work at home Jobs: data entry

The data entry job is perhaps the most coveted position for those who want to start telecommuting. The perfect picture of working at home usually includes curling up on the couch in your pajamas entering information into an employer’s database on your laptop while you watch your kid’s playing close by. No deadlines to meet, work in the morning or at night, no commuting, babysitting or work expenses, and earn $10-20 an hour besides. Are there jobs like this out there?

First, let’s address the data entry scam. You come across a job posting for a work-at-home data entry employee. The posting says you will be paid per entry you complete, can work any schedule you’d like, full or part time, the only thing needed to start is a computer, basic typing skills and the $15 payment for training materials. Is this a legitimate data entry job? No!

No real employer will ask you for an upfront fee for training materials. Employers that are hiring will provide that information at no cost to you once you are hired or contracted.

The data entry ‘job’ that asks for a fee is nothing more than the following scam:

1. A person creates a website or job listing detailing the work at home data entry position to get people to ‘apply’, or contact them for employment details.

2. Once you contact them, they ask you for the $10 or $15 dollar startup fee for training materials.

3. After you pay them the fee, they will send you one of the following:

· Instructions on how to post your own ‘data entry’ job listings on other sites and how to charge people the same fee you paid for the same exact instructions.

· Or, they will send you an outdated list of companies that at one time have hired data entry workers, but you must contact each of them to see if they are still hiring and to go through their application and hiring process if they are looking for employees.

The bottom line is no real company will charge you to work for them. There may be charges for a background check, or for set-up expenses that are deducted from your first pay check AFTER you are hired, but never a fee before.

Now that we have cleared up the data entry scam, are there any REAL data entry jobs out there? Yes!

Many companies and small business owners employ or contract with people to work as data entry assistants or typists. How will you know when you have come across a legitimate data entry job? Look for these details in the job description:

• A company name listed with the job position.
• A contact email other than generic hotmail, yahoo, etc. or phone number
• A set hourly pay or flat fee for the data entry project.
• A description that includes exactly what kind of data entry. Example: Entry into Outlook, Excel Spreadsheet or company database from websites, faxed documents, emailed documents, etc. Don’t accept generic ‘data entry’ job descriptions, 99% of them are most likely scams.
• A date of when the project must be completed, or if the work will be ongoing.

Data entry jobs are available to those who want to work-at-home. Be sure to keep your typing speed and accuracy up as high as possible, which is one of the keys to securing a telecommuting data entry position. And remember, don’t EVER pay a fee!

Posted:Wednesday, July 25, 2007