5 Jobs You Didn't Know About

By Anthony Balderrama, CareerBuilder.com writer

Working from home is the new casual Friday. It's one of those perks that many employers have incorporated into their policies, but it's still not the norm and most everyone wishes it were.

Employers have several reasons for wanting to limit the amount of work you do from home. They're not just being sourpusses about the situation, even if that's what you think. Most bosses who are hesitant to expand their telecommuting policies are afraid of giving employees too much room to mess up. Think about how many business casual experiments went awry when someone showed up in clothes more suitable for club-going. All you need is one blockhead to ruin it for everyone.

Many of these fears, however, are unfounded. At least that's what Kate Lister and Tom Harnish say in their new book, "Undress for Success: The Naked Truth About Making Money at Home."

by Mary Lorenz, CareerBuilder.com writer

It hardly seems fair: By the time you've dragged yourself out of bed, showered, ironed your last clean shirt, located your keys, gotten out of the door and, finally, into your office, you've eaten up almost two hours -- and the work day hasn't even begun yet!

Anthony Balderrama, CareerBuilder.com writer

I'm no genius, but I'm going to assume that most people are not best friends with their bosses. Sure, they might like each other, but they're not going to be included in the wedding party. (They might be lucky to get an invite to the reception.)

Yet, when a woman finds out she's going to have a baby, the shortlist of people to tell inevitably includes the boss. Suddenly someone you don't want anywhere near your bedroom is the first to hear about your pregnancy.

But how do you handle the whole ordeal? From breaking the news to severing ties with the office while you're gone, you have a lot of issues to tackle in the nine months leading up to your leave.

Rachel Zupek, CareerBuilder.com writer

If it seems too good to be true, it probably is."

If nothing else, this age-old adage might be the most important piece of advice to remember in your job search, especially in today's market.

Though job scams are prevalent at any point in time, today's tough economic times have increased the amount of scammers looking to take advantage of people desperate to make money and find a job.

By Claudine Benmar, PayScale.com

When Deborah Bryner's arthritis flares up, she works in bed. When it's time to make dinner, she totes her laptop to the kitchen. But when she really has to buckle down and meet a deadline, she heads for the basement, where there are no distractions.

"If I'm working in the basement, I tell my kids, 'Don't bug me unless you're bleeding or on fire,'" she says.

That kind of flexibility is what Bryner, 50, loves about working from home. She offers various professional services, including transcription of podcasts and online interviews, copy editing, and blog writing. And while she types away at her laptop in Anchorage, Alaska, her various bosses check in on her from Pennsylvania, Maryland, California and Nebraska.

Like other parents who work from home, Bryner's focus is her children. Her son, 16, is in high school now and her 20-year-old daughter, who is autistic, currently attends an alternative career training program. "Our kids have always had one of us at home, as much as possible," she says. "Even teenagers do better when there's a parent at home."