The first thing to remember is that if you aren’t qualified for a job, there is very little point in applying for it. Take a good look at your skills. Do you know what data entry involves? How fast can you type? Do you have a quiet room for taking telephone calls? These are questions you may need to consider, depending on kind of work at home job you are applying for.

List your relevant skills first. If you are applying for a range of job types, you may need to rearrange these so that most relevant skills come first for each kind of job. Remember, employers are often looking at hundreds of applicants, so you need to catch their eye right off bat.

List your employment history starting from your most recent or current position and going back. Particularly if you have never held a work at home position, emphasize anything that shows your ability to work without supervision. Remember, this is a vital skill for work at home employees, no matter job. Especially if you have had a work at home position before, tell why you left position. List about 4 jobs at most. More tend to indicate you either change jobs too often and have had a lot of jobs in only a few years, or go back too far in time to be considered relevant. If a job was short term by its nature, say so. Call it contract, seasonal or freelance, depending on which is most relevant.

If you have very little employment experience due to recent graduation from high school or college, emphasize your education history over your employment history. Take a look at classes you took and how they might apply to job you are interested in. If you have a college degree, do not bother listing your high school education. Include any achievements as well.

A Human Resources Director had this to say about a senior level candidate who was being considered for a high visibility position at her company: “He kept me waiting for several minutes while he finished a cell phone conversation in lobby, failed to recognize me from an earlier meeting, and didn’t treat me as a peer during interview process. A used car salesman came to mind.” Arrogance, or impression that “I’m more important than you, or my time is more valuable than your time,” screams “difficult employee” to everyone who comes in contact with this type of individual. A seasoned hiring manager will gladly keep a position open until a candidate with a more professional demeanor comes along.

In category of “there’s no such thing as a sure thing”: A senior level executive, familiar with organization he was interviewing with, was referred in by CEO to interview for a Business Development position. He had all right stuff: industry experience, a golden rolodex, and a term sheet listing deals in U.S. and abroad. He was so comfortable that he didn’t ask any questions of people on interview team about their roles at company, their view of business, or how they might work together – and left them with impression that he was really not interested in them or company. Overconfidence can be misconstrued as indifference, and indifference suggests, well, it suggests you could take or leave a job offer. Nine times out of ten, you won’t get offer.