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by Ben Perlman
Thursday, October 19, 2006
With class and studies taking up much of their time, more college students today are choosing to work from home rather than making the commute to the workplace.
LiveOps, a contracted call agency that out-sources incoming calls from various companies to people working from home, has recently reported a three-fold increase in the number of college students choosing to contract themselves as "home agents."
These stay-at-home workers field a wide variety of calls, ranging from those ordering products to those ordering pizza.
The job description is becoming increasingly attractive to college students strapped for time and cash.
"The best thing for me is that I can work whenever I want," said Lauren Stiteler, a senior at the College of Charleston in Charleston, S.C. "You can schedule a week ahead of time, but if you can't make your hours you can drop them ahead of time."
LiveOps has attempted to make the contracted work as accessible as possible for college students looking to work as home agents, according to Tim Whipple, the company's vice president of agent services. All the information and scripting for calls is made available via the company's website — all the home agent must do is log in.
"One thing is that our LiveOps agents are not employees — they're independent contractors," Whipple said. "That gives them a level of freedom to set things up for as many or as few hours as they want."
The only requirements for being a home agent are a computer with an Internet connection and a land-based telephone line. This low level of commitment and responsibility is thought of as the reason for the increasing numbers of college students choosing to work as home agents.
The work-by-choice configuration, while ideal for college students, also appeals to other demographics.
"Another group that needs that flexibility are moms with kids," Whipple added. "You can work from home with a fragmented schedule, overnight, weekends; it's the ideal flexibility that people need."
The growing scale of business and distribution also makes for an ideal environment in which to have home agent services.
"Companies don't have to invest in infrastructure for sporadic calls [when using home agents]," Whipple said. "We take a lot of calls for infomercials on Saturday and Sunday mornings. A 30-minute infomercial will run and generate a lot of phone calls at one time."
Like infomercials, food orders often flood in at specific times and the need for contracted call services increases. Home agents, Whipple said, are an ideal resource for handling high volumes of calls all at once.
Anonymous (October 25, 2006 @ 6:50am):
I used to be an independant consultant doing home based parties with P.L. for 9 years. The time I spent away from home and the expenses that you are responsible for is something i never miss! I have been with L.O. for over a year now and still love it! I love making my own schedule and and having the control of how much I want to earn each week. All in the comfort of my home and with very very little exspense! The support we receive as L.O. agents can't be beat. So often during a work day a customer will put a smile on my face. This tells me the customer appreciates a friendly, kind voice taking their order as much as i appreciate their call!
I love it!
Karen B.
