Locating a Telecommuting Opportunity... As easy as shooting a watermelon out your nose!
I can say that getting a solid telecommuting opportunity is notan easy task. They're out there, but locating them can beextremely difficult and time-consuming. Even with all thee-books, reports, and telecommuting packages you've probablypurchased, it just doesn't happen overnight.--- What can I do? ---The best way to break into a telecommuting situation is tolocate an office job that can be performed anywhere. This willhelp you develop a reputation as a self-motivated, reliab...
...le,professional worker. Information-based jobs with a minimumamount of required face-time are good prospects. Also, look forjobs that are physically portable---that is, whatever thetelecommuter needs to do the job can be accessed over a phoneline.A few of the job categories best suited for telecommutinginclude: Advertising & Marketing, Architectural and ComputerAided Design, Artists and Writers, Billing and Collections,Credit and Collections, Customer Service, Clerical andSecretarial, Data Entry and Transcription, Engineering,Photography, Programmers and Database Administrators, Sales,Telemarketers, Translators, and Web Designers and Developers.--- How do I smell? ---Whether you're face-to-face or over the Internet, your coverletter and resume are essential. In fact, they're your onlytools when locating and applying for jobs on the Internet!The cover letter can make or break the possibility of getting ajob. It gives the employer an idea of what you can do for themand what you're looking for in an opportunity. Remember, whatyou want and what they offer have to match or you're out. Yourobjective is to find a job you want to do, not something youfeel that you have to do.Once they get past the cover letter, they will usually read theresume. Employers want to hire people who can do the job. Makesure that your resume is complete and reflects your abilities tohandle the position. To enhance the presentation, tailor theresume to the opportunity to show an employer what you know andwhat you can do. After all, you're going to get a job---it'sjust a question of which one.--- Locating Opportunities ---Locating a job is easy. Just go to one of the thousands of sitesthat are out on the Web and start looking. It should only takeyou about three or four years to search them all. I'm sure youhave that much time!The best way I've found to search for a job is to follow thesesteps:- Make a task list that outlines your daily job-searchactivities.- Find several well-known job sites and post your resume. Searchthe lists of jobs and prepare the site's job agents to help youlocate various jobs.- Keep track of all employers you contact, the date of yourcontacts, people you talk/e-mail with, and special notes aboutthe contacts.- Apply to multiple companies on a given job site to save time.- Always have a resume and cover letter ready to upload whenevera lead comes your way.- Follow-up leads immediately. If you find out about a job latein the day, contact them right away.- Tell everyone you know that you are looking for job. Stay intouch with friends and contacts. Follow-up new leads immediately.* Search SitesKeep in mind that many job sites replicate data from othersites. Some sites even post the contents of the USENET jobgroups on their sites as potential job opportunities. This leadsto the point that out of 1,000 jobs that you search on the Web,more than half are duplicates copied from one or more othersites. The easiest way to search for a telecommuting opportunityis to stick to a few of the primary search resources. Theprimary sites that I've found beneficial are shown in thefollowing list:- work --- http://www.ework.com/ - eLance ---http://www.elance.com/ - FreetimeJobs ---http://www.freetimejobs.com - Workaholics4Hire ---http://www.workaholics4hire.com - Guru.com ---http://www.guru.com - IC Planet --- http://www.icplanet.com -Jobvertise --- http://www.jobvertise.com - Headhunter ---http://www.headhunter.net - Monster --- http://www.monster.com -Net-Temps --- http://www.net-temps.com - Brassring ---http://www.brassring.com - JobOptions ---http://www.joboptions.comSome of the more relevant keywords I've successfully used in mysearches include: freelance, telecommute, telecommuting,telecommuter, , work at home, work from home,telework, off-site, offsite. The keyword includesany keyword that would apply to your field or any field of yourchoice.* Other ResourcesAn additional resource is the USENET newsgroups. USENET provides60,000 or more newsgroups that contain thousands of postings.Several groups contain important job postings that canpotentially lead to a telecommuting contract opportunity. One ofthe primary sites that provides a searchable front-end to USENETis Google (http://www.google.com).Other useful tools for Web and newsgroup searches are theWebFerret and NewsFerret by FerretSoft(http://www.ferretsoft.com). Another great tool is Copernic byCopernic Technologies (http://www.copernic.com/). Theseapplications provide user-friendly front-ends and search severalservers simultaneously from your local machine. I use thesetools all the time for job searches as well as research for mywriting.--- Make Yourself Known ---Many employers search for potential employees on the various jobboards around the Web. It's essential that you have anup-to-date resume posted at these sites so you can be found.Some of the sites for successfully acquiring jobs through resumepostings include:- eWork --- http://www.ework.com - Dice --- http://www.dice.com- Guru.com --- http://www.guru.com - Headhunter.net ---http://www.headhunter.net - Net-Temps ---http://www.net-temps.com - Monster.com --- http://www.monster.comIt's also a good idea to create a Web site that shows yourportfolio of work. Provide a couple of resumes targeting yourdesired jobs, a few samples of your work, and an explanation ofthe type of job that interests you. Promote the site and placethe URL in your e-mail signature so that prospective employerscan locate the site and get a glimpse of your abilities.--- The Interview ---One thing I always do before an interview is to learn as much aspossible about the company from their Web site. I learn aboutwhat they do and find out about their key players. If thecompany doesn't have a Web site, they're probably not going tosupport telecommuting.Another way to find out information is to do a Web search onvarious keywords associated with the company. For instance,searching for their name, their product, or their industrytopics will usually provide quite a bit of background.Once you learn about them, prepare a small statement thatsummarizes the company. Also, prepare some questions related toyour target job. When you're asked if you have questions, stateyour summary to the interviewer and flow into your firstquestion. This let the interviewer know that you took the timeto do research. Make sure that you ask for examples of whatyou'll be doing as well as information on benefits fortelecommuters.--- Landing a Job ---Many potential employers will tell you that you'll have to spendtime in their office. For the most part, that's not entirely thecase. Realize that many companies are still in the mode ofhaving people in-house.You don't have to accept every job that comes your way. For one,if you take on too many things, you'll never be able to finishanything to the proper level of care required. Keep movingforward in your direction and your search. Just remember, you'relooking for a telecommuting opportunity!
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