Virtual Call Center Jobs: Get Paid to Talk on the Phone

Over the years, I've worked my fair share of phone jobs.

In college, I worked as an appointment setter for a direct sales team. I also worked as a telemarketer, making phone calls for charities, political campaigns, and Pizza Hut, offering a buy one, get one free deal.

After I graduated from college, I moved to Vail, Colorado, to be a ski bum for the season. To fund this, I worked as a reservationist at the Lodge at Vail, helping people book their hotel rooms.

Later, after obtaining my second degree and nursing license, I worked on the phone approving medical equipment, supplies, and nursing visits for Medicaid patients.

If you're someone who enjoys connecting with others, and you can stay calm under pressure, there are lots of virtual call center jobs where you can get paid to talk on the phone!

This list focuses explicitly on remote customer service, tech support, and sales jobs. If you're looking for telemedicine jobs, check out this post.

Virtual Call Center Jobs:

AAA

AAA hires virtual customer service reps for their insurance and membership service centers. These positions are full-time and come with benefits. Customer service representatives earn an average of $14.50 per hour. To apply for these positions, you'll need a high school diploma, excellent customer service skills, and computer proficiency.

ACD Direct

If you're interested in working with businesses or non-profits, ACD Direct might be a great fit for you. You can work-at-home as an independent contractor and earn around $150-200 per month, according to employee reviews. These are inbound marketing calls, and you get paid to talk by the minute. ACD Direct does not hire individuals from California, Delaware, Louisiana, Massachusetts, South Dakota, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

Aha!

Aha! hires virtual customer success specialists from the US, Canada, the UK, Ireland, South Africa, New Zealand, and Australia. To be considered for these positions, you must have at least one year of experience in a product marketing role. Aha! offers extensive benefits and profit-sharing.

Aira

Aira hires at-home agents to help assist the blind and visually impaired via phone. Their clients wear special glasses that let agents see the individual's surroundings so that they can assist these people in their daily lives.

Alorica at Home

Alorica is an outsourced communication solution. This means companies hire Alorica to do their phone work (stuff like research, customer service, etc.) for them. With a background check (and a $31.95 screening fee), you can start working from home as an agent. You can set your own flexible hours. An inbound customer service rep makes around $9.71 per hour, depending on availability and the type of work.

Amazon 

Amazon hires work from home customer service associates. In this position, you will interact with customers via phone, chat, and email. Amazon has both full and part-time jobs. However, some require knowledge of a second language. With Amazon, you're hired on as a W2 employee, not an independent contractor.

American Express

At American Express, they hire virtual call center workers for customer service, travel and lifestyle, sales, and human resource positions. One cool thing about American Express is they'll install high-speed internet access and landline telephone access at your residence, which saves you from having to cover this added expense.

Apple

Apple at-home advisors provide customer service and support to Apple users. At-home service reps can make between $15-$20 per hour (plus training and benefits) and work from the comfort of their homes. You don't need to be a Mac expert, but some familiarity will help.

Related: The Best Remote Tech Support Jobs

Aspira

Aspira hires individuals from the US and Canada for remote customer service roles within the outdoor recreation niche. On their job page, work-from-home positions will display the word “remote” in the job title. You must have excellent communication skills and previous customer service experience to apply. Aspira offers competitive pay and a multitude of benefits like three weeks paid vacation.

Aspire Lifestyles

Aspire Lifestyles is a global company that hires individuals for virtual customer and concierge services. To find their remote positions, look for the job listings with “work from home” in the title. The pay is competitive, and full-time positions come with benefits. You should have a high school diploma and excellent verbal and written communication skills.

BloomsToday

BloomsToday, a US-based floral provider, hires independent sales reps to answer incoming calls and educate buyers on their products. Base pay is $15 per hour, but top performers can earn up to $24 per hour. You should have excellent communication skills and a strong interest or previous experience in sales. BloomsToday does not hire individuals from Texas, California, or Florida.

Carnival Cruise Lines

Carnival Cruise Lines occasionally hires virtual vacation planners to help assist customers with their travel plans, questions, and concerns. You must have a dedicated phone line, and quiet office space to work.

Related: Remote Jobs in the Hospitality, Travel, and Tourism Industries

ContractWorld

ContractWorld (LiveXchange Corporation) hires independent contractors from the US, the UK, and Canada to provide customer service for companies like Pizza Hut, Loreal, and KFC. With this at-home opportunity, you're paid per call with average earnings between $8-$16 per hour. Be aware that ContractWorld charges a $75 fee for their agent access course, a monthly $29 software licensing fee, and a $4.95 monthly payment processing fee. Personally, I think these fees are excessive, especially since you'll have to pay self-employment taxes too!

