With all the corporate downsizing going on in the world and the shipping of jobs overseas to countries where labor is cheaper, it is quite possible that one can find himself or herself without a job. It's a very tough situation to be in. You might be in this boat and have heard that there are employment opportunities on the internet where you can work online and get paid for it and all from the comfort of your home. Well, it is possible but it is not a get rich quick scheme. If you keep your expectations in check and make informed decisions you too can enjoy this new way of working through online employment opportunities.

More that likely, if you find work through an online employment opportunity, you are going to be what is called a freelancer. There are really very few online employment opportunities where companies hire you as their employee and pay you a bi-weekly wage. Usually, something like the latter occurs when an employee has already worked on the company premises for quite some time and the company knows and trusts him or her. We are not saying that these types of jobs don't exist (where you start working from home right away) but that they are rare. So, you are more than likely going to find yourself as a self-employed person.

Now you have to decide what it is you are going to do. This requires taking an inventory of your skills. What is your education in? You will find that online employment opportunities work best for jobs that work well in an internet domain. In other words, the best online employment opportunities are those where you can send the product of your work electronically. So usually you will see web designers, web programmers, computer programmers, writers, photographers, artists, translators, and transcribers working from the internet because the products of all these professions can be sent electronically.

Not only can the products from these professions be sent electronically but they are traditionally freelance professions too. Companies these days typically don't hire fulltime translators specializing in one language. It would not be cost-effective. So, for example, the translation company will call a freelance translator they have in their database when they receive an order to do a translation for the language that translator is qualified for. If you cannot identify yourself with any skills that fit well for online work then you need to either get the training required or not pursue online employment opportunities.

So once you have made the decision of what services to provide, you then need to find the people hiring. When you are first starting out with online employment, you will need to build a portfolio of your works. A portfolio is not just a resume although it can include one. It is more of a catalog of your best works. For example, web designers will take screenshots of some of their page design and put them in their portfolio.

Now that you have your portfolio, you will want to know where to start looking for work. A good place to start is the online freelancer job sites like Elance.com, Getafreelancer.com, and Scriptlance.com. There are many of these sites. You can also check Craiglist.org, Talkfreelance.com, and Digital Point Forums for those seeking the services of a freelancer.

Online employment can be very rewarding but at the same time it can be very stressful. For starters, you are going to have to be constantly seeking out new work. Just make sure you take care of yourself physically and take a break once in awhile.

Copyright (c) 2008 Thomas Husnik