As a soon-to-be parent, I really like the idea of working at home. You save time and money when you don’t have to commute, buy work clothes, or buy lunch.

You can also do laundry during your breaks, get dinner started right after work, and be there more for your kids. There seems to be fewer distractions at home so you can focus on your work, depending on your situation. You’ll also have more energy after work since you won’t have to drive anywhere.

I used to work at home when I had a video business and I enjoyed every minute of it. I would roll out of bed and get started with work, in my sweats!

There’s a lot more freedom but it can get lonely. Work at home jobs aren’t for everyone, but it may be for you if you are the self-motivated type.

Wouldn’t it be nice to have the salary and benefits of a full time job, yet still be able to work at home? There are so many scams for work at home/telecommuting jobs. How do you know which ones are legitimate?

I came across this site FlexJobs.com today while reading an article. Basically, it’s a job search site for telecommuting, full or part time, and flex time jobs. But what makes them different than other job search sites is that they screen the job listings to make sure these work at home jobs are legitimate, quality jobs.

How do I know they are legitimate? FlexJobs.com is BBB accredited and have been reviewed by major press and media sites, such as CNN Money, NBC, and USA Today. They had to build their reputation over 3 years to garner such reviews.

The company itself consists of employees who all work at home, so they practice what they preach.

FlexJobs.com was started by Sara Sutton, who just like me, was pregnant with her first child when she began to search online for flexible work arrangements. She found a lot of scam sites and jobs that didn’t fit her career goals. That led Sutton to start FlexJobs.com in 2007, to make it easier for people to find legitimate work at home jobs.

The caveat of the job search site is that you have to pay a fee of $14.95/mo or $49.95/yr. to see the full listings. They charge a fee since they rely on humans to check the validity of the job postings. FlexJobs.com does offer a money back guarantee, however, if you are not satisfied.

If you don’t want pay the fee, try searching the Internet for legitimate work at home jobs yourself. You’ll likely come up with a lot of scammy, questionable sites or wimpy jobs that don’t pay much.

If you scan the listings, you’ll see that they have a wide variety of fields – IT, customer service, marketing, engineering, fashion/beauty, etc. These aren’t the lame jobs that like stuffing envelopes or doing online surveys. They seem to be customary jobs that you would normally find on other major job sites like Craigslist.org or Monster.com, except that these jobs allow for the flexibility of telecommuting.

I haven’t gone to the paid portion of the site so I can’t give a full review. I just wanted to share this with those who may be interested. However, it’s definitely a site I’ll check out when my baby is a few months old.

Have you tried FlexJobs.com? What do you think?

Featured in Saving Money in Crazy Ways – Carnival of Personal Finance #297, hosted by Money Smart Life.

Photo credit: Eric___I_E’s

This is the second time this year that I have been unemployed. That being said, I have used many different job search websites with different results. Here are my favorites.

Craigslist is, in my opinion, the most successful website for finding jobs. I heard about Craigslist more than 10 years ago so it has a long track record. I have had the most success in finding jobs using Craiglist, a community site for everything from buying and selling used items and finding housing to finding jobs. There is a Craigslist website for nearly every country around the world!

What’s great about Craigslist is that it’s simple to use. The interface is laid out simply and is easy to you. Select the Craigslist website for your location. Under the jobs category, click on the industry you want to search for jobs in. Jobs are updated categorized by date posted. You apply to jobs by sending your resume and cover letter to the email provided in the posting. Unlike other job search websites, Craigslist has no ads and does not require a login or require you to create a profile.

Monster is my second favorite job search website. You can perform a job search query right from the homepage. A list of results from your search will pop up according to which keywords you used. To apply for a job on Monster, click on the “apply” button on the bottom of the job posting. It will bring you to another page where you will fill in your contact information and attach your resume and cover letter.

You can also create a profile with your resume that potential employers can search through.
This gives you another opportunity to find a job, by having employers search for you! I have gotten a few job leads from having a profile on Monster.

A cool feature that Monster has is that once you create a profile, it will do an automatic job search based on your profile and provide you a list of recommended jobs. Monster also has great articles on finding a job, building a resume, and interviewing tips.

Yahoo HotJobs is similar to Monster. You can do a job search right from the homepage, create a searchable profile, and read job search articles. Yahoo HotJobs has an ingenius feature that Monster doesn’t have. You can block certain companies from viewing your profile, ie. your current employer.

USAJobs is a job search website for federal government jobs, everything from jobs working for TSA, military, and Federal Trade commission. While government jobs have a reputation for being secure, finding a government job can be more difficult than finding a job at a regular company. The application process is very long and tedious, requiring you to take tests to determine your level of qualification.

After you persevere through what could be an hour or more of online testing, you have to fax or send in supporting documents like your college transcripts. FYI: Many of the jobs require previous government background and security clearance or they give preference to those with previous goverment experience.

LinkedIn is a professional social networking website. You can also use it to search for jobs. There is a “Jobs” button on the top menu bar that will bring you to a job search page. LinkedIn will also let you know if you have a connection to the HR manager for each job posting. If you are connected to the HR manager through someone you know, you may ask for an introduction to the HR person.

Dice is a job search website for jobs in the technology field. I created a profile on Dice and the very next day I got some job leads.

Indeed is a job search engine. It scours the web, mainly company websites to find you recent job postings. Sometimes you can find jobs that have been freshly posted on company websites that haven’t yet been posted on other job search websites.

Elance is a website for freelance and contract assignments. You can either bid for posted jobs by submitting a proposal or you can create a profile for potential employers to search. The downside is that you will be competing with people from around the world for job assignments. Some countries have lower standards of living than the US so they can afford to bid lower than you.