I am asked a wide variety of job related questions, but none is more popular than,
“How do I find an employer to hire me to work from home?”
Although the Coronavirus pandemic has certainly made working from home more acceptable to both employers and employees, there is no easy answer to that question.
When you are considering working from home, analyze your home and the opportunities you are considering to be sure you have a good fit.
5 Keys to Work-From-Home Success
But, let me share with you five key points to keep in mind when embarking on the home-based job hunt:
1. Target work that can be easily handled at home.
In general, jobs that can be completed independently, using basic home-based office equipment (personal computer and a telephone) tend to be best suited for telecommuting.
Examples of these jobs include:
- Accounting tasks (e.g., bookkeeping, loan processing, and mortgage processing)
- Clerical duties (e.g., data entry, transcription, or word processing)
- Computer programming
- Desktop publishing
- Customer service
- Internet related tasks (e.g., research, web design, writing copy, etc.)
- Market research/ telemarketing
- Recruiting
- Sales
- Writing, proofreading and copyediting
For more information, read Top Work From Home / Remote Jobs.
2. Be realistic about finding quality work-at-home positions.
As much as I would like to tell you otherwise, the vast majority of professional level work-from-home jobs are assigned to in-house employees who have proven their capabilities over time (and even those tend to be a mix of in-house and home-based assignments).
While there are some legitimate work-from-home jobs open to new hires, notably customer service and sales agents, most advertised openings are for relatively lower-level opportunities. This seems to be changing as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic as more “remote” management jobs are becoming available.
Certain industries tend to employ more telecommuters than others. Companies that have a large need for telephone-based customer service jobs (think online retail, finance, insurance, and software firms) can be good bets for home-based employment.
Other examples of telecommuting-friendly settings include banks that hire home-based mortgage brokers, home inspection companies that hire licensed inspectors, and executive recruiting firms that hire home-based research assistants.
There are also a handful of companies that recruit customer care agents who work out of their homes as contract employees.
For more information, read and How to Work Effectively From Home.
3. Phase into a home-based job.
Because companies tend to give home-based work to employees they know and trust, consider working for a telecommuting friendly company initially as an in-house employee, with the possibility of gaining a full-time telecommuting spot down the road.
This is a question you can carefully ask as part of the interview process. Ask if any current employees work “remotely” or “from home.” If the answer is yes, ask if the job you are interviewing for qualifies and how the process works for this employer.
4. Persist (with caution) in your hunt for work-from-home jobs on the web.
As with any job search, it pays to be persistent when looking for jobs online. Plug in keywords such as “telecommute” or “remote work” into the search filters to narrow your search results.
Focus your efforts on job boards that you trust, but Google the employers to be sure they are legitimate. Don’t forget to look at the openings posted directly on individual company sites.
Always be cautious when responding to posted openings. Remember the adage “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”
Avoid any jobs that require you to purchase lists, equipment for the job, or “inside information,” and do not accept any opportunities to be a package reshipper.
Read How to Avoid 5 Major Types of Online Job Scams and 50 Google Searches to Avoid Layoffs and Bad Employers for more information.
5. If all else fails, go entrepreneurial.
If you find yourself frustrated by the lack of quality work-at-home postings, think about ways to sell your skills and services directly to companies as an independent consultant.
For example, you could market your administrative services as a virtual assistant to companies who want to outsource their data-entry work or you could offer medical transcription services to local physicians.
While choosing to go the entrepreneurial route might take more time and money initially, you will likely enjoy greater profits, flexibility, and control over the long haul.
For more information about starting your own business, read Guide to Freelance, Gig, and Contracting Jobs.
The Bottom Line
With the Coronavirus pandemic, working from home has become much more common, even required for many jobs. Working from home is a good option for many people, but caution is needed. Stay alert to avoid scams. As time passes, opportunities will probably increase.
Are you looking for a remote, work-from-home, or flexible job? Visit our partner site FlexJobs to find verified jobs in many different categories, including online data entry jobs, remote medical billing jobs, work-from-home healthcare jobs and more.
To Learn More About Work From Home:
- Work From Home: Making Life Easier
- Work From Home: Child-Centric Business
- Work From Home: Social Media Consultant
- Work From Home: Caregiving
- Work From Home: Sales Jobs
- Guide to Freelancing/Contracting
- How to Work from Home Effectively
More About Turning a Passion into Income:
- Uncover Your Passion to Discover Your Career
- How to Turn Your Hobby into Income
- How to Turn Your Love of Travel into Income
- How to Turn Love of Pets into Income
About the author…
Nancy Collamer, M.S., is a semi-retirement coach, speaker, and author of Second-Act Careers: 50+ Ways to Profit From Your Passions During Semi-Retirement. You can now download her free workbook called 25 Ways to Help You Identify Your Ideal Second Act on her website at MyLifestyleCareer.com (and you’ll also receive her free bi-monthly newsletter).
More about this author…
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