Flex your time, find a telework friendly employer

Seek to achieve a healthier work / life balance.

Congratulations! If you are reading this article you may have finally realized that you want and desperately need more flexibility in your life and your career. Or you have come to the realization that your current employer will never entertain the thought of you telecommuting and working from home. Finding a job that will give you great freedom and the flexibility to telecommute can be a challenge in itself because these jobs are few and far between. However don’t despair and don't be discouraged. It is hard and it is not impossible  but you will have to be very strategic with your search to find these kind of employment opportunities. These are some of the strategies that you will need to use in your efforts to find a telecommuting job:

1. The first thing you should do is make a list of all of the telework-friendly employers within your specific field of interest. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Best Workplaces for Commuters database is a good place to start. This database recognizes more than 200 employers that have outstanding telecommuting programs.

2. Go to the companies job or employment website and review their recruiting or benefits section. You can also check out their corporate culture page to find out what their work / life balance philosophy is and if their companies culture really embraces work / life policies.

3. Do a job search and put in some key words like: remote, telecommute, virtual, flexible etc. to see if any positions will come up. This will be a good way to find out if they allow their employees to telecommute. Note: If a job location says U.S. only and does not list a city it is a good chance that the job is probably a telecommuting position.

4. You can also use the same key words above on some of the popular job sites like Careerbuilder.com, Monster.com, Indeed.com or Yahoojobs.com.

5. Lastly and most importantly let everyone know that you are looking for a telework-friendly employer, especially friends, family and business contacts so they will know that this is the type of working arrangement that you are interested in.

The reality is that you may have to be persistent in finding a employer that will allow you to telecommute. But before you bombard a prospective employer in an interview with conversations about telecommuting remember that  it is going to take a little time for your new employer to trust you and gain confidence in your work ethics. Therefore you will need to hit the ground running and demonstrate that you are a committed and dedicated worker. However you want to make sure that your new employer is very clear about your furture expectations and that your ultimate goal is to transition into a more non-traditional working arrangement (if you can try to get it in writing). You might also want to wait at least until you have received your first performance review to substantiate your claim and cement your case for becoming a telecommuter. Again finding a job as a telecommuter is no easy walk in the park but with a little patience and careful planning you can land the perfect opportunity as a telecommuter with a telework friendly employer.

Questions or comments? I would love to hear from you. Send me an email at nikki.trotter@emploiinc.com.