How To Find Legit Work From Home Jobs

Want to learn how to find legit work-from-home jobs? We share our 4 best remote job search tips to help you land your dream role and avoid job scams now!

If you’re itching to start working remotely, your first step is learning how to find legit work from home jobs.

Unfortunately, now that remote jobs have become so desirable post-pandemic, WFH job scams have also skyrocketed.

Online job scams are everywhere, from social media influencers promising to help you get rich to fraudsters reaching out on LinkedIn with freelance remote gigs.

Looking for a remote job in 2024?

So we’re sharing four ways to find legit work from home jobs and avoid sketchy scammers in this guide.

How To Find Legit Work From Home Jobs in 4 Easy Steps

These four tips can help you find legitimate work from home jobs and save yourself the hassle, headache, and embarrassment of falling for a fake opportunity:

1. Learn How To Tell a Legitimate Remote Job from a Scam

Before you get too deep in your remote job search, it’s essential to learn how to avoid employment scams.

Fake job offer emails and fake online job listings usually share a few traits, such as:

Vague job descriptions
Nonexistent company histories
Crazy high salaries
Spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors
Requests for confidential or sensitive personal information (like your driver’s license or Social Security Number).
Caveats that you need to buy something before you start earning or must invest in supplies, a background check, starter kit, training materials, etc.

These are just a few red flags and warning signs that should tip you off.

2. Skip the Giant Traditional Job Boards

Once you know how to identify fake job offers online, you may automatically jump to well-known job boards like LinkedIn or Indeed. But these sites are pretty much the last place you want to check.

Fake job postings on Indeed are almost too numerous to keep up with. Sources say Indeed removes “tens of millions of job listings” that fail to meet its quality guidelines every month. Still, users often receive messages from phoney recruiters like this:

Job scams on LinkedIn are even worse. These scammers go the extra mile to impersonate real companies by creating fake employee profiles, setting up bogus interviews, and sending phishing emails with imaginary job offers.

Scammers aside, these giant job boards aren’t geared for finding remote positions anyway. So you’ll need to spend extra time just sussing out WFH roles amidst the gobs of on-premise jobs. And that seems like a massive waste of time.

3. Build Your Remote Job Portfolio with Gigs from Freelance Marketplaces

Whether you’re changing careers, just graduated, or dipping your toes into the idea of working from home, freelance marketplaces give you the experience and taste of remote work nearly risk-free.

That’s because these sites act like a middleman between clients and creators. The platform ensures you get paid for your work while providing recourse for customers if they’re unhappy with what they receive.

These are a few legitimate freelance marketplaces remote hopefuls can start with:

Fiverr
Upwork
99designs by Vistaprint
Guru
Toptal
PeoplePerHour
Freelancer
Truelancer
Outsourcely

So let’s say you’re hoping to break into graphic design. You can start designing logos, packaging, or websites for paying customers until you land a full-time role with a remote company.

Further, each job you complete can be added to your remote job portfolio, work experience, personal website, etc. When potential employers look you up online (and they do!), they’ll be able to see you have the self-discipline, motivation, and tech skills for remote work.

Freelance marketplaces are great for starting your WFH journey and building your personal brand. However, we don’t recommend them as a long-term career strategy.

Here’s a rundown of all the pros and cons associated with freelance WFH gigs:

Pros and Cons of Freelance WFH Jobs

A freelancer works independently and operates like a small business. They can charge their own prices for services, set their own hours, and only work on projects that interest them.

The downsides of being a freelancer include:

Not having a steady income
Having to bid on projects or network 24/7 to find clients
Doing your own taxes
Not having paid time off or sick days
Paying for your own health insurance
Working alone
Missing out on a competitive employee benefits package

You’ll also need to pay a commission or fee to those marketplaces on everything you produce, which will definitely eat into your earning potential.

Pros and Cons of Being a Remote Employee

Remote employees work for a company. This organization may be 100% remote, with fully distributed teams working around the world. Or it may just allow specific employees/departments to WFH (like Amazon work from home jobs in customer service).

Remote employees are entitled to perks like:

An ongoing hourly wage or annual salary
Paid time off
The best company benefits
Mostly hassle-free income taxes
Career advancement opportunities
Social events (like company retreats) and team-building activities

You can still travel while working remotely as an employee. But you may not have as much flexibility with your work hours as a freelancer. On the other hand, employee perks and income stability are why many people choose the remote employee route rather than grinding away in the gig life.

Pros and Cons of Being a Remote Employee

Whether you’re changing careers, just graduated, or dipping your toes into the idea of working from home, freelance marketplaces give you the experience and taste of remote work nearly risk-free.

4. Go Directly To a Remote Job Board like itjobsfromhome.com

Use Our Advanced Job Search to Laser Focus Your Hunt.

These four tips can help you find legitimate work from home jobs and save yourself the hassle, headache, and embarrassment of falling for a fake opportunity:

1. Learn How To Tell a Legitimate Remote Job from a Scam

An ongoing hourly wage or annual salary

The best company benefits

Paid time off

Skipping traditional job boards and instead heading directly to a specialized remote job board can save you time and effort. These platforms are designed to list only legitimate remote job opportunities, reducing the chances of encountering scams.

Whether you’re looking for a job in web development, design, marketing, sales, or customer support, you’ll find curated job listings with ease. Our advanced search functions enable you to apply for jobs quickly and efficiently, increasing your chances of landing that perfect remote role. Use our Advanced Job Search to Laser Focus Your Hunt.

Our Advanced Job Search is the real MVP when it comes to finding legit WFH jobs lightning-fast. Navigate to this section from the homepage, and you can search remote jobs by adding specific job titles or keywords in the search bar. “Start using our Advanced Search, and you’ll score more legit remote jobs to apply to in half the time. And that gives you more time to tailor your resume for your dream role.

Feeling More Confident About Your WFH Job Search Now?

While online job scams are a serious issue for remote job seekers, the tips you picked up today should help you find legit work from home jobs in no time.

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