Little White eBook review

Review of The Little White eBook of Homeshoring jobs

By Debra Turner, Telecommuting product reviewer for WorkAtHomeTruth.com

he very first text paragraph kicking off The Little White eBook of Homeshoring jobs reads: "This eBook was created to eliminate the long search for legitimate employment by focusing on companies that regularly hire home-based workers and have a solid online reputation."

Well, I've done that online searching thing -- it takes weeks -- hours and hours on end -- just to do the searches for LEGITIMATE companies that hire remote workers. But what's WORSE is the RESEARCH -- which could take weeks (even MORE hours and hours on end) just to adequately research a few individual outfits, not to mention thousands upon thousands of them. Then you have to wonder how reliable your researching results are!

Is this book worth $29.95? Well, I don't know about that -- I guess that all depends upon how you can answer this question: "What's it worth to re-enact the scenario just described?" ... Or, how about this one: "What's my time (and lots of it) worth?" And while you're putting all this time into your research, how much food is being put upon your family's table? Now ... you tell me ... Is it worth the 30 measly bucks to bypass the nightmare I just described?

UPDATE: THIS BOOK IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE

We recently tried to contact the company about their books, but they did not respond. Their website is down and this book is no longer available. You might consider taking a look at our review of one of the top home job resources available online instead - InYourPJs. Click here for our review of Sylvie Charrier's classic book about working from home - InYourPJs (You Can Work In Your Pajamas).

The Little White eBook of HomeShoring Jobs Summary

Overall Vote:	(4.5 out of 5.0)
Price:	$29.95.
Better Business Bureau:	0 complaints (clean record)
RipOffReport.com:	0 complaints (clean record)
Compatible:	PC / Mac (requires internet connection to access some of the sites listed).
Click here to learn more about The Little White eBook of Homeshoring Jobs

I find that this publication actually offers great value to any and all levels of expertise. However, I would caution readers that the subtitle, "Your Complete Guide to Virtual Call Center Employment in North America," could be somewhat misleading. This book should be viewed as a reliable directory of legitimate home-shoring employers -- and should NOT be misconstrued as a "how-to" reference for the beginner. (For such a telecommuting "how to" resource see: "You Can Work In Your PJs")

From anyone's perspective, the most useful part of The Little White eBook of Homeshoring Jobs is the directory of reputable online employers (roughly 150 of them), and the accompanying descriptions about each one. These employers have been extremely well researched -- making this book well worth its weight in gold to all audiences.

An additional benefit on the newbie level is the explanation given in the chapter entitled "Who Hires Virtual Call Center Agents? (& Why)" which emphasizes a very important point: that it's critical to the newbie's success to realize that this is NOT a game, nor is it a flash-in-the-pan trend which will soon pass into oblivion.

While someone new to being a home agent should be completely aware that home agents need to be mature, motivated, and disciplined, he or she also NEEDS to KNOW that his or her skills are truly that -- skills, and an extremely critical resource in the current and future online work-forces. Recognize your worth: this is a REAL job -- don't let anybody tell you otherwise.

Although the first sections of the book are quite nicely done and are highly informative, I don't think that there is enough fine-detailing offered to address the needs of the "Take-Me-By-the-Hand" raw beginner who may be seeking how-to references.

The outlined topics -- such as the importance of doing one's research, explanation of what home shoring is and is not, benefits and pitfalls of working for virtual call centers, and preparing for the virtual application process -- are in my opinion written in a manner more suited to advanced individuals who are experienced with home-shoring.

For the more advanced home-working candidate, I really liked these chapters: "Things to Keep in Mind When Applying for Virtual Call Center Jobs," and "The Virtual Call Center Checklist," -- (particularly the "Acing the Voice Audition" section).

I found them to contain many very important points and nuances that could easily be overlooked by any applicant -- whatever their level of expertise. These sections constitute a very nice little "refresher course" for more experienced home agents.

Advantages of Using The Little White eBook of Homeshoring Jobs

Using this book is really very simple -- certainly not rocket science, by any stretch of the imagination -- and it can be loosely broken down into three major sections. The beginning chapters offer some instructive narrative, followed by a very large section of company listings. The final section of the book is a bibliography, of sorts.

The author and her team have included links to many BBB Reports, relevant online forums, and media reports about the companies listed in this book. That gives easy access to even more information so that candidates can be comfortable with applying to these firms, as well as with providing them with whatever personal details that may be required.

The details given for each individual company listed include: (if available).

Links to Employment Page
Main Page and BBB Report URLs
Company profile, including which states they hire in
Typical Openings
Scheduling
Training/Experience
Compensation
Links for Additional Information Sources (if available)

And since we already know that all of these firms offer legitimate online employment and/or contracting opportunities, I feel that nothing has been left to the reader's imagination. I think the summaries are thorough, and that any other questions that one might have should be answered by visiting the link to the company websites.

Problems with The Little White eBook of Homeshoring Jobs

• The section called "Using this eBook to Find Your Work-at-Home" was disappointing.
The title of this section gave me rather high expectations, but I was disappointed by the lack of information there.

The very first text page of the book, like a Preface -- is pretty much summed up in this paragraph on that page: "Please take the time to read through the introductory chapters before you apply to any of the employers in this eBook - with the competitive nature of the home-shoring job market, it's imperative that you project professionalism to make sure that your job application stands out from the crowd."

Although extremely good and sound advice -- I would hardly call it "instruction" on using the book.

•No apparent rhyme or reason to the existing order of the company list.
UPDATE: This has been fixed! The companies are now listed in alphabetical order.

• Information about benefits for traditional call centers seems suspect
I find the following statement from The Little White eBook possibly suspect: "While home agents earn more than their brick-and-mortar counterparts (most earn $10 to $15 an hour without benefits vs. $7 to $9 with benefits in a call center)." I've worked for many different brick-and-mortar call centers -- and NEVER received ANY sort of benefits whatsoever.

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