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Telecommuting – Five Ways to Find Your Next Job

June 2, 2008 By

The trend of telecommuting is on the rise as employers begin to see the savings involved in both gas and office space. With gas prices at an all-time high, many Americans are looking for ways to do less driving and more companies than ever before are offering telecommuting options to their current employees and searching for at-home employees to fill open positions. The question for the job seeker is now how to find these opportunities. Below are five methods you can use to find a telecommuting position.

First, check your local newspaper. When I began my search for an at-home career, I found my first employer through the Classified Ads section of our hometown paper. I was wary at first, but after thoroughly researching the company through means such as the Better Business Bureau (BBB), visiting the corporate office and meeting some of their current employees I found the company to be legitimate.

Second, search online using website such as Monster.com and Dice.com. However, listings found online must be researched carefully to avoid the scams that abound on the Internet. There are also websites that will you allow to do job research in your own community. One such website is Craigslist.com on which you can choose a city and then refine your search with keywords such as “telecommute.”

Posting your resume on websites such as Hotjobs.com is a third way to locate at work-at-home job. Putting your resume online can bring employers to you, depending on your skills and qualifications. Another bonus of an online resume is that you can easily direct prospective employers to view it. It also makes life a bit simpler when applying for jobs, because you can attach your online resume instead of typing out your job history, qualifications, and so on, each time you apply for a job.

When posting your resume on the web, be sure to create an accurate and impressive representation of your abilities. You don’t want to be wordy when describing past job experience, but you do want to be specific about the roles you’ve held as well as your accomplishments.

A fourth option when looking for at-home employment is to open a phone book and call businesses in your area. For example, if you’re interested in doing administrative work, you might contact churches and small businesses in your area to see if they are looking for office help. Even if they are not currently seeking help, they may know of another business owner who is.

Along those same lines, the fifth way to become a telecommuter is to create your own opportunity. For example, instead of finding a company that will hire you as an administrative assistant from home, consider starting your own business as a Virtual Assistant. You can offer your services to many companies, which can both increase your income potential and allow you the flexibility of deciding which jobs you’d like to accept.

You can also create your own telecommuting position by talking with your current employer about work-at-home possibilities. More and more companies are finding that at-home employees are just as productive as those in the office, if not more. Companies also benefit financially by lessening office space and avoiding the costs of many office supplies. Many companies who are not ready to hire at-home workers will allow their current employees to work one or two days from a home office, so be sure to discuss this option.

The telecommuting field has become highly competitive as more and more people find that working from home is a possibility. Searching for a telecommuting position can be daunting, but by looking in strategic places such as online and in your local newspaper, you’ll have a much better chance. No matter, how you find your telecommuting position, make sure it’s something you would enjoy doing and also something you can make money at.

Article by: Jill Hart is the founder of Christian Work at Home Moms. Jill is a contributing author in The Business Mom Guide Book and I’ll Be Home for Christmas and co-author of the upcoming book, Home Based Blessings. Jill has articles published across the web on sites like DrLaura.com and ClubMom.com. Jill and her husband, Allen of CWAHD.com reside in Nebraska with their two children.

Filed Under: Home Business & Telecommuting Tagged With: , , , ,

Sell Telecommuting to your Manager

May 19, 2008 By

If you’ve decided that the long commute to work is no longer for you but you’re not sure how you’re going to pay your bills without your job, don’t despair. There’s a chance you can keep your job and work from home as well. The solution is telecommuting and it is a choice that many companies are accepting as a way to keep employees, improve business, and support “green living” by helping to cut down on the number of long distance commuters whose cars affect our air quality.

Your first and most important challenge will be to identify whether or not your job can be done from home. Thanks to technology many jobs that involve the handling of sensitive or confidential data can now be conducted safely outside company walls without concern or worry that the data will be compromised. Many firms allow data entry operators, customer service representatives, claims adjudicators and others to handle confidential information about clients from their home computers because the appropriate security measures are part of the information technology system.

If you have a job that you can complete effectively outside of the physical walls of your company office, then you really can consider telecommuting. Your most important challenge will be to explain and “demonstrate” to your employer how you will be able to complete your job while meeting or exceeding current performance expectations.

You’ll want to prepare a proposal that illustrates the advantages of your telecommuting position. I’d suggest you set up a matrix that lists each task associated with your job showing clearly how that task is done now, how it will be done from your home office, and the advantage for the company in having you work from home.

To illustrate what I mean, let’s say you’re a marketing specialist and one of your jobs is to develop sponsorship programs for company events. One of your tasks will be to secure sponsors. You’ll want to indicate how currently you fulfill that task in the office through prospect list development, letters and follow up calls. The tasks you do at home from your home office will likely be the same; however, the advantages from working at home might be the selling point for your boss. You’ll want to highlight on your matrix that the advantage of working at home is that you will not have the office interruptions you currently have. This will translate into more productive work time and ultimately a more successful sponsorship recruitment program.

It will be up to you if you want to quantify your proposal by estimating increases in productivity or business outcomes as part of the “work at home advantages” you want to demonstrate for your employer. I recommend it if at all possible because actual improved measurable outcomes is likely how your manager will have to sell your telecommuting proposal to the owner or upper management in your company.

It’s within your power to achieve your telecommuting dream. Think about what you do at work and how you can improve your outcome by working at home. Communicate that effectively to your boss using a visually appealing matrix and you might be one step closer to your dream.

Article by: Sharon McMillan is a former telecommuter and current writer and advocate for the healthy “new urbanist” lifestyle. She’s a suburban mom of two who has developed a career around marketing and promoting healthy productive communities for families and businesses. If you have comments or questions please visit New Urban Mom or contact Sharon directly at sharon@newurbanmom.com .

Filed Under: Home Business & Telecommuting Tagged With: ,

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