How to Work From Home With an Answering Service Job
Working with an answering service can allow you to work from the comfort of your own home. You can start your own freelance answering service and find clients or you can work for an existing answering service as an hourly or contract employee. Many legal and medical professionals prefer to have all of their client calls answered by a live operator rather than an answering machine. You can often find work at any hour of the day. Technology allows calls to be routed right to your home.
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Instructions
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You must use a hard-wired landline telephone that works properly. Install a separate land phone line in your home to take calls. Keep the answering service phone line separate from your home phone line. Do not use the answering service phone line for any activity other than taking calls. Check on the telephone line requirements for the job. Consider installing a multi-line phone or professional switchboard if you work as a freelancer with your own clientele so you can accept calls on multiple lines. Most companies that hire home-based receptionists prefer that you get a basic single line phone with no extra calling features.
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Operator or reception work can prepare you for answering service work. Update your resume to include any past experience you may have had working on the telephone or as a receptionist. It may be helpful to find local work as a receptionist for a period of at least six months if you have no previous experience. Demonstrate your reliability and professionalism in your resume and cover letter. Search traditional job listings in the newspaper and online websites that specialize in home-based employment opportunities. Look for answering service companies that offer positions to telecommuting employees. Send in your application for any open positions.
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Your home work space must be completely professional at all times. Arrange your home office to be a professional, quiet space where you will take calls. Verify that your telephone line is working and that your telephone equipment is comfortable and functional. Invest in a telephone headset to keep your hands free for recording messages on a pad of paper or on the computer during each call. Make sure your home office is in an area that can be closed off from any other noise or activities within your house. Remember that your callers should never hear the sound of dogs barking or screaming children when they are calling the telephone number for their doctor or dentist.
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References
- Photo Credit operator image by Valentin Mosichev from Fotolia.com telephone image by Vasiliy Koval from Fotolia.com A friendly telephone operator in an office image by Christopher Meder from Fotolia.com
