Get Divorced ... So You Can Telecommute? | News & Opinion | PCMag.com

Get Divorced ... So You Can Telecommute? | News & Opinion | PCMag.com

The survey of 2,630 U.S. adults ages 18 and older, conducted by Harris Interactive and sponsored by TeamViewer — a company that makes online meeting software — found that 5 percent of respondents would get divorceed in order to work from home. The findings were "fairly consistent" across age groups and genders, but not across regions, according to the survey.

How to Simplify Your Job Search

The internet, a great resume, and strong interviewing skills are crucial to finding a job in today’s market and can make the job search process much easier.

The internet provides numerous, credible job sites that can save time and energy when looking for a job. Job seekers no longer need to drive across the state or country in order to apply for a desired job opening. Internet job search sites allow registered users to: search for jobs by field, geographical location, and education level; upload their resume for public viewing so that potential employers can contact them; and access many other useful tools that can ease the stress that often comes with trying to find a job.

One top job site is the well-known, Monster.com, which allows users to post up to five resumes to their job profile. Account users can then easily see how many employers have viewed their resumes, receive e-mail alerts when their resume has been viewed, and even receive e-mail or phone calls (depending on the user’s preferred method of contact) regarding a job opening. Monster makes it easy to search for jobs by job title, skills or keywords, and geographical location, along with other advanced features to narrow down search results.

Similar legitimate job search sites include Careerbuilder, Indeed, and even social networking sites such as Facebook or MySpace, which feature their own pages dedicated to jobs. LinkedIn is a social networking site designed specifically for career networking and is another resourceful site. Glassdoor is a great site for finding industry or company specific information including; company reviews from current employees, salary information by position, and potential interview questions.

Some people still prefer going directly to an employer to fill out a physical application, and some companies do this, but many will refer job seekers to their website where the application goes into a pool that is often viewed by their corporate human resources personnel. To save time and speed the process along, it is often best to visit an employer’s website from the beginning. A follow-up phone call can sometimes be a good thing, but many employers frown upon this, as they will often say that they will contact people if they are interested. They often do not have time to speak with every applicant, especially when there are hundreds, even thousands to sort through.

A strong resume is also essential to landing most jobs these days. The internet offers many resume writing tips and even provides services that will write them, although often for a price. A resume, which is usually presented at the time of an interview, ideally should be no longer than one page in length. It provides an employer with a concise look at a potential employee’s work history, educational background, and skill set. Basically, it summarizes what someone can offer that employer and and provides a foundation for them to ask any questions they may have during the interview. It’s beneficial to know the resume in and out and to be prepared to elaborate on any positions held, job responsibilities, or to explain any gaps in employment. It is best to be straightforward and honest on both the resume and during the interview, as most employers conduct background checks and contact references to verify information.

The resume and the interview are the time to shine and present oneself in the best possible light; it’s the time to brag a little, to sell oneself. It’s important to be well-prepared for the interview and to make the best first impression. Aside from being well-groomed, appropriately dressed, and to arrive 10-15 minutes early, it helps to set aside time doing some homework prior to the interview. The internet is a great tool to research the employer, including their mission and values, what products or services they offer, and in general, to be able to display company knowledge and a genuine interest in becoming a member of their team.

The internet is also a great place to find information on possible interview questions and even the best answers! Being able to anticipate what the interviewer will ask and having a well-thought out, succinct response will both ease any nerves, and provide an advantage during a one-on-one, panel, or phone interview. Confidence and a great smile are icing on the cake.

In today’s economy, it is ever more important to have an edge when it comes to conducting a job search. The internet is an essential tool to have in the arsenal and provides immeasurable information to give anyone an advantage in the job hunt.

Given the Choice, People Choose Telecommuting Over Social Media, Showers and Spouses | LiveScience

People will do a lot to be able to work from home. Just ask the 12 percent of people who said they would forgo daily showers or the 5 percent of people who said they would divorce their spouse in order to telecommute.

Given the Choice, People Choose Telecommuting Over Social Media, Showers and Spouses | LiveScience

How to Ask to Work From Home - TheStreet

How to Ask to Work From Home - TheStreet

Forget the Office: Let Employees Work from Home - BusinessWeek

Forget the Office: Let Employees Work from Home - BusinessWeek

Home-based Businesses, Encouraged To Celebrate International Work at Home Person Week

Home-based Businesses, Encouraged To Celebrate International Work at Home Person Week

Courtney Cachet: How To Work From Home And Be Productive, Happy and Fabulous!

Courtney Cachet: How To Work From Home And Be Productive, Happy and Fabulous!

