A Helping Hand for Sorting through Online Job Offers

Guest post by Jeannette Payne

There are thousands of ‘opportunities’ popping up every day for someone who wants to find a job online. The problem is that most of these aren’t true opportunities. They are other people looking to make money by offering hope and making big promises. If you are looking for work online, don’t be discouraged – they are there. They just aren’t as easy to find or to obtain as some advertisements claim. The positive way to look at it is that you don’t have to spend any money to get one.

The Thought behind the Scam Site

The websites that offer you work are counting on you having an open mind towards paying for these opportunities. The people behind the site are sales professionals. They want to convince you that you need to spend your money so that you can get these wonderful jobs that they promise. There are a few different situations that they want to find you in: desperate, eager or inexperienced. A person feeling either one of these is likely to cave in to their offers. Don’t be embarrassed though if you have already fallen for such a thing. There are plenty of people who have done the same thing. It is a learning process in some cases. If the everyday average individual didn’t buy into the promises, there would be fewer scams.

General Practices of Scam Sites

There has been more education getting out there dissuading people like you (and everyone else) to avoid the scammers. Because of this, some of the practices have changed. These are evolving all of the time and you do need to keep up with them. This being said, there are a few practices that remain the same. They make big promises, you pay them money, you either get noting out of it or you have to put in a lot more work than they implied. These days, they are adding a little something new. Since they know that you are looking out for fraudulent practices, they have adopted new methods. They state that they are legitimate and they even go to the trouble of providing false reviews to persuade you of this. Some of them are very good at their jobs. In fact, they have created ‘unbiased’ websites and written reviews of their own sites. What better way to make themselves look legitimate, right?

Signs to Look For

Despite the fact that these not-so-ethical business people and websites are evolving to trick more people, there are signs to look for. These signs generally mean that there is something more to what they are saying.

• They tell you what you don’t have to do such as: sell products; cold call; create a website, and so on.

• They tell you what you can expect to earn, like those six figure incomes.

• They tell you that you only have to work a few hours a day (although some websites are changing this now).

• They fail to give you a proper job description – they supply vague details ensuring that the job looks great.

• They require your email address to send you the details instead of simply listing them on their website.
  

  Courtesy of Winjohn at Stock Xchng

Reasons for the Tactics

So why do they use these tactics? There are very good but unethical reasons for this. If you knew all of the details to these jobs, you wouldn’t apply and they wouldn’t make their own income. They know most people don’t like cold calling and various other parts to selling so they make the job seem much more attractive. They also use the fact that most people want to earn much more money.

The deal with the email is quite simple. If you don’t return to their website, once you submit and verify your email address, they now have your permission to send you emails. They will use this to send you sales letters, send your more big promises and many other things. In fact, sometimes they send several emails a day. It can be considered as spam except they give the ‘unsubscribe’ option at the bottom of the letter.

Analyzing the Offers

When you take a look at the offers closely and analyze them, you will realize that they really are too good to be true and that you shouldn’t be paying for such things. The websites that have good paying jobs never tell you the qualifications until after you pay them the administration fee. The sites that have jobs but lower paid ones don’t tell you the amount being offered. Also, what kind of job do you complete sitting in your pajamas at the computer for a few minutes a day while making several thousand dollars a week? There isn’t one unless you are scamming other people out of their hard earned money.

Think about it this way: When you apply for a job outside of the home, what is the process? Surely they don’t ask you for a monthly fee or an administration fee for applying. They don’t even ask for a payment for any training. You might not get paid for training but you don’t have to pay them either. They take the time to train you properly so that you can do a good job and make both you plus the company money. This is how the legitimate jobs work online as well.

Searching for the REAL Jobs

It takes a lot of time to find the real jobs worth applying for. They don’t necessarily arrive at the top of the search results page. In fact, some of them aren’t listed until the fourth or fifth page. Why is this? Because the unethical sites have paid more money to get to the top of the rankings. In all honesty, it can be really frustrating looking for real work that makes enough money to pay the bills but they do exist. There are some ways of telling them from the crowd. You are reminded to not only look at the large companies and websites but also the smaller ones and the blogs. There are some great opportunities out there.

• The honest sites list the details of the qualifications, how to apply and sometimes what the going rate is.

• They list what they offer you but also what they expect from you as an employee.

• They offer you a way to contact them instead of asking for your email address (usually).

They don’t make large promises – even if you can make up your own schedule, they are more honest about the level of work involved and the amount of compensation that you can expect.

The Truth about Working Online

There are many wonderful opportunities to work online and it is just a matter of finding the right one for you. When you find a company or business that looks suitable, contact them and see what they have to say. If they ask you for money, avoid them like the plague. You can expect to put a lot of time into the search and you can also expect to work full time hours to gain a decent income. People have made a lot of money by working over the internet, but anything legitimate has always taken time -sometimes weeks and months- and a whole lot of effort.

 

Jeannette Payne is a full-time freelance writer who mainly focuses on nutrition and health topics but through the last  few years has gained a lot of experience with e-commerce and online job search topics. Her aim through any of   her  articles is to inform the public to help them create a healthier and happier lifestyle.

You can find more from Jeannette by visiting her at  The Content Phantom and Natural Nutrition News.

 

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