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The topic of telecommuting has
been making a lot of news lately. Several news
programs and magazines have featured stories on
companies that offer this as a work choice.
As a telecommuter, a person works for an
employer, but instead of working solely at the
employers’ location, they work some or all of
their hours from home.
Thanks to technology, an employee no longer
needs to work in their employer’s office. They
can log on to their company’s server via an
internet connection and access all the same
files and software they would access if they
were physically in the employer’s office.
The type of skills needed to telecommute will
vary on the job you are seeking, as you can find
telecommuting jobs in just about any field,
including customer service, data entry,
administrative assistance, sales, marketing, and
more.
In addition to job specific skills, a good
telecommuter will also need to be able to work
independently. Working from home is a lot
different than working in an office, surrounded
by a team. Good communication skills are also a
must, as you will not be able to just go into
the next office and ask your boss for more
clarification on a topic.
Unfortunately, there are people out there who
take advantage of honest people looking for
telecommuting positions. Be aware that some of
the ads you see for these jobs will be scams.
Keep in mind that you should never have to pay
an employer to work for them. If someone wants
you to pay an application fee, training fee or
buy a special software, tell them “no” and look
for work elsewhere.
You can find telecommuting positions on job
boards, such as
monster.com, as well as smaller job boards,
some of which are devoted exclusively to
telecommuting positions, such as
justonlinejobs.com.
You can also find websites and forums that
center on the topic of working at home. Look
through the other posts that are there and see
if anyone mentions job leads. It is also okay to
post a question on these boards and ask if
anyone has any job leads for you.
If you currently work outside the home, you may
want to inquire with your current employer about
the possibility of moving your current position
into a telecommuting position.
This may be the first time your employer has
heard of telecommuting, so you will want to
prepare yourself ahead of time and develop a
telecommuting proposal to help answer your
employer’s questions.
The telecommuting option is a work choice that
will continue to grow in popularity as more
companies realize that this option works well
for both the employer and the employee. It may
take time to find the perfect telecommuting
position for you, but if you keep looking, you
will find one. |
