Q: I have worked for 4 years in an outsourced job where we used to provide indexing services including Metadata and Abstraction in accordance with customer’s guidelines. The articles were indexed in client’s site (CMS site) where I used to copy the title, pagination, author. etc but the main work was to find keywords to those articles which was done according to client specifications. I have done articles of various subjects.

Currently I am in U.S. and looking out for jobs. Are above mentioned kind of jobs or related to it available here? If yes what should be the exact word for searching it? Are these jobs advertised on LinkedIn or other job portal sites? Is work from home option available? If no, could you please guide me in getting help for the same?

I appreciate your help and thanks in advance.

CNW: Indexing jobs such as you describe do indeed exist in U.S. The H.W. Wilson Company employed indexers until quite recently; however, like many publishers, I understand that they have mostly moved their operations overseas in recent years. Other companies you might look to for similar jobs include OCLC, EBSCO, Proquest and LexisNexis. You will find a terrific response from a real-life work-at-home indexer in a comment on this blog from 2013 .

Such jobs generally lend themselves to working from home, but whether or not a specific employer permits those arrangements is probably a case-by-case basis. You can probably find a work at home arrangement if you are flexible in your approach and willing to negotiate with potential employers.

LinkedIn is an excellent source for job postings. You can also look for jobs on local job notice sites, on Indeed.com, and professional library organizations’ websites. Search terms like “indexer,” “indexing,” “cataloging,” etc. would all return matches.

I also encourage you to think broadly about your indexing and abstracting skills. Your experience would be a solid foundation for a cataloger, for example. If you are in need of a job immediately, there are temporary agencies that specialize in the library field where you could gain experience in the U.S. that may help your job prospects.