Online jobs for stay at home moms are a great way to start a remote career or earn extra money on the side. Here’s how to avoid shady employment scams and find the best jobs for stay at home moms (WAHM jobs).
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What You Need to Know About Online Jobs for Stay-at-Home Moms
The best jobs for stay at home moms (SAHMs) offer flexible hours, aren’t too intensive, and happily accept job applicants who have kids and want to work from home. But do they even exist?
Looking for online jobs for stay at home moms is often difficult for a number of reasons;
- It always feels like you’re applying for online jobs and never getting hired
- It’s hard to know which job sites have legit work from home jobs for moms and which sites are just scams or a waste of time
- It’s hard to compete with “normal” job applicants for “at home jobs” for moms –are there companies that really want or prefer to hire stay at home moms?
- It’s hard to know where to look for the best stay at home mom jobs and employers who offer flexible work from home hours
- It’s hard to find work from home mom jobs that aren’t too intensive –is it possible to easily find entry-level stay at home mom jobs?
These days, it seems that the only at home jobs for moms with busy schedules are from Avon or some other form of network-based selling gig.
And that thinking couldn’t be further from the truth! The world is your oyster, because year-after-year stay at home mom jobs are getting more popular with businesses.
In this article we’ll explain;
- Why businesses want to hire stay at home moms
- Which remote jobs sites you should probably avoid and why
- Where to find the best jobs for stay at home moms (SAHM jobs that aren’t becoming an Avon lady)
- How to get the support you need to get hired quickly
Why Businesses Want to Hire Moms
Right now small and medium-sized businesses are competing with larger competitors that are doubling down on automation and artificial intelligence, while choking down a new increased minimum wage mandate.
As a result, businesses are downsizing or ditching their offices altogether, and hiring remote workers as opposed to on-site employees in an effort to reduce overhead and remain profitable.
Blue collar and white collar jobs are threatened, and governments can’t afford to keep bailing everyone out –online jobs for stay at home moms provide an edge to mothers eager to get back into the workforce.
It’s no secret that moms have mastered a specific set of skills that would be a big win for businesses hiring them;
- Moms are dedicated; they know that the best jobs for stay at home moms are hard to find, and when they find one they hang onto it –hiring a mom means a business acquires a loyal employee who will be dedicated and have a sense of loyalty that goes beyond scheduled hours
- Moms are smart and ambitious; both Gen X and Millennial women are two of the most educated generations of women in history –combined with the drive and follow-through required for having kids, stay at home moms are a brain trust worth tapping into
- Moms know how to communicate; when you’re dealing with the fragile emotions and egos of actual children, communication becomes a balanced art form –moms know how to get the results they’re looking for without beating around the bush or being too aggressive
- Moms are tech-savvy; stay at home moms are often “early adopters” who rely on technology to simplify their busy lifestyle, keep up with their kids, stay in touch with friends and family, or learn as they go –whether its an office suite or the latest social network, you can bet most moms are keeping up with emerging technologies
- Moms get results; with flexibility or fewer working hours there’s no time for too much back and forth or surfing the internet on the job –most at home jobs for moms are results-oriented, and that suits moms just fine
- Moms know how to keep their cool; whether it’s public humiliation or their impossible demands, kids have a way of testing the mettle of their mothers –businesses benefit when they hire moms because they have an uncanny ability to follow through on a demanding task and please customers without losing their sunny disposition
- Moms are organized and resourceful; they navigate the schedules of the an entire household and manage all the “back office” tasks like grocery shopping, laundry, cooking, cleaning, and preparing kids for school –by hiring a mom, businesses get a sharp employee who thinks through a project’s logistics carefully to pull it together quickly without missing a detail
- Moms are willing to trade cash for convenience; the reality is that many online jobs for stay at home moms may not pay as well as their on-site counterparts –moms benefit by skipping the commute or having a flexible schedule, and employers save money so everyone wins
There Are 3 Kinds of Online Jobs Sites
Online job websites for SAHM jobs typically come in three flavors;
- Low-paid “gig economy” freelancer websites like Upwork
- Free job listing websites aggregate and share the same duplicate remote jobs that are being spread across the web on hundreds of different sites
- Supported remote job sites where employers are interviewed and vetted to ensure that they are legitimate and reputable –no deadbeats, and the small fee deters frugal job seekers which lowers competition for great jobs
Let’s take a deeper look into all three.
