You’ve Been Hired to a Work-At-Home Job, Now What?
Congratulations! You’ve been offered a work-at-home job. But before you accept the job and start working, make sure you’ve done your due diligence and taken care of necessary tasks. Here are a few things you need to take care of before beginning your new work-at-home job.
1. Sign a contract. Never work without a contract that outlines the job, your work duties, payment method and schedule and other information you and your employer need.
2. Find out what you need to do the job. Legitimate employers never charge to hire you, but that doesn’t mean you won’t incur expenses in doing the job. Will you need to get equipment or software? Some employers want a background check, an expense they may pass on to you. Beware of any company that asks you buy its equipment or software. Legitimate companies may require you to have equipment or software, but don’t care where you get it from.
3. Find out how and what you’re paid. This should be outlined in your contract, but it doesn’t hurt to be upfront about how payment works. Find out how often (weekly? monthly?) you’re paid, how (PayPal? direct deposit?) and how is your pay is calculated. For example, are you an hourly wage employee or a set salary contract worker? There are several financial and tax differences between employee and contract work that you should be aware of before starting a job.
4. Obtain your job duties and expectations Again, this should be in the contract, but you want to get the information up-front as well. This includes details such as how many hours a week you need work, if there are set times you need to be available and work output expectations.
5. Schedule training, if needed. Some employers will require onsite training while others have online or virtual training. Other don’t have any training and it’s up to you to figure it out. If there is training, are you paid for the time you’re learning the ropes?
6. Find out who your manager or supervisor is. The person who hires you may not be the person who will supervise you or be the person you contact if you have questions. Get the names and contact information of all the people you should know about to do your job.
