Virtual offices can be a rewarding career choice for military spouses - if they do their homework.

by Deb Kloeppel and Anne Wright, MSCCN

Virtual office (VO) assistants are becoming increasingly popular as career choices for the military spouse community. The flexibility, independence, and portability of a virtual job are attractive to spouses who must juggle the demands of the military lifestyle.

Success as a mobile business worker is increased by doing three simple things:

1) Think ahead regarding unforeseen work life interruptions, such as in-home power outages, in-home distractions from spouse and kids, and relocation or deployment possibilities.

2) Designate an alternate work station in case the power goes out in your home during the workday. Stock up on office supplies so trips to the office supply store don’t cut into your workday.

3) Most importantly, think ahead about your specific office duties. The successful virtual office involves creating a daily task list ahead of time to schedule time efficiently and then to file for reference if needed later.

Prepare your family weeks in advance of the boundaries of mom’s (or dad’s) office space, equipment, and time availability. Clients and customers do not like to hear screaming kids and barking dogs when conducting business over the phone.

Maintaining a professional home office environment is key to client satisfaction and credibility towards your corporate virtual office business model.

Do your homework when looking into virtual office training programs

There are several appropriate virtual assistant courses that are free of charge to military spouses. The Virtual Business Owners’ Initiative found online at http://victoriaparham.com/vp2010/ has online training free to military ID card holders through a DoD contract.

Other training may be excellent also, but ensure you check out all the details including any formal complaints lodged against them before spending any of your money for virtual office assistant training.

Home Sweet Business Home

Many military spouses believe that a home based business will give them great flexibility during their free time and downtime in order to spend more time their kids and spouse. NOTHING could further from the truth.

Most home-based business professionals will tell you that you’ll work longer hours due to the constant tug and pull of your office computer dinging you with constant instant messages and incoming emails. Many employers take it upon themselves to call you in the evenings because your “office” is based in your home – and you happen to be home during most hours of most days. Your boss feels entitled to call you in the evenings, weekends, and holidays because your home is now “their’ place of business too. Home offices can actually invade your privacy and nesting ability within your home. Ensure you are fully prepared to take on a business inside the sanctity of your home.

MSCCN invites you to see the information about different kinds of work-from-home employment at http://msccn.org/WorkFromHome.html.

Full and part-time work-at-home positions are available with three MSCCN corporate partners. Employees handle inbound customer service calls - take orders, answer questions, address complaints or problems, and provide information about additional services. They represent a variety of companies that outsource their customer service function to our partner organizations, Convergys, Alpine Access, and Cloud 10. We currently have spouses who work for our partners but represent companies like Direct TV, 1-800-Flowers, BoFlex, ProActive etc. Cloud 10’s current positions are focused on assisting customers across the country resolve issues during the transition to digital TV.

The salary for these work-at-home positions starts at $9 an hour. Convergys and Alpine Access also offer benefits to their employees. The flexibility, cost savings (clothes, gas, and lunches), and benefits of working at home are very attractive to many applicants.

Applicants interested in applying should search the MSCCN job listings in the state where they reside to check which companies are hiring candidates. They need to follow the instructions on the job posting and apply directly to the company website so they can take the computer test and complete the application process.

Military spouses must identify their source as MSCCN so company recruiters know they are a military-affiliated applicant. They should also keep an eye on their email and respond promptly to recruiters when emails are received.

The Military Spouse Corporate Career Network (MSCCN), www.msccn.org, is a designated 501(c)(3) public charity in good standing with the IRS. The MSCCN is dedicated to providing career opportunities and job portability for military spouses, veterans, war wounded and their caregivers, and transitioning military through a nationwide network of employers. MSCCN operates with MOUs from all branches of the Armed Forces as an employment partner. For more information, please contact the MSCCN at 1-877-696-7226 or askus@msccn.org.