Dear Sam: I have been employed with the same government agency for 16+ years. The last 7 years, I have also worked a part-time job as a gas station cashier. I am not getting any younger, and needless to say, I am very tired. The gas station is going to be cutting back on hours, since I am the oldest, and only able to work a few hours a week, guess who is being cut?

I am looking for a home-based part-time job. At my present government job, I am an executive legal assistant where I demonstrate my proficient typing skills. How can one go about looking for a legitimate part-time, work-from-home job? I have briefly scanned the internet but I can't seem to find legitimate jobs.

We have two grown children in college and a wonderful little boy who was our surprise baby! I need a part-time job to help the older children and the little one who keeps us up at night, on our toes, and young! - Sincerely Tired

Dear Sincerely Tired: I get asked quite frequently how one can find legitimate work-from-home jobs. Let me preface this response by saying that you need to fully research work-from-home offers to ensure they are legitimate opportunities, even if that means searching for comments about the company on a search engine like Google or placing a quick call to the Better Business Bureau.

There are some types of jobs that tend to be more telecommuting-friendly such as call center, virtual assistant, and transcriptionist positions. Beware of opportunities promising high compensation and no training needed, in these cases you should follow the old adage, if it sounds too good to be true it probably is.

So, to find work-from-home jobs search the job boards with telecommute, home, or flex job as keywords. You may also want to search the net for positions as a Virtual Assistant, a position where you work from home to support the administrative needs of a business/individual. Check out company websites and search for the same keywords, if you find a listing on an actual company website it is much more likely to be legitimate. You could also set up a profile on elance.com. I like elance as it connects freelancers with businesses who require their services. On this site, you can bid for projects that fit your skill set. You'll notice they have different categories that suit your background well including Virtual Assistant, Research, Data Entry, Word Processing, and more. This site is very simple to use, businesses post their projects, service providers bid on those projects, perform the work, pay a small fee taken from the funds transferred from the employer (sort of like eBay), and then you both have the opportunity to provide feedback. Just in the past 30 days, there were more than 28,000 new projects posted on this site! That may be a good way to source the types and sizes of projects you are interested in, work when you are able to work (in the middle of the night for instance!), and acquire a steady stream of incremental revenue.

You could also contact temp agencies that specialize in administrative positions and ask if they source for any flex or telecommuting positions. Also, use your network. Do you know anyone who either runs a business or knows someone else who does? That is sometimes the best way to source an opportunity as they would already trust your work ethic and ability to work from home. Be sure you have a great résumé ready for these opportunities, one that showcases your administrative acumen, dedication, drive, and work ethic.

Work-from-home jobs are probably not as plentiful as you would like, at least the legitimate ones, but there are some out there. I'd suggest steering clear of the websites that promise big bucks and instead focus on some of the strategies I've listed in an attempt to secure legitimate, rewarding positions. All the best!

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