Related: Remote Customer Service Jobs that Don't Require Experience

Concentrix 

Concentrix hires full- and part-time sales and service reps, customer service reps, and tech support reps from 35 different states. For these virtual call center positions, you'll need a high school diploma or GED and one year of customer service experience. Concentrix offers paid training and benefits, but they do not hire residents from Alaska, California, Connecticut, Washington DC, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, or Washington.

CVS

CVS hires work-from-home call center customer service representatives. You must live within 75 miles of a training facility and have at least six months of experience. CVS offers competitive pay, paid training, and benefits.

Enterprise Holdings

Enterprise Holdings, which houses Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Alamo Rent-A-Car, and National Car Rental companies offer work-from-home positions for reservation sales representatives. Hourly pay rate starts at $12.85 per hour, plus a competitive commission structure.

Exact Sciences

Exact Sciences hires remote customer care specialists to provide phone support to health care providers, patients, and the general public. For this position, you'll need a high school diploma or GED and four years of related experience. These positions are full-time and come with benefits.

Gabbyville

Gabbyville hires full-time virtual receptionists in the US. This remote position is W2 positions that come with ADP benefits. Gabbyville offers flexible hours (5:00 am EST – 5:00 pm PST Monday – Friday). If you're interested in working for Gabbyville, send your resume to [email protected].

Hilton

Hilton hires reservation sales specialists and customer care coordinators. You must have excellent communication skills, persuasive sales ability, and customer service experience. Hilton offers an extensive benefits package, and base pay and performance incentives for top performers.

Holland America

Holland America hires work-from-home cruise consultants to promote and sell cruises through outbound calls. Must reside in one of the following states: Washington, Oregon, Colorado, or Nevada, to be considered for employment. Positions are full-time and come with generous benefits like paid time off, health coverage, travel perks, 401k, and lots more.

HotelTonight

HotelTonight occasionally hires remote customer service reps in 14 states, to help customers resolve issues. You must have at least one year of call center experience. This position includes benefits like medical, dental, 401k, as well as travel perks.

HSN

HSN hires work-from-home customer service and order specialist reps. Even though you'll be working remotely, positions are location-dependent (most being in Florida). You must have a high school diploma or GED and previous experience. Starting pay begins at $11.50 per hour, and it increases every three months for the first year.

KellyConnect

KellyConnect, a branch of Kelly Services, offers remote customer service positions. In this role, you'll earn $13.50 an hour for training, then $14.50 after you complete 90-days on the job. Applicants should have a high school diploma or GED, excellent communication skills, and at least six months of customer service experience.

LiveOps

LiveOps hires independent contractors in 36 states for customer service roles and phone work. With this opportunity, you can set your own schedule, and the pay is between $12-$15 per hour. LiveOps contracts with companies like Murad and ProFlowers.com.

Neiman Marcus

Neiman Marcus hires seasonal customer care phone associates to provide sales and service support to customers. You must have one year of call center experience, and reside in the state of Texas where you'll be required to attend an on-site training. They usually start hiring in August or September for these seasonal positions.

Related: Remote Retail Jobs: Ways to Work Retail From Home

NexRep

NexRep hires work-at-home agents for inbound sales, outbound sales, and customer care positions. Many positions offer an hourly base pay with opportunities for commission. In this position, you'll be an independent contractor, not an employee. NexRep hires for companies like Red Bull, Priceline, GrubHub, and more.

Nordstrom

Nordstrom occasionally hires work-at-home customer care specialists. These positions are full-time, and they come with great benefits like medical, dental, vision, merchandise discounts, and a 401k plan. They tend to start hiring in August and September for the increased demands during the holiday season.

PhoneBurner

PhoneBurner hires full-time customer support reps to answer inbound calls, emails, and chats. The compensation ranges from $17-$20 per hour, and you must have two years of experience in tech support.

Related: Best Work-From-Home Jobs if You Have a Background in Customer Service

Smith.ai

Smith.ai hires full- and part-time virtual receptionists to work Monday – Friday, answering calls, taking messages, booking appointments, and other administrative activities. You must have excellent communication skills and be able to type 40 WPM. Starting pay is $10 per hour, and full-time positions come with benefits.

Support.com

Support.com hires virtual call agents to provide tech support. They offer a wide range of benefits, like paid training, health insurance, PTO, a pay-for-performance bonus program, and more. You must have at least one year of experience, be able to type 40 WPM, and excellent communication skills.

Sutherland CloudSource

Sutherland CloudSource hires virtual customer service reps, tech support, and sales and service reps. With these roles, you need to have a high school diploma or GED, although some positions require a higher level of education. Sutherland offers paid training, benefits, W2 employment, and they hire in all states except Hawaii and Alaska.

SYKES

SYKES hires home-based call agents across North America to answer inbound calls. Unlike many other call center jobs, at Sykes, you're hired on as an employee, not an independent contractor. This position offers competitive pay, health, and retirement benefits, as well as career advancement opportunities.

