Finding a Work at Home Job is Not a Lonely Journey

Whoever said finding a work at home job was not easy was absolutely right. It doesn't matter if the economy is failing or not. Plainly telecommuting jobs don't fall from the sky.

It can be a daunting task to find the work at home job on your own. Here are three ways to seek help and make your journey into working at home a success and as stress-free as possible.

1. Seek the help of others either through networking online or offline. The more people who know you're looking for a work at home job, the better. If they know, they may also pass the information along to someone else who may be looking for someone.

If you're networking offline always have resumes handy.

2. Use other online outlets like work at home forums. Community forums are one of the best tools to use to find a work at home job. You're reaching out to a lot of people in different parts of the world and you're increasing your chances that much more.

The important part of using forums is providing as much information about you as possible without giving out personal information. In order to get the most and use your time wisely is be forthcoming about what you're looking for, what skills and experience you have, what you don't want to do, but are open to. Even though you may have certain needs to be met, keep in mind you don't want to limit yourself and become inflexible.

Going back to the forum is important as well. I have seen a job offered made to a job seeker on the forum, but unfortunately she never came back to see if anyone responded to her post. If you don't have the time to keep checking, you can subscribe to your own topic to receive notification via email when someone replies.

3. Use a recruiting agency. Yes it requires payment and some agencies may offer these services:
Help you create a proper work at home resume
Offer educational resources
Offer work at home resources such as articles, resume and interviewing tips
Match your skills and experience with a virtual company
Find researched home based, freelance and telecommuting job leads
Offer a work at home discussion forum and more

Even though you will work remotely from home, it doesn't mean you have to be alone when you're seeking a work at home job. Use these three suggestions today to find your telecommuting job.

S McIntyre owns WorkAtHomeSpace, a free work at home resource focusing on telecommuting companies, daily telecommute job leads, articles, business resources and other work at home related topics. Join our http://www.workathomespace.com/forum for work at home discussions, networking and more.

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Telecommuting - The Journey, Part 2 of 3

Today, more than ten million employees and their employers have already learned how easy and effective it is to avoid that long trip into the office. People have become more comfortable with the tools and techniques of 'working at a distance" and telecommuting has become cost-effective and viable enough to make sense to both large and small organizations. Is this mutually beneficial for you and your company?

Understanding your 'virtual office' skills and how telecommuting will work for your company will prepare you for presenting a detailed proposal to your boss. Any person may be able to perform their job duties at home but is this right for you? According to The Virtual Office Survival Handbook by Alice Bredin, you need to understand your working habits. You should consider your ability to: resist distractions, manage your time, set limits on work, and deal with challenges. You also need to determine if you are internally or externally motivated and if you are an over- or underachiever. Know what your virtual office skills are before you try to sell the concept to your employer.

Did You Know?

The number of full-time telecommuters in 2006 was 12 million, up from about 8.8 million in 2003.

While it may seem that telecommuters trade off career progress for the opportunity to telecommute, the experienced telecommuters and their managers show just the opposite to be true. Telecommuters in well-managed programs have a chance to act independently, make more decisions, solve more problems, do better planning - and otherwise demonstrate the kinds of skills and traits sought when looking for promotable employees. If you are this type of an employee consider this information and use it to strengthen your proposal.

-Telecommuting is not appropriate for every job. Analyze your job activity, not the job title, to determine suitability to telecommuting. Is there a portion of your job that can be done, as well or better, away from the office?

-Details that need to be discussed and agreed upon include ownership of remote equipment, compensation and insurance for work-provided equipment including all office supplies, compensation for worker expenses (additional telephone, lines, long-distance charges, etc.) criteria or performance standards for workers' evaluations, frequency and travel reimbursement of an occasional required office attendance, etc. A telecommuter may perform all or almost all of his/her work remotely, or may work remotely only a certain number of days per week or per month, attending his/her employer's office on the other days for meetings, customer/client contacts, or just to "keep in touch".

-Staying in touch with co-workers is essential to continuing the 'team' affect needed to keep a well-oiled department running. Suggest creating a chat area or listserve where workers can start up discussion or pose questions of a professional or personal nature. Start an on-line 'Wall of Fame" to display awards, trophies, certificates, or other professional or personal successes or to show off individual or team achievement. Peer pats allow co-workers to recognize another co-worker for successes, a job well done, or an award her/she won. Post personal messages on a certain day every week. This encourages team members to communicate with each other on a personal basis including favorite restaurants, hobbies, travel arrangements, a child's accomplishment, etc. This type of message board does not need to create any type of discussions. This is a way of staying in touch on a personal level.

If your company already allows flexible work options like telecommuting, it may be relatively easy to convince you supervisor to let you telecommute. The main issue will involve proving your reliability and the appropriateness of your job for distance working. However, if you're hoping to be the first telecommuter in your organization you face a larger task. First you have to convince the company telecommuting makes business sense. Once you know that your work habits and telecommuting is a match you need to translate that knowledge into a proposal that will convince your boss. Here are some methods that work: Drop occasional tidbits about telecommuting and how you would like to start doing some of your work from home. Collect articles about telecommuting to become educated on the highlights and drawbacks of this working relationship - become an in-house expert.

Practice makes perfect. Practice your oral presentation until you know what you're going to say and what you want to emphasize. A well researched and thought out presentation will provide a professional image for you and a better chance that your telecommuting work option will be approved.

Toni Grundstrom's expertise is in Marketing. Working for a professional association, government entity, and small business as a Telecommuter provides understanding of the concept and the issues surrounding this working option. She advocates for, informs and educates people who telecommute, work at home, or own a home based business. They are Professionals Working At Home

This article may be distributed freely on your website, as long as this entire article, including links and this resource box are unchanged.

Copyright 2008 Toni Grundstrom All Rights Reserved.
Small Business Dreams To Reality

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