在
那么多的经济问题之中，有些好消息仍基本上没被人们注意到：SOHO一族正在扩大，而且涵盖的新职业也从解读放射医学影像和护理到审计和教学，不一而足。坏消息是，激烈的竞争意味着找到这类工作的机会很小。即使是找到了，也可能要接受薪水降低的现实。
对企业来说，在家工作的员工、独立承包人和自由职业者有助于降低成本、改善客服。马萨诸塞州市场研究公司国际数据公司(IDC)副总裁伯格斯(Ray Boggs)说，预计2009年底前，美国的全职、在家工作的自由职业者和独立承包人将增加20万人，至1,100万。他认为，2010年还会再增加20万。
尽管在一个单月新增失业人口就有这么多的经济体中，这个数字微不足道，但趋势对那些从中获益的个人来说却有着重要意义。这些人避开了令人头痛的上下班，还可以做义工，攻读学位或是照顾家人。此外，他们可以在家里从事越来越复杂的工作，从解读磁共振影像到帮助客户寻找传说中的野生动物"大脚怪"。
德斯特(Christine Durst)是一个在家办公网站的首席执行长。她说，我们开始看到在家工作的领域在普遍扩大。她还与人合着了一部新的相关指导书。
不过，申请在家工作职位的人有几十万人。根据我对数十家聘用在家办公人员的公司的调查，找到这类工作的几率从25:1到300:1不等。
密苏里州ARO Contact Center首席营运长阿米格尼(Michael Amigoni)说，公司u雇佣200个在家工作的审计师和销售及客服人员，每周却能收到1,000封求职简历。奥马哈的West Corp.由1.4万个现职经纪人处理客服和其他电话，每周收到4,500个申请人的简历，不过只聘用其中的0.5%到1%。丹佛的Alpine Access有2,800名在家工作的客服、销售和技术支持人员，每年申请人有10万，却只聘用其中的约2%。
加州LiveOps驻佛罗里达州在家工作的客服人员戴维沃(Tammie Deweever)说，要得到这样的职位需要很好的运气。你必须对自己从事的工作非常精通。戴维沃拥有营销本科学位，在去年1月份加入LiveOps之前曾是一名抵押贷款经纪人。对她来说，工作的灵活性意味着能够在家照看17岁、15岁和8岁的三个孩子。她常常按照他们的需要安排工作时间，接听那些想要购买榨汁机到牛仔裤等产品的电视购物者的电话。
很多在家办公的熟练专业人士和管理人士挣得比公司工资要少。没有那么熟练的客服或销售工作的薪水通常是每小时8到15美元，加上激励或奖金后最高可达每小时25美元。一些企业按接打电话的分钟或小时计薪，还有一些按班次付薪。公司不同，工作也不同，从享受福利的全职职位到兼职独立承包人职位。
申请人必须警惕骗子。康涅狄格州的德斯特为自己的网站RatRaceRebellion.com筛查有关在家工作的点子。她说，在她看过的点子中，每60个中只有一个是合法的。2006年时比例还没有这么差：当时每31个点子中有一个是合法的。
很多在家办公诈骗案的受害者都交了钱，却只是收到了毫无价值的产品或点子，甚至什么也没有收到。有些透露了太多个人信息的人则成为信用卡或支票帐户盗窃的受害者。
不过那些运气好的人则收获了各种各样的好处。为了避开长途上下班的麻烦，北卡罗来纳州的营销专员海登(Heather Hedden)花了一年的时间才找到了现在的这份工作，为弗吉尼亚州的VIPdesk当起了在家工作的管理员。她说，这份工作值得她等了那么久。她喜欢用自己的研究技能帮助客户找电影票或球票、陈酿葡萄酒或旅行服务。当有个客户请她帮忙找"大脚怪"的时候，她找到了一位旅行用品商，此人经常带着"志同道合"的客户到据说发现"大脚怪"踪迹的地方远足。
Alex Welsh for the Wall Street Journal
安德森正在家中工作
这样的无形刺激吸引来了能力强、经验丰富的人。West高级副总裁弗雷(Mark Frei)说，该公司80%在家办公的人员都拥有本科学位，而在公司电话中心工作的人中只有30%拥有本科学位。
Sue Shellenbarger
Amid the economy's many ailments, some good news has remained mostly off the radar: The at-home work force is growing, and it is encompassing new occupations ranging from radiology and nursing to auditing and teaching.
