What is Needed to Work at Home as a Customer Service Representative

To work at home as a Customer Service Representative, CCR, CRM, Remote Agent, Customer Call Agent or Customer Care Professional there are basic at home office tools you need to have.  For the most part these home based customer service representative jobs are internet jobs which can be done from a home office, online with a computer.  These home jobs are great for work at home moms, stay at home dads, students, caregivers, people with disabilities or just about anyone.  Most of these jobs can be either full time or part time work at home.  The salaries for these customer care jobs range anywhere from $8.00 to $18.00 per hour depending on experience.    The following lists are the basic skills and tools required to generate work at home income for these position.  All companies are different but this will give you a general idea of what you will need.    A general list of skills needed to preform these work at home customer service agent jobs:  

Motivation and the desire for a challenging and rewarding career opportunity

Professional, pleasant phone presence

Ability to quickly identify, empathize, establish trust, and solve a caller’s problem

Self-starter and disciplined; not easily distracted while working at home

Works well independently

Strong work ethic

Uses the internet daily for downloads, email, sending file attachments, and instant messaging/text messaging

Ability to trouble-shoot and fix minor problems with computer system

Strong computer navigation skills, such as: 

Ability to open and quickly toggle between at least five windows at a time

Frequently use keyboard commands rather than relying on menus   

Environment that is needed is a quiet home office where you can work without interruptions.  Most companies have a zero tolerance policy for noise. A good computer is also needed with at least the following requirements

PC running Windows XP or Vista

At the very least A Minimum 2 GB free hard drive disk space

At the very least Minimum 1 GB RAM (2 GB recommended for Vista)

1 GHz to 1.5 GHz Processor or higher (Multi-Core Recommended) Higher is definately better

Monitor with minimum screen resolution of 1024x768 (1280x1024 recommended) I prefer dual moniters, but thats just me

Sound card and speakers to listen to audio files

Current anti-virus software with updated definitions

Current anti-spyware software

Firewall installed & operating or Windows firewall turned on

Reliabe internet access DSL or cable broadband 

No satellite or wireless Internet service.  Most companies will allow wireless connection within the confines of your home  as long as your DSL or Cable connection is hard-wired.   The telephone you use is very important as well.  Most companies require regular analog landline that meets one of these requirements: google_protectAndRun("ads_core.google_render_ad", google_handleError, google_render_ad);   Traditional landline phone service (regular phone)

Cable—phone service from a Cable TV service provider.

Fiber-Optic—phone line provided by a local phone service.

A telephone line that you can dedicate for your use while working.  A telephone you can use while also accessing the Internet.

The telephone must be a corded traditional telephone. No cordless, cellular/wireless or VoIP phones.

Most companies require a headset  for your telephone in order to begin working. These telephone headsets plug directly into your telephone base, range in price from $20-$100 and can be purchased at major retailers and office supply stores. You will be wearing the telephone headset for long periods of time, make sure it is comfortable, and meet these minimum requirements:

• Hands-free
• Corded. All cordless headsets are unacceptable
• Features a "noise cancelling" microphone

 Now that you know the basics of what it takes to have these work at home online jobs in the customer service field, it's time to find a home based customer service job.  The best place to start looking for one, is right here Work at Home Job Listings