee. If outsourced – the cost goes to 21$ per hour (30% down). The home worker is likely to earn 8-13$ per hour, or even more. It sounds like a win-win situation for the both parties: companies and home workers.

Call service jobs are likely to become a popular occupation for all work from home people. Your task is not to miss this trend and find a call center job while the vacancies are more or less abundant.

[tag]work from home, homeworker, home worker, call center, call services, free agent, outsourcing, telecommute[/tag]

Call center job is a good fit for work from home.

Let’s start with the definition of the job and its scope. A call center is a centralized office used for the purpose of receiving and transmitting a large volume of requests by telephone. A few years back it was common to outsource call centers to India and Phillipines. At this time we observe a new trend: hiring independent contractors to run call-centers from homes (thanks to the fast progress of telecommunications systems: IP telephony, etc).

Why do companies outsource call centers? The answer is simple: to cut their costs. Independent contractors do not require office space, no working place, no office equipment costs. Added to that, contractors should individually handle tax filings and insurance.

Call centers are often subject to criticism (you should be ready to deal with this sort of complaints) for:

From Callers:
o operators working from a script.
o non-expert operators (call screening).
o overseas location, with language and accent problems.
o automated queuing systems.

From Staff:
o close scrutiny by management.
o low pay.
o restrictive working practices.
o high stress

Below comes the list of the companies that plan to hire many contractors for their outsourced call-centers:

- Willow CSN, Miramar, Fla., at www.GoWillow.com, (plan – 7,000 new agents this year).
- West Corp., Omaha, Neb., to hire more call center staff thru www.workathomeagent.com.
- Working Solutions, Plano, Texas, accepts applications at www.workingsolutions.com.
- LiveOps, Palo Alto, Calif., (plan – 8,000 new agents this year) thru www.liveops.com.

Some companies hire new agents as employees providing benefits. A few to list:

- Alpine Access, Golden, Colo., at www.alpineaccess.com, (plan – 6,000 – 8,000 new agents this year).
- ARO Outsourcing, Kansas City, Mo., at www.callcenteroptions.com, (plan – 200 new agents this year).
- VIPdesk, Alexandria, Va., at www.vipdesk.com (plan – 350 – 400 new agents this year).
- O’Currance Inc., Salt Lake City, (plan – 600 new agents this year) thru www.ocurrance.com.
- IntelliCare Inc., Portland, Maine, (plan – to hire licensed nurses in a few of states) thru www.intellicare.com.

Demand (as is the case with all types of legitimate home based work) greatly exceeds supply, but it should not stop people who are really eager to earn living staying at home.
Certainly, there are more companies that hire independent contractors for their call centers, but the above list is a good place to start your search.

[source: startupjournal.com]

[tag]call center, job, home based job, work from home, call center jobs[/tag]