20 Work at Home Jobs That Don’t Do Background Checks

Do you cringe when a company requires a background check? Do you worry that your less-than-stellar credit might cost you the job? Do you need a work-at-home job fast and don't want to wait? This article will briefly describe the background check process and also give you ten work at home jobs that don't do background checks.

Why Would a Company Require a Background Check?

The company is requiring a background check to protect itself, its clients, and its other employees. The company is trying to screen out anyone that they believe could pose a potential threat (cyber, financial, terrorist, physical harm or otherwise) to its current culture or environment.

Background checks are also used to verify education, employment history, and references.

Background checks go by other names such as pre-employment screenings, background screenings, and background investigations.

Also, different states will vary on how many years a potential employer can go back in a candidates' history for such things as arrests, convictions or misdemeanors.

Companies will also vary on what they look for in background checks. Some will also run a credit check if you will be handling credit cards. Driving records may also be screened, but usually isn't necessary with work from home jobs.

What is the Cost of a Background Check?

While some companies will pay for the background check, others will not. Background checks can cost as little as $25 but as much as $85. You can deduct the amount from your taxes if you are an independent contractor.

How Long Does It Take For a Company to Conduct a Background Check?

A background check can take up to two weeks, but may only take a few days. Usually employment is contingent upon passing the background check.

What Are Your Rights Regarding Your Background Check?

You do have the right to see your background check once it has been completed for a work-at-home company. You may request a copy of it via email.

20 Work at Home Jobs That Don't Do Background Checks

Note there are way more than just the ten listed below, and this list will likely be expanded on later. A brief description has been posted with each one with a review link included, if available.

Here they are:

Cambly – (see Cambly review) – This is a tutoring site paying $.17 a minute where you would be tutoring non-English speaking students. You will be using your own laptop and webcam to interact with the students. You may set your own hours and shifts are two-hour stretches. Pay is done via PayPal.

Appen – (see Appen review) – One of the more popular and successful search engine evaluation companies.

If hired, you'll be analyzing search results and helping improve multimedia post suggestion algorithms for big companies like Google and Twitter. The pay is not disclosed, but traditionally jobs in this niche will earn you somewhere in the neighborhood of $12 to $15 per hour.

Kirkus – (see Kirkus review) – This is a book reviewing site where you would be writing book reviews for companies. Reviews are around 350 words and must be submitted within two weeks of acceptance. Payment is sent out via check every 60 days.

Mturk – (see Amazon Mechanical Turk review) – This is also known as Amazon Mechanical Turk is a site that you can sign up with and begin earning money right away.

The site has numerous tasks that you can begin doing right away, and you will be allowed to do more and better HITS (Human Intelligence Tasks) as you gain more experience. There are a variety of tasks such as writing, surveys, transcription, and photo tagging. Payout is via direct deposit or Amazon gift cards.

Rev – (see Rev review) – This company hires remote transcribers to work from home, and they do not do a background check on potential workers. They pay weekly via Paypal.

Textbroker – (see Textbroker review) – This is a popular content mill for writers at all levels. Once accepted, you will be given a level from 2 to 5. The pay varies by level, and pay is weekly. They now accept proofreaders and have their own forum.

U-Haul – (see U-Haul work at home review) – This is a well-known moving company which hires at home dispatchers to accept calls from customers renting or thinking about renting the moving vans. The pay is from $14 to $15 if you include the bonuses. This is an employee job and not an independent contractor position.

Verafast – This is an outbound calling center requiring workers to work 15 hours a week. You would be calling newspaper customers as part of a customer retention program. The pay is roughly $.17 a minute. Not the best reputation, but you can get up and running quickly with them.

Ask Wonder – (see Ask Wonder review) – This company hires people to research user-questions on the web and write up detailed answers.

There aren't any difficult experience or educational requirements, but you'll have to answer some test questions during the application process to prove your skills.

Researchers are compensated on a per-question basis, so the hourly rate can vary depending on how fast you work, but Wonder claims some of their workers earn as much as $2000 per month.

WriterAccess – (see Writer Access review) – This is a content mill where writers can write whenever they want and are accepted at different levels. Pay will vary based on your level of acceptance, but it is one of the better paying content mills.

Accutran Global – (see Accutran Global review) – This is a transcription company that only hires in the US and Canada. The pay is $0.005/word to $0.0066. Like most jobs in this field, your hourly earning potential will depend largely on how fast you are.

Scribie – (see Scribie review) – A transcription service with a very simple setup, and no base experience requirements. Ideal for people interested in trying transcription out to see if it's a good fit for them. The pay is $5 to $15 per audio hour, and you can choose which audio files you want to work on. Mostly just good for extra money.

The HOTH – (see The HOTH review) – This is an SEO content mill with much higher pay rates than most ($25 to $95 per article depending on length) and no educational or experience requirements. Apparently there's always a lot of work available, and you can set your own hours.

Tutlo – (see Tutlo review) – Another language tutoring service. You need at least six months of experience teaching English in some context or another, but there's no requirement for any particular certification, and no mention of a background check. Tutors earn approximately $11 per hour.

Wordgigs – (see Wordgigs review) – This freelance SEO content mill doesn't pay the highest rates per article, but their assignments tend to be very short, which means there's generally less research time.

If you're a very fast writer you should probably still be able to make some money, and there are basically no requirements to join, so it's a good place for beginners to start establishing themselves.

Fancy Hands – (see Fancy Hands review) – A virtual assistant company that pays on a per-task basis. How much you earn will depend on how fast you are, your areas of expertise, and which hours you choose to work.

The Chat Shop – (see The Chat Shop review) – With this company, you'll be providing customer service through a chat interface. Typically, Chat Shop agents are assigned to work for several different client companies at once, so you'll need to switch gears often throughout the day. The pay is around $10 per hour. The opening is not always listed.

First Quarter Finance – This financial blog hires remote writers and editors. Obviously you'll need some knowledge on the subject matter to get a job here, and plenty of skill, but there's no mention of a background check.

The current pay-rate is not disclosed, but writers apparently used to earn $80 per submitted article.

Time Etc – (see Time Etc review) – A virtual assistant company that pays between $11 and $16 per hour. They have openings for several different kinds of assistants, and all the jobs seem quite different.

One thing you might notice is that *most* independent contractor opportunities are background check free, while the employee positions (phone jobs, etc.) are more likely to require background checks.

There are exceptions of course — for example, transcription jobs may require checks if you're transcribing sensitive info — but this is what you'll usually find.

Now, get out there and apply!