Virtually Yours: Work at Home Jobs for the 21st Century

Have you heard about the employment trend that is hitting critical mass? Set to triple its numbers by the year 2010? One of the names it goes by is "homeshoring". This name came about as being the opposite of "outsourcing" North America's customer service work to far-flung countries. How did THAT work out, by the way? Not too well.

Picky, picky! It seems customers of big business logged complaints with the companies. Why? They could not understand what the agents were saying! Now, most of these agents are highly educated. With doctorates, no less. But, if you don't understand their accents, you can't get the customer service help you are looking for.

The customers complained. Big business had no choice but to listen. Something about the shareholders getting their knickers in a knot. So what is a business to do? Bring the customer service jobs back to North America where they SHOULD have stayed in the first place. Now we understand. Businesses were told to save money. The backlash was justified.

Now they have a problem. They still have to save money. Traditional customer service or call centers were still too expensive. Then, someone came up with a brilliant idea. Why don't we outsource our customer service work to people who want to work at home? Yes! Now we're talking! An "a-ha!" moment, for sure!

Businesses save money on the real estate costs of call centers. The money they save can be put to better wages for the work at home agents. And so it came to pass. These companies decided to put out the call for customer service representatives who wanted to work at home. Now, who doesn't love THAT idea?

Most of us would give our proverbial eye-teeth to be able to earn our living from the comfort of our own homes. Think of the savings! No more gas guzzling automobiles. No expense for work clothes. No more stained ties and shaggy pantyhose. Never mind the day care expenditures or brown-bagging the left-overs.

So who are these people looking for work at home staff? To name a few, they are JetBlue Airlines, 1-800-FLOWERS, CitiBank, MasterCard, Home Depot, Staples, Outrigger Hotels, Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, AAA Auto Club...should I stop? ANY business that relies on customer service in some kind are now hiring virtual customer service representatives! As you know, that would be all businesses. For where would any of them be without attention to their customers?

This is such good news for North Americans who want to work at home. From the stay at home parent, the physically disabled, retirees, students, ANYONE who chooses to get out of the rat race and earn a good living right from the comfort of their own home.

The time has come. Finally. You have a choice. With technology, big business will welcome you with open arms. With a computer, high-speed internet access and a quiet room in which to work, you too, can be working at home. With a say in what hours YOU want to work. How many hours YOU want to work. Yes, the time has come. It's here and ready for you to take advantage of this in-demand work at home opportunity!

(c) Karen Cook

Diane Sawyer profiled it. Good Morning America loves it. Find out what they had to say about this work at home opportunity at http://virtualagent007.blogspot.com ONLY IF you want a work at home job. Karen Cook works in a Public Library where she researches legitimate work at home jobs.