The bad news: Fierce competition means your odds of landing one of these jobs are poor. And if you succeed, you will probably take a pay cut.
For companies, home-based employees, independent contractors and freelancers are helping cut costs and improve customer service. Full-time, home-based freelancers and independent contractors in the U.S. are expected to increase by 200,000 workers to 11 million by the end of 2009, says Ray Boggs, a vice president of IDC, Framingham, Mass., a market-research firm; he sees another 200,000-worker increase in 2010.
While that is a mere blip on the radar in an economy that has been losing nearly that many jobs in a month, the trend means a lot to the individuals who are benefiting from it. They are avoiding dreaded commutes, doing volunteer work, pursuing college degrees or caring for family. And they are performing increasingly complex tasks from home, from reading MRIs to helping clients search for Bigfoot, the mythic wilderness creature.
'We are seeing a general broadening of the work-at-home landscape,' says Christine Durst, chief executive of a work-at-home Web site and co-author of a new guidebook on the topic.
Applicants are stacking up by the hundreds of thousands, however. Based on my survey of a dozen companies that use home workers, your odds of actually landing one of these positions range from about 25-to-1 to 300-to-1.
ARO Contact Center, Kansas City, Mo., which employs just 200 home auditors and sales and customer-service workers, gets 1,000 resumes a week, says Michael Amigoni, chief operating officer. West Corp., Omaha, with 14,000 active agents handling customer-service and other calls, hires only 0.5% to 1% of its 4,500 weekly applicants. And Alpine Access, Denver, with 2,800 home customer-service, sales and tech-support agents, hires about only 2% of the 100,000 people who apply each year.
'It takes a lot of luck to get these positions,' says Tammie Deweever, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., a home customer-service agent for LiveOps, Santa Clara, Calif. 'You have to be good at what you do.' Ms. Deweever has a college degree in marketing and worked as a mortgage broker before joining LiveOps last January. For her, job flexibility means being able to be home for her children, 17, 15 and 8; she often works split shifts around their needs, answering calls from TV viewers wanting to buy products from juicers to jeans.
Many skilled at-home professionals and managers earn less than a corporate salary. Less-skilled customer-service or sales work usually pays about $8 to $15 an hour, ranging as high as $25 or more with incentives or premiums. Some companies pay by the minute or hour spent on the phone, while others pay by the shift. The jobs vary by company from full-time employee positions with benefits to part-time independent contractor positions.
And applicants must be wary of scam artists. Ms. Durst, Woodstock, Conn., who screens work-at-home pitches for her Web site, RatRaceRebellion.com, says she is finding only one legitimate job among every 60 pitches she examines. In 2006, the odds weren't quite as bad: She was finding one legitimate job for every 31 pitches vetted.
Many victims of work-at-home fraud have sent money, only to receive worthless products or leads, or nothing at all, in return; others who disclose too much personal information have fallen victim to theft from credit-card or checking accounts.
But those who win the work-at-home lottery reap diverse benefits. Intent on avoiding a long commute, Heather Hedden, a Raleigh, N.C., marketing specialist, spent a year looking for her current spot, as a home-based concierge for VIPdesk, Alexandria, Va. The position was worth the wait, she says. She enjoys using her research skills to help clients find theater or sports tickets, vintage wines or travel services. When a client asked for help looking for Bigfoot, she found an outfitter with a track record of taking like-minded customers on hikes through areas of reported sightings, she says.
Home-based work enables newlywed Stacey Anderson, 30, Ballston Spa, N.Y., to tackle numerous roles. Since landing a customer-service post last summer as a contractor for VIPdesk, Ms. Anderson has been able to bend her work hours around her husband's rotating shifts on his job. In addition, she squeezes in a full-time course load as a college student.
