For the best results, make sure you only research free work at home jobs when you're looking for a job as an appointment scheduler. There are legitimate companies out there who have been hired by other companies to look for appointment schedulers who wish to work from home.
Perhaps even better, though, one of the best ways to get work-at-home jobs as an appointment scheduler is to begin working at a doctor's or dentist's office as an appointment scheduler. Once you have proven that you can do the job and are responsible and hardworking, your employer may very well let you work at home, and once you've gotten some experience, you may also be able to contract with other doctors' or dentists' offices to schedule appointments for them, too.
Starting Out as an Administrative Assistant
One of the best ways to begin to work at home as an appointment scheduler is to begin working as an administrative assistant. Administrative assistants schedule appointments, but they also manage information for the people they work for, such as maintaining patient charts, billing patients for services provided, and scheduling/managing patient appointments. Once you have done this for a while, your boss may very well let you move to becoming an appointment scheduler from home; in some cases, you may even be able to assume other clerical duties such as patient record maintenance and the like via computer. Gone are the days of paper files only. Doing this type of work from home has become more and more prevalent as technology has taken over and made communication and information transfer much easier.
Some administrative assistants work at home several days a week and then come into the office several days week. In most cases, an employer is not going to entirely be able to get along without an administrative assistant in the office during the workday, so job duties may be split up among employees who rotate remote/on-site work schedules. Alternatively, some employees may work entirely on remote bases, while other employees only work at the given job site.
Education Required
Extensive computer skills are necessary, because you'll need to be able to communicate with the employer/employers from home, and you'll need to be able to do data-entry quickly and efficiently while talking on the phone to people about their appointments and concerns. In many cases, though, appointment schedulers do not have to have an education beyond the required clerical and computer skills, many of which can be gotten through on-the-job training. On-the-job training is usually provided for jobs that begin on-site. Legitimate work-at-home companies will offer training to people with backgrounds in appointment scheduling simply to teach them the specific systems the company itself uses.
Requirements
Whether or not you get your first work-at-home appointment-scheduling job from another company or from your current employer, make sure you pay no money to do so. Only look for free work-at-home jobs.
In addition to a computer, you'll need a fast Internet connection, any software the company you work for requires, and a phone. In some cases, headsets make it much easier to talk on the phone while you type.
Incidentally, you may need child care to perform this position, too. If you thought that working from home would alleviate the need for child care, think again. Because small children especially require lots of individual attention (and may not be quiet during times you need them to be), you'll need to treat your work-at-home job just as you would if you were working in an office. The only difference between a work-at-home appointment scheduler position and one that occurs in the office is that you are at home and your dress may not have to be as professional. All other aspects of the job must remain the same, and you must be able to stay on task without any distractions.
Finally, you'll need to be extremely disciplined because you'll need to keep yourself on task to get the job done. This can be very difficult for some people to do without a formal office structure. However, if you are very self-directed and have no trouble staying on task without any supervision, this type of work-at-home position might be great for you.
Compensation and Job Outlook
The compensation for those who work in employment scheduling and related jobs varies greatly, especially in a work-at-home capacity. If you work for more than one employer or client, you may be able to work more and thus make more money. On average, though, administrative assistants made about $27,000 per year in 2006.
