Why Telecommuting Is Not The Answer!

By Author: Robert Watson
Total Articles: 63
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When you imagine you ideal job, what do you see? After dismissing some of the more outrageous ideas, most people imagine a laid back atmosphere, a creative task, and no bosses. While that idea doesn't match up to many traditional jobs, there are a lot of options in the modern workplace which would supply a number of those characteristics. One of the most popular of these options is telecommuting.

Telecommuting is not necessarily a new job, but it is becoming much more common with the fabulous communications technology available today. Because of your computer's high-tech software and the reliability of DSL internet services, many more jobs are being done off-site, where the worker is able to save time and money commuting back and forth to work. The company can save space at their corporate offices, and everyone involved is happy.

Telecommuting jobs may sound great initially, but there is one major problem. It is incredibly difficult to get a legitimate telecommuting job in the traditional sense.

Yes, corporations are beginning to offer telecommuting positions, but because you rarely, if ever, need ...
... to be on-site, these jobs are not only available to you, but they are available to anyone, anywhere in the world. Because labor is cheaper where work is sparse, this means that people living in underpopulated areas, or in third-world countries, are willing to work for very little money. As such, many corporations are sending these jobs overseas and outsourcing their labor.

The vast amount of competition, especially with the global nature of these jobs, means that your resume is not sitting with hundreds of others, like it would be for a traditional job. It is sitting in a pile with thousands, if not tens of thousands of other applicants. The chances of getting picked up for a position with the sheer number of other applicants, is extremely low. In general, it's less that a tenth of a percent.

One thing that goes overlooked in the world of telecommuting, however, is the idea of freelancing. While this will require you to be your own boss, and a bit more self-managed, these positions do not have anywhere near the amount of competition. As such, they typically have a larger paycheck attached.

Freelancing positions are different from regular 9-5 style jobs. These jobs essentially require you to bid on projects. If your bid is accepted by the company, then it is up to you to complete the project according to the terms of the bid. There are hundreds of different kinds of projects available, from high-skill positions like graphics design and computer programming, to jobs anyone can do, like article writing, proofreading, link building, and data entry. Large and small projects are available.

As a professional freelancer, it is simply your job to find projects you would like to work on, and are qualified for, and then bid and complete them. You can do as much or as little work as you'd like in the week, and you can make your own hours as long as you're able to complete the projects in the time you bid for.

These jobs offer a lot of freedom to you as a worker, and can be a very rewarding career option for many stay-at-home parents or people with disabilities. Give a telecommuting freelancing position a try.