Such intangible incentives are drawing skilled, experienced people. Mark Frei, a senior vice president of West, says 80% of West's home agents have some college education, compared with 30% of those who work in office-based call centers.
Sue Shellenbarger
The bad news: Fierce competition means your odds of landing one of these jobs are poor. And if you succeed, you will probably take a pay cut.
For companies, home-based employees, independent contractors and freelancers are helping cut costs and improve customer service. Full-time, home-based freelancers and independent contractors in the U.S. are expected to increase by 200,000 workers to 11 million by the end of 2009, says Ray Boggs, a vice president of IDC, Framingham, Mass., a market-research firm; he sees another 200,000-worker increase in 2010.
While that is a mere blip on the radar in an economy that has been losing nearly that many jobs in a month, the trend means a lot to the individuals who are benefiting from it. They are avoiding dreaded commutes, doing volunteer work, pursuing college degrees or caring for family. And they are performing increasingly complex tasks from home, from reading MRIs to helping clients search for Bigfoot, the mythic wilderness creature.
'We are seeing a general broadening of the work-at-home landscape,' says Christine Durst, chief executive of a work-at-home Web site and co-author of a new guidebook on the topic.
Applicants are stacking up by the hundreds of thousands, however. Based on my survey of a dozen companies that use home workers, your odds of actually landing one of these positions range from about 25-to-1 to 300-to-1.
ARO Contact Center, Kansas City, Mo., which employs just 200 home auditors and sales and customer-service workers, gets 1,000 resumes a week, says Michael Amigoni, chief operating officer. West Corp., Omaha, with 14,000 active agents handling customer-service and other calls, hires only 0.5% to 1% of its 4,500 weekly applicants. And Alpine Access, Denver, with 2,800 home customer-service, sales and tech-support agents, hires about only 2% of the 100,000 people who apply each year.
'It takes a lot of luck to get these positions,' says Tammie Deweever, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., a home customer-service agent for LiveOps, Santa Clara, Calif. 'You have to be good at what you do.' Ms. Deweever has a college degree in marketing and worked as a mortgage broker before joining LiveOps last January. For her, job flexibility means being able to be home for her children, 17, 15 and 8; she often works split shifts around their needs, answering calls from TV viewers wanting to buy products from juicers to jeans.
Many skilled at-home professionals and managers earn less than a corporate salary. Less-skilled customer-service or sales work usually pays about $8 to $15 an hour, ranging as high as $25 or more with incentives or premiums. Some companies pay by the minute or hour spent on the phone, while others pay by the shift. The jobs vary by company from full-time employee positions with benefits to part-time independent contractor positions.
And applicants must be wary of scam artists. Ms. Durst, Woodstock, Conn., who screens work-at-home pitches for her Web site, RatRaceRebellion.com, says she is finding only one legitimate job among every 60 pitches she examines. In 2006, the odds weren't quite as bad: She was finding one legitimate job for every 31 pitches vetted.
Many victims of work-at-home fraud have sent money, only to receive worthless products or leads, or nothing at all, in return; others who disclose too much personal information have fallen victim to theft from credit-card or checking accounts.
But those who win the work-at-home lottery reap diverse benefits. Intent on avoiding a long commute, Heather Hedden, a Raleigh, N.C., marketing specialist, spent a year looking for her current spot, as a home-based concierge for VIPdesk, Alexandria, Va. The position was worth the wait, she says. She enjoys using her research skills to help clients find theater or sports tickets, vintage wines or travel services. When a client asked for help looking for Bigfoot, she found an outfitter with a track record of taking like-minded customers on hikes through areas of reported sightings, she says.
Home-based work enables newlywed Stacey Anderson, 30, Ballston Spa, N.Y., to tackle numerous roles. Since landing a customer-service post last summer as a contractor for VIPdesk, Ms. Anderson has been able to bend her work hours around her husband's rotating shifts on his job. In addition, she squeezes in a full-time course load as a college student.
Such intangible incentives are drawing skilled, experienced people. Mark Frei, a senior vice president of West, says 80% of West's home agents have some college education, compared with 30% of those who work in office-based call centers.
Sue Shellenbarger
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