As a researcher, part of your daily duties may include any of these things; reading a vast number of articles, theories, or reports, summarizing them and compiling them into a useful format. You may be required to conduct interviews, poll people, create and distribute online surveys. You might be asked to compare a variety of articles and verify their information.

Many companies are looking for people who can do online market research. Find out who is buying what and where. Find out how many people in certain areas are using certain products.

Employee backgrounds. This usually involves taking a person resume and verifying all the information that it contains. You may have to contact peer personal references and do criminal background checks. You may be asked to contact previous employers or to verify the person’s qualifications and schooling.

Historical or background research. People who write a lot of articles do not always have time to read hundreds of pages about certain topics to find the exact piece of information that they need. Your job is to read documents and locate specific pieces of information that they require for the piece that they are writing.

Companies may be looking for people to look for new information about similar products and want you to compile the information into workable documentation. They may want detailed information about where their product is being sold and how well it is doing.

Some of your research may have to be done offline as well as online. You may have to visit specific places like courthouses, archives or libraries that do not have their information on the internet.

Many jobs in this field are only temporary but they do allow you the at home advantages. And if you are a really good researcher you can work on a number of projects at the same time. If you are good at finding facts and enjoy researching the jobs you can get online are virtually endless.

Each job will obviously vary to some degree depending on the requirements of the person doing the hiring. Your tasks might include anything from scheduling appointments to working with spread sheets. You might be asked to handle all of a companies’ e-mails or to bill customers. You may even be asked to do client follow-ups or billing.

Many of the jobs are temporary but some have the potential for long term employment. It all depends on what the employer is looking for. There are a variety of sites online that you can go to investigate different options. The company posts an add which usually lists exactly what you will be asked to do and for how long. They may or may not give an exact figure as to what they are willing to pay.

You then have to read through the list of postings and figure out which ones you feel are best suited to your personal needs. Are you looking for full time employment or are you a student looking for a summer job? You also need to take a look at what your personal experience and skill level is.

Some of these sites require that you take an English writing test before you are able to join and compete for jobs. This will give you a ranking number which any potential employer is able to check.

The big advantage of using a sites to help look for potential employers, especially if you are looking at doing short term jobs, is that you do have a mediator. This means that even if the company is not on the same continent you will have recourse of action available to you in case of any disputes about the quality of work, failure to meet deadlines or payment.

Your other option is to post your information about what your skills are and what you want to get paid for these services. If you want to simply book appointments and not do spread sheets you can include this kind of information in your personal description.

The great thing about being a virtual online assistant is that you have a lot more freedom to do the actual work. You can choose when and how long you are going to work, how often and exactly what you want to do. And you never have to bring the boss coffee.