by Sheila Salar
Telecommuting
Photo by: Victor1558
Last week, we gave you an overview of telecommuting. This time, we’ll give you a more intimate look at it by telling you how it works and what actual telecommuters think about their jobs.
Work Setup
Depending on the requirements of the job, typical telecommuters can work with just a computer, an internet connection, and a mobile phone. Job instructions are usually sent through e-mails and the telecommuter works on them with his or her computer. The resulting product is then sent through an e-mail, a file hosting service provider, or by courier. Important messages that require immediate response are usually sent through a text message.
Telecommuters who perform technical jobs, on the other hand, may be required to install specific programs on their computers to carry out their tasks. These may include image editing programs (Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, CorelDraw), video editing programs (Adobe Premiere, Corel Video Studio), animation software (3D Studio Max, Maya) Computer Assisted Translation tools (SDL Trados) and accounting software (Sage, Quickbooks) among others.
For jobs that require real-time communication such as ESL teaching or virtual assistant jobs, wired internet connections are usually preferred over plug-ins for their reliability even during bad weather.
Payment Schemes
Because of the physical distance between telecommuters and their clients, those who are not yet familiar with telecommuting usually worry about how they’re going to get paid; however, this isn’t really a problem because there are lots of recent innovations that make this possible.
First, there’s bank transfer. If you have an existing bank account, the client can just deposit your paycheck on your account and you can withdraw it from any of your bank’s branches once the check has been cleared.
There’s also wire transfer. Like bank transfer, your client just have to send the money through a company that facilitates this type of service then you can drop by the company’s office to claim your money.
Another option is through online money transfer (PayPal). The client sends the money to your online account then you have the option of withdrawing it through an ATM card or transferring it to your bank account.
If you’ll be working with local clients, there are mobile money transfer services like Smart Money and Globe G-cash that will allow them to send money from their accounts and transfer it to yours through a simple text message. You can then withdraw the money you received from an ATM or through the nearest SMART or GLOBE center.
Telecommuters
Sherwin Chua, a BS Computer Science graduate who resides in Lucena City, has been a telecommuter for almost nine years now. He got his first telecommuting job when he was just fresh out of college and he has since then worked for different employers; some based in the Philippines and some based overseas.
He currently works as a web developer for a client based in the United States, but he also led a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) team composed of fellow telecommuters working from different locations across the world.
“The job was okay. We got paid on time and we got the same benefits that regular employees get. Of course, we also encountered some issues like misunderstandings over instructions or scheduling conflicts due to the differing time zones of the members of the team, but those sorts of things only happen once in a while,” he said.
Cherry Garcia, a Fine Arts graduate from Lucena has also been telecommuting for a year now. Her client is a Makati-based photographer who produces art books and travel albums. She receives the things she needs to layout through courier then she sends the completed project back to her client the same way.
“Convenient,” is what she said when asked to describe her job. ” The schedule is very flexible, so I can earn some extra money while working on my full-time job at the same time. The pay is not enough to support all my monthly needs, but if you just want a job that can give you additional income, it’s worth a try.”
Another telecommuter, Arianne, works as a part-time English teacher to Japanese students. “It’s fun. I get to work with people I won’t normally be able to work with and I can do it from the comfort of my own home. Since the company I work for encourages a conversational approach to teaching, most of the time, it feels like I’m just chatting with friends online instead of teaching. The pay is also a little above the minimum wage, so I’m lucky I was able to find a job like this,” she shared.
“I used to work full-time for the company I’m currently working for. The place I was living then was a bit far from our office, so I would spend two hours every morning traveling to get to work and another two hours in the evening to get home. I would always try to go to Lucena to visit my family during weekends, but that’s another 8-10 hour trip back and forth, so I felt like I was just spending all my free time traveling from one place to another instead of resting or enjoying recreational activities. Telecommuting solved that problem. Now, I receive my assignments through e-mails and my payment through bank transfers, so I rarely have any reason to come all the way to the office these days,” Aya, a telecommuter for five years now, recalls.
Where to find telecommuting jobs
Telecommuting jobs are becoming easier to find these days. The fastest and easiest way to do this is through the use of employment websites such as Jobstreet, JobsDB, and Bestjobs.
Websites that specialize in mediating between freelancers and potential employers like Odesk and Elance are also great places to find telecommuting jobs. All you need to do is sign up for the website, create a profile, and search for jobs that match your interests and qualifications.
Caution
There are thousands of legitimate jobs for telecommuters in the market; however, there are occasional job advertisements that are posted by scammers hoping to make some quick cash at jobseekers’ expense and there are also occasional clients who just use telecommuters’ services then disappear without a trace once they’ve already gotten what they wanted. While incidents like this could not be completely avoided, you can do some precautions to reduce the risk of falling victim to these kinds of traps.
First thing is don’t believe everything you read. If something’s too good to be true, then there’s probably a catch somewhere. Most of the time, this comes in the form of products you need to purchase and download before you can send your job application. If you’re suspicious of a potential client, try to search more information about them using the internet. Chances are, someone has already worked for them in the past and has a thing or two to say about their experience.
You might also want to be careful of online pyramid schemes where they encourage you to invest some money on their business by promising you that you’ll get your money back along with some bonuses by recruiting other people to join their team. While there are some people who do earn from this type of setup, there are also those who do not only end up losing money, but also end up getting tangled in fraudulent activities.
Whether telecommuting will work for you or not will depend on how you handle the resources at your disposal, though, so if you think you can do it, why don’t you go and give it a try?
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