Q My wife is a writer and wishes to get back into the workforce. She is a stay-at-home mom and is looking for a way to work from home. She wants to put down $100 for this Web site that she said will lead to legitimate customers. What do you think?

A Don’t forget that for the $100 she’ll probably receive a certificate of authenticity for part ownership of the Brooklyn Bridge! There are so many Internet and telemarketing scams promising people easy income or work-from-home riches that I’m dubious about any firm requiring an upfront fee. There are numerous Web sites devoted to freelancers, many of them legitimate online communities and networks. Most offer free memberships for independent freelancers and only take a fee for paid jobs found through the site in the form of a commission, usually 5 or 10 percent. I recommend that your wife do some extensive online research — checking networking forums for writers, etc. — and register with as many top, well-known and free Web sites as she can before plunking down a C-note for access to job listings that many other sites are probably offering for free. She should also check the major job boards like Simply Hired, Indeed, Yahoo, etc., where she may find job listings for working from home. Beware, though — scam artists slip through the cracks of even the most reputable sites. Finally, since your wife is a writer, she should try networking and sending clips to various publications the good old-fashioned way. Good luck.

Q I was recently laid off and am looking for a new job. I posted my resume on LinkedIn.com, along with stellar recommendations. Should I put the link to my LinkedIn profile on my paper resume as I send it out to potential companies? Or is that redundant?

A About how many resumes do you think are posted on Web sites such as LinkedIn? I’ll give you a hint — it’s a seven-digit number. That means you seriously have a better chance of hitting the Lotto — two weeks in a row — than you have of some employer coming across your resume on one of these sites and offering you a job. And honestly, whether you put the link to your LinkedIn.com profile on your resume is irrelevant. It can’t hurt, but if a prospective employer is interested in you, it will be because of the skills and experience highlighted on your resume. If they don’t like what they see, they aren’t going to bother looking any further. And if they do, many prospective employers will conduct an online search and find it anyway. So whether you include a link to an online profile or not, remember: It’s key to make sure that any information about you that can be easily found on the Web is consistent with the image you want to project to prospective employers.