1. “Gig Economy” Freelance Websites
Turnkey gig economy sites like Upwork or Fiverr have some serious downsides;
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- They charge 20% off every paycheck before taxes up to $10k, after that the fee gets reduced
- They “own” your relationship with your employer and all contact is carried out via the job website, not directly
- Employers can time how long it takes you to complete individual tasks, detect inactivity if you head to the bathroom, and view your screen whenever they like —sweatshop, much?
- They have a rating system that goes on your profile which can make it almost impossible to get your first work-at-home job without “buying” your client with heavily discounted work –the rating system also makes it even harder to leave once you’ve banked enough work over time
- They reserve the right to “ghost” your profile at any time, and may do so if you have a complaint from a shady employer or you aren’t working frequently enough –in which case you’d potentially lose all your clients
- They do not screen employers; in many cases job seekers on sites like Upwork may never get paid for their hard work –employers can get the finished work, disappear, or file a dispute to get a refund, even if you delivered as requested
- They often side with employers when there’s a dispute relating to pay or your responsibilities
In my opinion, work from home moms assume all the risk and pay 20% of their income before taxes for the “privilege”.
2. Free Job Listings Websites
With free online job posting sites you get what you pay for;
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- They aggregate all the same remote work listings that everyone else has, meaning that competition is much more aggressive –if you don’t apply for a work at home job quickly there’s little chance of getting the gig
- They take job postings from anyone, and because they’re paid a commission on successful hires your success isn’t part of the business plan
- They also don’t screen employers, it’s a churn-and-burn business model typically run by one or two people
If free job listing sites are not charging you and they only get paid for successful hires, they would probably rather you don’t last long with an employer and hop back into the pool to be hired off again.
3. Supported Remote Job Websites, for a Fee
Like I said, you get what you pay for;
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- They can afford a real human being employee to interview employers and verify each individual job listing before they become available –ad free, scam free job searches
- They put job seekers first by listening to feedback and banning shady employers when they don’t meet quality guidelines or make late invoice payments to online workers like you
- They provide valuable resources to make job searching easier and help to ensure that you actually get hired
- They offer customer support when you’re having trouble with their website, or a client is giving you trouble
- They are less attractive to frugal job seekers because some people think “I shouldn’t have to pay to get a job!” –great, less competition and more stay-at-home mom jobs for you!
Where to Find the Best Jobs for Stay at Home Moms
I’ve been traveling for the better part of a decade, working online making Pinterest Pins for businesses and blogging to make ends meet. Over the years, I’ve taken hundreds of online jobs.
Legit work from home jobs for moms are quickly becoming commonplace, with reputable businesses like TTEC, Amazon, Hilton, Dell, Robert Half International, BroadPath Healthcare Solutions, GitHub, VIPKid, and Convergys all hiring location independent job positions on a regular basis, just to name a few.
I ♥︎ Flexjobs
I’ve found that the most reliable, highest paying, and flexible remote jobs are the ones I found on Flexjobs.
Flexjobs is a great place to start your search for SAHM jobs, for all the reasons mentioned above –but mostly because they screen employers and actually coached me for certain job applications when I wasn’t too sure of myself.
Here’s some active SAHM jobs listings from Flexjobs’ search results, click on one to go see for yourself;
The Flexjobs monthly fee is is small when you compare it to what you would be paying Upwork. Flexjobs costs about $3.75 per month, whereas Upwork charges 20% off all your earnings before taxes.
That’s insane!
Below you will find a special discount for Hobo with a Laptop readers who choose Flexjobs to help them find reliable SAHM jobs. They have at home jobs for moms for all, even if you’re traveling like I am.
Exclusive Flexjobs Discount for SAHM Job Seekers
Stay-at-home mom Hobo with a Laptop readers get an exclusive discount on FlexJobs –use the NOMAD promo code to receive the following discounts:
$44.95 for 12 months of FlexJobs (10% off)
$23.95 for 3 months of FlexJobs (20% off)
$9.95 for 1 month of FlexJobs (30% off)
If you’re not happy, you can get a full refund no questions asked.
They also have special members-only discounts that moms will love on job search, work, and lifestyle products. Flexjobs knows how to treat stay at home moms.
Getting Help
Flexjobs has a team of really helpful US-based customer support staff who can help you out when you need to talk to a human! This is a huge perk for me, because dealing with cold, impersonal website customer support ticketing systems in a time of need is a nightmare.
If you’d like to learn more about Flexjobs, check out this post on their blog which outlines what they’re all about and why they’re your best choice for finding SAHM jobs.
What do you think of this SAHM jobs guide for beginners? If you have any advice about online jobs for stay at home moms, we’d love to hear them.
Got a question? Let me know in the comments!
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