CONTRIBUTION: How to Find a Work-from-home Position

According to a study conducted by the National Alliance for Caregiving, there are more and more American today who are acting as informal caregivers to family members who are sick, elderly or disabled. At the same time as caring for a family member, these informal caregivers also hold full time and mostly in-office jobs in order to provide for their family. If you are one of these informal caregivers, a work from home position wherein you will have the luxury of time to care for a family member, build on your career and have a little time for yourself to relax, will be something very welcome. The question is: Is it possible to find a work from home position?

There are a lot of ways to find a work from home position. Your first option should be to reach out to your company human resources department. Second, go to the traditional route of going to a job site. Next, go to social media sites and look at the advertisement portion. Finally, consider starting with part-time or freelance work or positions.

Once you made the decision to look for a work from home position, you should first approach your company human resource department for such an option within the company. Most companies nowadays are aware of the demands to an informal caregiver and have programs in place to help them. FlexJobs has identified companies that offer such an opportunity and some of these companies are: IBM, SAP, Xerox, Dell, Apple, UnitedHealth Group, Aetna, ADP and Red Hat. There are also other small and mid-sized companies that provide work-from-home opportunities to its employees and your current company may be one of those.

If your current company does not offer a work-from-home option, start by going the traditional route and sign up with online job sites. FlexJobs is one that can help you find a work from home position and there are also others like Monster, Indeed, CareerBuilder, etc. Decide on what role you think you will be most effective in while working from home and apply to companies that offer that role. Be ready for a long wait, but if it means that you will get that job you want and spend time with your family, why not?

While waiting for a company to reply to your job application, consider project-based employment or freelance work. There are some companies, like flowers.com, that offer project-based customer service position during peak seasons like Valentines, Mother’s Day or Christmas. You may also consider freelancing at sites like oDesk, Elance, Guru.com, iFreelance, Peopleperhour, Marchlist.com or Hire Writers. Some of the projects you will encounter at these sites give reasonable salaries or rates per project. One good thing about freelance work is that you can choose the projects that you want to be involved in depending on your strengths. After reading a job description and you think that the task will not build on your skills, you may move forward to a different project.

Finally, consider social media in your search for the “perfect” work-at-home role. Sites like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn usually have advertisements that list jobs that you may be interested in. Build your profile and network in these sites, so you will attract more of those who have the same careers goals as you do or recruiters who are looking for those with your skills and competencies.

Finding a work-at-home position is indeed very possible. You just need to be patient and careful in your search. When you hear from an employer about your application, make sure to find out as much as you can about the company culture and the role you will be given before making a decision to take the offer. There are a lot of positions out there that can support you as a professional, whatever your reasons are for choosing to work-from-home.