Do Work at home Data Entry Jobs Exist?

When you think of Non Phone telecommute jobs, first one that comes to mind is Data Entry. It is the first choice of young mom/dads who have kids at home and cannot work traditional work at home jobs like telemarketing or call center. But what are the chances of you finding one? Let me be very brutal and tell you, they are rare. Most of the ads that you will see for work at home data entry jobs are scams. Real data entry jobs have high demand in the work at home community, hence the legitimate companies that hire data entry workers have more applicants than they have work. So is all hope lost? Not really. For the past 2 years that I have been searching for non phone jobs I have discovered that there are many opportunities for getting such a job if you put in some effort into honing certain skills that are in demand. From my experience of searching for non phone jobs last 2 years, I am going list these skills and how you can learn them and get certified.

Enhance your Skills

1. MS Excel - Many small businesses seek "Excel expert" or "Excel guru" to create excel spreadsheets for them. These of course are not simple spreadsheets but advanced ones where you will need expertise in using macros, graphs and advanced formulas. If you are mathematically inclined learning this will not be a problem for you. There are lot of places you can learn Excel Online. I am listing a few of them here, but you can find the one that fits your need the best by doing a simple google search.

Learn Excel at Baycon Group

Official MS Excel Training Website - Most comprehensive lessons to learn basics to advanced Excel.
Free Training Tutorials - Short Video Tutorials to help you understand using Excel.

2. PowerPoint Expert - PR Firms, Marketing firms are some of the businesses that hire PowerPoint Experts to create dazzling PowerPoint presentations for them. Advanced PowerPoint skills are required and can be learned very easily. You have to know how to add graphs, charts,pictures, animation and sound to create an impressive presentation to land one of these jobs. You can learn PowerPoint Online at following sites.

Official Microsoft PowerPoint Training
Education Online


How do I get Certified?

After learning these skills you can get certified to add them to your resume.

The NSCA (National Computer Science Academy) provides free certification exams for Excel, PowerPoint and many other computer programs and softwares. Although the test is free, you have to pay fees to get your certificate. The starting rate is $39.
Get Certified at NSCA

Expert Rating offers certification exams for a low fee of $9.95. You can pay by paypal too. When you pass the test you will get a hard copy certificate, logo usage rights and free online transcript. If you fail they do charge $5 to retake the test. So do not give this test until you are very confident you will pass.
ExpertRating Online Skills Certifications

I suggest practicing the test on NCSA site and then when you are confident, you can go ahead and get certified at Expert Rating.

Do I have to get Certified?

Although certification gives you an edge, getting a certificate is not mandatory, you can add the skills to your resume once you have learned them and it is acceptable to most employers.

What are the advantages of learning Excel/Powerpoint?

1. More Job opportunities.
2. Higher pay scale. Excel and Powerpoint experts can make $15-$20 per hour.


Do you have more ideas on how you can enhance your skills?. I would love to make a series of this topic and add more skills that you can learn to get more jobs. If you think this would be something you would be interested in, please leave a comment on what more you would like. Thanks!