Q & A: How Do I Telecommute?
Q: I hate commuting to work. I commute 45 minutes in the morning and, because of traffic, about an hour back home at night. I'd like to telecommute so I wouldn't have to drive so much. But the question is, how do I start telecommuting?
A: Working from home is a good idea - particularly if you spend an hour and a half to two hours commuting per week. At your current level of commuting per day, you're spending 8 hours and 45 minutes per week just going to and coming home. That's like tacking on an entire day per week to your work life! And, if we extrapolate that for an entire year, you're commuting more than 437 hours - which is like adding two and a half months to your work life per year!
Telecommuting is, therefore, a great idea.
Most people would love to telecommute so they can work in their bunny slippers and not deal with extended round trip drives. Unfortunately, most who look into telecommuting find work-at-home scams and assume telecommuting is an urban legend. But telecommuting is not an urban legend - quite the opposite, actually. Here are a few ways to find telecommuting jobs:
Current employer. If you're currently employed, then your best shot at telecommuting is to pitch the idea to your current management team (see how to sell employers on telecommuting in a post later today). Before you pitch it to them, however, be sure you know what can realistically be done over the transom and what can't. That takes planning (which we'll cover in another post later today).
Adjacent towns. Most job seekers look only in the town in which they live. But expanding your search to include two adjacent cities, you will, in effect, triple the number of companies to which you can apply. The good thing about looking for telecommuting jobs locally is that you can interview - and pitch the telecommuting angle - in person.
Telecommuting sites. There are a number of very good sites to find telecommuting jobs, though many of them are for independent contractors. Which means, of course, that you would be self-employed and would need to take care of your own health and retirement benefits. Some of the better sites include tjobs.com, elance.com and guru.com.
Non-specific search. You can look for telecommuting positions in your field with a non-specific search through Indeed
Jobs. Simply plug fill in the "what" box and leave the "where" box empty. This will bring up TONS of listings. You can then apply to the jobs that best suit your skills.
IN THE CARAVAN: Find a telecommuting job by starting with your current employer, look to nearby cities, check out telecommuting sites and running non-specific searches on Indeed Jobs.
LATER TODAY: Telecommuting: How to Plan a Telecommuting Job and Telecommuting: How to Pitch Telecommuting to Employers
NEXT FRIDAY: Demotions
Check out last Friday's posts:
Q & A: Teaching Alternatives
Q & A: Alternatives to Teaching: Textbook Editor
Q & A: Teaching Alternatives: Curriculum Developer
Want more Q & A? Check out these posts and The Lion's Pride section of WildJobSafari.com!
By the way - if you have a job search or on-the-job question, feel free to email it to editor at wildjobsafari dot com
A: Working from home is a good idea - particularly if you spend an hour and a half to two hours commuting per week. At your current level of commuting per day, you're spending 8 hours and 45 minutes per week just going to and coming home. That's like tacking on an entire day per week to your work life! And, if we extrapolate that for an entire year, you're commuting more than 437 hours - which is like adding two and a half months to your work life per year!
Telecommuting is, therefore, a great idea.
Most people would love to telecommute so they can work in their bunny slippers and not deal with extended round trip drives. Unfortunately, most who look into telecommuting find work-at-home scams and assume telecommuting is an urban legend. But telecommuting is not an urban legend - quite the opposite, actually. Here are a few ways to find telecommuting jobs:
Current employer. If you're currently employed, then your best shot at telecommuting is to pitch the idea to your current management team (see how to sell employers on telecommuting in a post later today). Before you pitch it to them, however, be sure you know what can realistically be done over the transom and what can't. That takes planning (which we'll cover in another post later today). Adjacent towns. Most job seekers look only in the town in which they live. But expanding your search to include two adjacent cities, you will, in effect, triple the number of companies to which you can apply. The good thing about looking for telecommuting jobs locally is that you can interview - and pitch the telecommuting angle - in person.Telecommuting sites. There are a number of very good sites to find telecommuting jobs, though many of them are for independent contractors. Which means, of course, that you would be self-employed and would need to take care of your own health and retirement benefits. Some of the better sites include tjobs.com, elance.com and guru.com.Non-specific search. You can look for telecommuting positions in your field with a non-specific search through Indeed
Jobs. Simply plug fill in the "what" box and leave the "where" box empty. This will bring up TONS of listings. You can then apply to the jobs that best suit your skills.IN THE CARAVAN: Find a telecommuting job by starting with your current employer, look to nearby cities, check out telecommuting sites and running non-specific searches on Indeed Jobs.
LATER TODAY: Telecommuting: How to Plan a Telecommuting Job and Telecommuting: How to Pitch Telecommuting to Employers
NEXT FRIDAY: Demotions
Check out last Friday's posts:
Q & A: Teaching Alternatives
Q & A: Alternatives to Teaching: Textbook Editor
Q & A: Teaching Alternatives: Curriculum Developer
Want more Q & A? Check out these posts and The Lion's Pride section of WildJobSafari.com!
Sponsored by Indeed Jobs
By the way - if you have a job search or on-the-job question, feel free to email it to editor at wildjobsafari dot com
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two and a half months per year!!! That is completely incredible. What to do with all the extra time? And you didn't even list incredible commute times. I would say for most people getting to work in under a half hour is impossible-so they are wasting upwards of 2 months commuting.
I am currently 'working from home', however i am a student, so I walk about 20 min. to campus each day-eh, at least its exercise. One of my clients, ooVoo, is actually really useful for telecommuters though. If you haven't heard of it, it is a free video-messaging service that can accommodate up to 6 people in a conference at one time. It is SUPER easy to use, and has excellent quality, no matter how many users because it is server based.
Good luck in finding ways to be a telecommutor and have fun on all the vacations you will have time for!!
http://www.oovoo.com
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