Finding legitimate telecommute jobs can be challenging because there are so many scams and misleading opportunities that come up when you use traditional "work at home" search terms. This article will share some alternate ways to hunt down the REAL telecommute jobs.

Before we get to those, first take a minute to put yourself in the mind-set of an employer who wants to hire people to work at home. Mr. Telecommute Employer may be eager to find good candidates, but would he be so eager that he would fill his advertisement with promises of great riches for little work? Would he offer you an "easy job" that pays thousands of dollars a week? Would he try to entice you to work for him by claiming you can work in your underwear? (I know it sounds funny, but have you SEEN some of the supposed "job ads" out there on the internet? :-)

Obviously, a real telecommuting employer would be more focused on finding candidates that have the skills his company is looking for, and offering them a salary that matches the complexity of work involved with the job.

Okay - so that is one obstacle out of the way, avoid ads that sound like they are trying to convince you that you will get rich doing the easiest job ever.

Now, would Mr. Telecommute Employer also be so excited about his job opportunity that he would load the ad with exclamation points, dollar signs and other miscellaneous punctuation marks? ** Work at home!! Great pay, easy work $$$$$$$!!!!!!!!! ** Probably not.

Okay - another sign of an illegitimate telecommute job, avoid ads that use excessive punctuation.

Finally, would Mr. Telecommute Employer be so determined to find the right candidates that he would try to charge them money to work for him? Have you ever applied for a job in the real world and had the employer ask you for money? Definitely NOT.

Okay - so there's another big sign of a scam, asking for money to work for them.

There are other warning signs of telecommuting scams, but those are three big ones that you'll see most often during your job search.

Now you know what to avoid, but how do you go about FINDING the legitimate telecommute jobs?

As I mentioned at the beginning of this article, it's all about the search terms you use online. If you search for "work at home jobs" you will undoubtedly get tons of ads just like the ones I've described. In other words, not real jobs.

But let's go back to the mind of Mr. Telecommute Employer for a moment and ask ourselves, "What would he put in the ad to get the attention of potential telecommuters?"

Most likely he would include phrases like, "work remotely, telecommuting possible, partial telecommute considered, home office requirements, must be able to work independently," and so on.

Try searching on phrases like that and you should get many more legitimate job results than just searching on "work at home jobs".