When I was growing up, I don't remember people having home offices. I do remember the crazy longoffice hours people worked back then. Fast forward 15 years and that's just not how the world works anymore. Even the most successful people rarely work office hours like that. Not because they're not working just as hard, but because everyone is working everywhere. Between laptops and smart phones, it's all covered. Most people who have any additional square footage to spare are using it towards a home office. You save money, you have healthier snacks (usually) and can have your dog snuggling at your feet. Awesome! Throw in a little Facebook, Twitter and Net-A-Porter and we are on all the time! We use less secretaries, more Wi-Fi. Less face to face meetings, more Skype. Less lunches, more conference video chats. It is how we live now. This is indeed the new normal.

So You Want To Telecommute? Here's How To Convince Your Boss - Forbes

So You Want To Telecommute? Here's How To Convince Your Boss - Forbes

Thinking about telecommuting but not sure how to discuss the topic with your boss? A reader recently contacted me and asked for advice. Here is our discussion with suggestions on how to handle the topic with your manager.

Avoid work-at-home scams - Special Sections - ReviewJournal.com

Avoid work-at-home scams - Special Sections - ReviewJournal.com

BBB warns about " Work at Home" opportunities | CJOnline.com

BBB warns about " Work at Home" opportunities | CJOnline.com

How to make a work-at-home business succeed - MarketWatch

How to make a work-at-home business succeed - MarketWatch

This small business owner runs a successful business at home. She confirms you do not have to be in an office to get work done and be efficient.

creative-telecommuting-can-add-to-satisfaction-at-work – USATODAY.com

creative-telecommuting-can-add-to-satisfaction-at-work – USATODAY.com

This telecommuter was able to work at home even though he lived in another country. He began telecommuting once a week at his current job which convinced his employers it would work. I recommend any person interested in working at home start slow to make sure it will work and then transcend to full telecommuting.

Telecommuting Benefits

Telecommuting refers to working from home or a location of one’s choice using latest technology tools like mobile, phone and internet. This is a method highly suitable for home office location, virtual teams and jobs that can be done without any physical co-location. This is highly preferred for people with constraints on travel due to location proximity, costs, and personal situation like health, managing family, and kids. This approach provides flexibility to employees and small business owners to perform business activity without coming to office physically. The workers who use this facility are called telecommuters, no mad commuters or web commuters.

The telecommuting is to set to increase 33% for technology jobs and 65% for public sector jobs. Occasional telecommuters accounted to 17.8 million.

How it works?

This varies across companies and industries. This is more prominent in technology and communications industries where IT systems and technology can enable people to work remotely without any physical presence. Also it is a policy within the organization to allow or disallow telecommuting. This requires extensive trust on people and managing them with clear goals and measurements. Many organizations find it challenging to implement especially larger groups which require constant interactions over face to face. The organizations which encourage telecommuting are more open and flexible in nature. Their policies are usually employee centric and create a sense of ownership by offering flexibility on telecommuting. There is no fixed mechanism of defining a telecommuting policy as it has varied adoption across industries.

It operates on the following ways:

1. Clearly defining goals and measurements among manager and employee.
2. Identify and carve out work that reduces dependency of physical access among employees, like standalone contribution.
3. Develop trust and virtual team work among team members to operate with each other in a seamless fashion.
4. Constant feedback and discussion with the virtual team member on measurements of the objectives.
5. Creative team interaction approach (like tele presence, video conference) to make them feel like to be part of the team.

Key advantages:

1. Offers flexibility to employees to choose where they need to work from and deliver the business results.
2. Drives employee satisfaction on the needed hour like managing family, kids, disabilities and commuting long distances every day.
3. Instills ownership and motivation through virtual team working model.
4. Saves physical facility cost per employee for the organization. The savings are up to $20,000 per year per employee.
5. Reduces attrition and staff turnover rate due to re-location reasons.
6. Saves environment by lesser traffic, energy saving at work and green house emissions
7. Potential saving of $650 billion overall if 40% of compatible jobs adopt to telecommuting approach
8. This is proven to be one of the best models for operating virtual teams across geographies.
9. Highly suited for home based businesses like network and multi level marketing methods.

In summary, telecommuting is one of the best ways of working in a virtual team to accomplish business objectives. It is considered as a modern way of working among knowledge workers. The adoption rates vary between organization and industries. It requires maturity and understanding from employee and manager to work in a manner which drives results.

Better Business: New protections for people seeking to work from home » The Commercial Appeal

Better Business: New protections for people seeking to work from home » The Commercial Appeal

No company can guarantee any person a job or success if they are not the hiring company. And if they are hiring you, the employer will never ask you to pay anything upfront. Running a business is a lot of hard work to be successful you will need to put in a lot time, money and sweat.

Creative telecommuting can add to worker satisfaction | The Salt Lake Tribune

Creative telecommuting can add to worker satisfaction | The Salt Lake Tribune

Telecommuting can be very good for both the employers and workers. Not only can telecommuting save money and time, it can help workers be more productive and less stress.