Teleflora

Teleflora hires seasonal (usually before Christmas, Valentine's, and Mother's Day) work-at-home agents to assist with inbound orders and calls. This role requires a landline, a PC (no Macs allowed), and basic data entry skills. Pay is $8 per hour.

TeleReach

TeleReach is business-to-business marketing, meaning you aren't selling products via cold calling. Instead, you're calling businesses looking for the services and products you have to offer. To work with TeleReach, you must have a landline and go through a training process. You can earn between $12 and $28 per hour, depending on the number of calls and sales you make.

TTEC

TTEC hires global associates for customer service, sales, and technical support via phone, chat, and social media. This position includes paid training, but you must have a dedicated phone line. Currently, TTEC does not hire individuals from California, Hawaii, Illinois, or New York. Applicants must have a high school diploma or GED and at least six months of experience.

U-Haul

U-Haul hires part-time sales and reservation representatives to help customers. During busy times of the year, hours may vary, but for the most part, the schedule is flexible. You must commit to a four-week training program and have a good grasp of geography.

Unum

Unum hires remote customer service specialists to help customers with health insurance. You must be located in the eastern or central time zone. These positions come with paid training and lots of benefits. To find these positions on their career portal, search for the keyword “remote.” Applicants will need a high school diploma or GED and relevant experience.

Verizon

Verizon hires work-from-home customer service reps in and around the Alpharetta, Georgia area. While reps work remotely, training is in-person, hence the location requirement. Verizon provides workers with a computer, telephone, headset, applicable software, and cables. You must provide your own internet connection.

Vivint Smart Home

Vivint Smart Home hires individuals for work-from-home tech support roles. In this position, you'll answer inbound calls from customers to provide tech support and customer service. Must live within a 100-mile radius of one of their training centers. Starting pay is $12.50 per hour and comes with health insurance, paid time off, 401k, and more.

VoiceLog 

VoiceLog reps make a minimum of $8.50 per hour and work afternoon and evening hours. As a VoiceLog operator, you'll receive live calls from companies looking to verify connections and sales, and combat fraud. You're required to work a minimum of 20 hours per week, but you can work in 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6-hour shifts. You must have at least one year of customer service experience.

Williams-Sonoma

Williams Sonoma hires virtual customer service associates to engage with customers via the phone, chat, and email. These work-at-home jobs pay $12 per hour and come with discounts on merchandise, health care and dental benefits, and a 401K. You must be able to work 30-50 hours per week; paid training is included.

Working Solutions

Working Solutions hires independent contractors for customer service, sales, and support. Depending on which program you're working on, agents can earn anywhere from $9-$30 per hour. Working Solutions does not hire individuals from California, New York, Pennsylvania, or Washington. Applicants will need to pass a criminal background check, which will cost you $18.50.

Wrrk

Wrrk hires customer service professionals to assist customers via phone, chat, and email. You must reside in Texas, Georgia, Colorado, or Arizona, and have one year of experience. This is a W2 position with health benefits.

Xerox

Xerox hires for a wide array of work-from-home positions, but their phone jobs consist of remote support specialists, tech support, and customer care specialists. Positions are full-time and come with a host of benefits and learning and development opportunities.

Another Way to Get Paid to Talk on the Phone

There is one other way to work-from-home on the phone, and that's being a “phone actress” — yes, I'm talking about PSO jobs (phone sex operator jobs). This is an occupation that I don't cover on the website. However, if this sort of work interests you, you can search for these sorts of jobs on Google. Just be aware that there are phone sex line operator scams out there. The Penny Hoarder has some useful tips for finding a PSO job without getting scammed here.

Conclusion

One last note about virtual call center jobs, most of these positions require you to have a dedicated phone line. For more information on equipment requirements — check out this post.

As you can see, there are lots of options and companies out there looking for driven, hard-working, phone workers. If you have an interest in working with people and want a chance to flex your customer service or sales skills, one of these remote phone jobs might be the right fit for you.

Do you get paid for talking on the phone? Which company do you work with? Drop us a note we'd love to hear from you!

Originally published March 7, 2017. Content updated April 1, 2020.

Holly Reisem Hanna is the publisher and founder of  The Work at Home Woman, which has been helping individuals find remote careers and businesses that feed their souls since 2009. Through her unconventional career path of holding over 30 jobs and obtaining two college degrees, she's been able to figure out how to find a career path that you're truly passionate about. Holly's had the pleasure of sharing her expertise on sites like CNN, MSN Money, Huffington Post, Woman's Day Magazine, as well as being recognized by Forbes as one of the “Top 100 Websites for Your Career.” Holly resides in Austin, Texas, with her husband and daughter and enjoys reading, traveling, and yoga.

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