9 Jobs That Let You Work from Home

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Careers That Don’t Require You to Commute Farther Than Your Living Room

Yahoo! Makes Waves by Banning Work-from-Home

Marissa Mayer, CEO of Yahoo!, caused quite a stir this week when she told her employees they would no longer be allowed to work at home. And in doing so, both sides of the always contentious debate have sprung into action either supporting Mayer’s decision or lambasting it.

Mayer and Yahoo! have said their policy is not a referendum on the wisdom of working at home, but simply what’s best for the company. They feel nothing truly replaces face-time and person-to-person interaction, which means collaboration and physically being present in the office is essential for success. After all, the knock on working from home has long been that employees take advantage.

On the flip side, Mayer’s critics have jumped at the opportunity to point out how archaic they believe her work-from-home ban is. Especially in the Internet age with Yahoo! being an Internet company, some people feel ignoring the technological advances that allow many people to do their jobs from anywhere is going to backfire. And if workers are unmotivated at home, they’ll most likely be unmotivated in the office as well.

Regardless of which side of the debate you find yourself on, we’ve got some great jobs that lend themselves well to working from home — assuming that kind of thing is allowed.

9. Customer Service Representative

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE
Median annual salary: $30,678

Got a phone and an Internet connection? Then why go into the office?

As a customer service representative you’ll be taking calls from customers, troubleshooting, and selling products over the phone — things that hardly require a cubicle in an office. This allows companies to reduce costs while also allowing employees more flexibility. That’s probably why 25% of US call center representatives work from home, according to a survey from Yankee Group.

8. Technical Support Representative

TECHNICAL SUPPORT REPRESENTATIVE
Median annual salary: $32,861

The level of expertise needed for each of these jobs will vary, but one thing generally remains the same — this is a job that can usually be done from home.

Tech support personnel provide technical and network problem resolution to customers while guiding users through step-by-step solutions. They most often tackle problems that include resolving username and password problems, uninstalling/reinstalling basic software applications, verifying proper hardware and software set up, and troubleshooting email issues.

7. Medical Records Transcriptionist

MEDICAL RECORDS TRANSCRIPTIONIST
Median annual salary: $39,310

Doctors are highly skilled, very busy people who are too busy seeing patients to do the more routine parts of their job. That’s where medical records transcriptionists enter the equation.

These workers take the audio recordings from doctors — including all the medical terminology and abbreviations — and convert them into written reports. With the Internet and e-mail, these recordings can be sent electronically to transcriptionists who work from home as opposed to coming into the office on a daily basis. And with this information stored on servers instead of in file cabinets, it allows instant access to patient information.

6. Translator

TRANSLATOR
Median annual salary: $41,793

Although transcriptionists might feel like they’re looking at a foreign language sometimes with all the medical terminology, translators actually do deal in different languages.

Translators must correctly interpret speech or text from one lanuage to another, while maintaining its accuracy and original meaning. Although some interpreters may get called in to court to translate for a witness or defendant who speaks another language, much of the work can often be done at home as many translators are self-employed.

5. Web Writer

WEB WRITER
Median annual salary: $48,819

The best part about writing? You can do it from anywhere. Including home.

Web writers are paid to write articles to specific website that keeps readers interested and turn them into repeat visitors. Due to the recent need for quality content that is keyword rich for search engine optimization and often doubles as advertising to sell products and services, web content writer jobs are on the rise. Whether you’re hired by one company or you freelance, this is a job that has a great amount of flexibility and freedom.

4. Social Media Analyst

SOCIAL MEDIA ANALYST
Median annual salary: $50,594

We know what you’re thinking: Work-at-home + anything with “social media” in the job title = not a real job. Au contraire.

Just because someone is a “Social Media So-and-So” doesn’t mean all they do is play around on Facebook and Twitter all day. Sure, social media analysts have to track the conversations happening on Facebook and Twitter regarding their brand or company, but it doesn’t end with responding to those comments online. Analysts are responsible for tracking followers, likes, click-through rates and creating metrics to track it all and determine if social media efforts involved in marketing campaigns are paying off.

It’s an important mix of marketing, advertising and technology skills to do this job correctly.

3. Web Designer

WEB DESIGNER
Median annual salary: $61,344

Are you good with technology plus you have an eye for design? Web designer might be the perfect career.

It’s safe to say this whole Internet thing is here to stay, which means every company has an online presence. For many people, that’s the first thing they see when looking for more information on a business. So it’s more important than ever to roll out the virtual welcome mat and give customers a solid first impression.

While not all web designers can work from home all the time, many in the profession find they can work from home more often than not for a better work/life balance.

2. Travel Manager

TRAVEL MANAGER
Median annual salary: $80,653

Some people look for a job that will allow them to travel, but travel managers are the ones who actually make that travel possible.

Corporate travel managers spend their days coordinating airline flights, train rides and other modes of transportation for office personnel traveling both domestically and internationally. And since a large part of their job consists of combing through airline itineraries, travel websites, and calling around for discounts on the best travel deals, it’s a job that lends itself perfectly to working from home.

1. Web Content Manager

WEB CONTENT MANAGER
Median annual salary: $84,647

What do you get when you combine writing, editing, web design and project management skills? The web content manager.

This is a position charged with creating and maintaining a website’s editorial voice for all aspects of the company’s online presence. Whether it’s writing content, editing, finding and managing writers, or working with a technical team to maintain site standards during new development projects, the content manager is responsible for maintaining a consistent look and feel throughout all web properties.

Thankfully doing this job doesn’t require heading into work every day, because writing, editing and web design are all tailor-made for a work-from-home job

Let Salary.com Help You

It doesn’t matter whether you work from home or in the office, because you should be seeking fair pay no matter the circumstances. And Salary.com can help you with that.

The first thing you should do is research, so you’re able to come to the table armed with the knowledge of what your job is worth. Use our free Salary Wizard below to find out what’s a fair salary for your position. You can enter your location, education level, years of experience and more to find out an appropriate salary range before you negotiate.

Good luck.

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