Do you have what it takes to work from home? If you haven't
yet experienced telecommuting, the thought of it may sound
to good to be true. Getting up, putting on your favorite pair
of slippers, fixing yourself a cup of coffee and sitting down
in your favorite chair may sound tempting at first. But lookout!
You may be in for a rude awakening.
Below we are going to discuss some personality traits that
are suitable for telecommuting and some that aren't quite
as desirable for the existing and wannabe telecommuter.
1. Are you a self-motivated, self-starting worker?
When you're at home working, you're not going to have a manager
or boss checking in on you every five minutes to make sure
you are performing your job as required.
When I first started telecommuting this was a difficult obstacle
for me. My personality had been conditioned through many years
of playing sports. Since I was a little whipper snapper and
up until I finished college, I was always under the guidance
of a coach of some sort. I had people constantly pushing me
to excel. When I worked from home, I did not.
I'm better with that now. But if you happen to put projects
off to the last minute because no one is watching, telecommuting
may not be what you are looking for.
On a positive note, however, experience has shown that most
telecommuters actually get more work done at home than in
the office. There are many distractions in an office setting.
And employers are finding out telecommuters can be more productive
workers for their companies.
2. How are your communication skills, both verbal
but more importantly, written?
As a telecommuter, you will find that you'll be communicating
more with the written word rather than verbally. Writing emails,
progress reports, and text chatting are all important skills
needed for telecommuting today. However, in the near future,
video conferencing will begin to replace these modes of communication
as internet connections seem to gain speed by leaps and bounds
every year.
But for now, good writing will continue to be a much needed
skill in the telecommuting world.
3. Are you the type to form strong relationships
with fellow workers?
Telecommuting will take you away from the community found
in most office settings. Will you be able to handle this?
Or is it necessary to have your comrades accessible throughout
the day? Working from home can get very lonely. You'll be
spending large blocks of time alone. But with a lot less interruptions.
I myself, didn't particularly like this aspect of telecommuting.
But this can be overcome by meeting up with the guys or girls
after work at your favorite restaurant or on the weekends
at the movies, etc.
Just be aware that constant verbal and visual communication
with co-workers won't exist while working from home. And quite
frankly, sometimes this can be a good thing. For you and the
employer.
If you do decide to telecommute, be sure you have a good
core of friends you can confide in outside of your work. Back
in the 50s, most people became good friends with their neighbors
and other circles within the community. But today, where are
most friendly relationships developed? Most likely at your
place of employment.
4. How organized are you?
Yes or No? If your answer is no, don't fret. Engineers are
probably the worst at organization. Both in the office and
at home. And I am great testimony to that. We have papers
scattered everywhere. But don't you dare try to rearrange
it, because we know exactly where everything is.
But on a more serious note, being organized can help you
be more productive at your job. And productivity is key in
telecommuting. You will have to prove to your boss again and
again that your working from home is truly beneficial to the
company.
If you happen to be an advocate of chaos, like myself, there
is still hope for you. But it's always nice to keep your workspace
tidy, because you never know when you'll need that critical
piece of information that fell behind your desk.
And finally the biggie...
5. Does technology frighten you?
If the thought of the internet, email, video conferencing,
and computers in general causes you to break out in a cold
sweat, you may want to think twice before you break away from
that workplace zoo.
Whether we like it or not, technology is changing the workplace
quickly. And especially for the blooming telecommuter. If
you don't have basic knowledge of computer telecommunications
this will be a skill you'll need to acquire before pursuing
a work from home job. These skills aren't optional, they are
requirements for almost all companies looking for telecommuting
professionals.
So are you fit to be a telecommuter? Don't worry if you feel
you aren't. These skills can all be learned and telecommuting
personality flaws compensated for in other ways. And some
of the downsides, or at least what seem to be downsides, of
telecommuting can easily be justified with what this work
arrangement can provide you: More time with your family, time
for yourself, once missed little league practices and games,
more work accomplished, and much more. The positives of telecommuting
far outweigh the negatives.
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