As technology makes it increasingly
easy to punch the clock in a virtual office, employees once tied to a
desk may now have the ability to work from home or even abroad. In fact,
studies from Global Workplace Analytics, a research and consultancy
firm headquartered in Carlsbad, Calif., show that approximately 3
million U.S. workers that aren’t self-employed work from home full time
while an estimated 52 million workers have telecommute-compatible jobs.
For those who’d rather converse in foreign languages than by the company
water cooler, here are 10 of the best gigs for telecommuting while
abroad.
IT professionals
ThinkstockThe industry is booming as are
telework opportunities. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics,
the median wage for computer and information systems management
professionals is $115,780 per year while the sector is projected to grow
18 percent between now and 2020. Norbert Kubilus, president of the
Association of Information Technology Professionals, says that certain
jobs within the field lend themselves more naturally to teleworking.
“Analysts, programmers, web developers,
help desk staff can work remotely,” he says. “If people are responsible
for the maintenance of a server, that can be done remotely, but you also
have to have people who are hands-on to take care of installation and
so on.”
Kubilus adds that IT pros are most
likely to find telecommute opportunities in small- and medium-size
companies and that those eyeing remote working opportunities should seek
out positions that advertise the possibility for telecommuting.
“Most times, you’re not going to go to a
company, interview for a job and mention, ‘Oh, I want to telecommute,’”
he says. “That’s not going to fly.”
Translation and interpretation
This job might actually reward you for
moving abroad. Workers with fluency in a foreign language and sharp
communication skills can land jobs in verbal and written translation
regardless of where they live, says Carla Itzkowich, executive director
of International Contact, a multilanguage communication company that
produces marketing materials in 100 languages.
“(Translators) need to invest between
$600 to $2,000 in tools of the trade, but once you’re set up, you pretty
much can work your own hours, your own time, your own home,” she says.
Startup costs include a foreign language
dictionary, a computer, a fast Internet connection that can support
audio or video interpretation sessions and translation management
software that prevents workers from using the same verbiage over and
over again. Itzkowich adds that certification from an organization such
as the American Translators Association can help someone break into the
field but may not be absolutely necessary. Pay is typically by the word,
so speed and accuracy count. Those who speak a less common language or
who can specialize in an area such as finance or medical translation can
charge more, says Itzkowich.
Sales personnel and consultants
Thinkstock”Sales people are most
conducive to remote offices because (many) don’t have an office location
in a traditional office. They are located in their homes or customer
locations,” says Jay Mulki, a Northeastern University associate
professor of marketing who has conducted extensive research in the
remote working field.
According to the Telework Research
Network, sales jobs dominate the work-at-home workforce. A 2011 paper
published by the group shows that 70 percent of those working from home
hold positions in management, professional, sales and office jobs.
Sales leaders looking to work abroad
should seek out companies that have a broad consumer base in the
employee’s country of choice, says Mulki. They, and all other remote
workers, should create a separation between work and home life.
“When you work at home, work never goes away,” he says.
PR managers, marketing specialists
According to the Council on Public
Relations Firms, a trade organization of more than 100 PR companies,
approximately half of its member PR firms experienced double-digit
growth during 2011. For 2012, one-third of PR firms expect to increase
hiring for workers coming from fields outside of public relations.
Since much of the job revolves around
communication, PR workers must be able to draft anything from speeches
to press releases and should be able to create and control their
clients’ public images.
The upside is that much of that work can
be done remotely. While public relations work lends itself to
telecommuting both domestically and abroad, the Bureau of Labor
Statistics reports that employees can expect good job prospects, but
long hours — in 2010, nearly one-third of workers in this field clocked
in more than 40 hours per week. The field is projected to increase 21
percent between now and 2020 while the median annual wage currently
hovers around $57,550.
Software developers
ThinkstockSomeone has to develop
applications, build computer games and create the next wave of
can’t-live-without-’em digital tools. The Bureau of Labor Statistics
reports that the median salary for software developers is currently
$90,530, while the job market will grow much faster than average — by 30
percent between now and 2020.
Barry Frangipane, co-author of the book
“The Venice Experiment,” a memoir of his experience working as a
software developer for a U.S. company while living in Italy, says that
telecommuters working abroad should make sure that they can still
interact with their U.S.-based coworkers. To do that, Frangipane’s
company set up a webcam so that he could participate in weekly company
meetings from Italy.
“I could see people at the office at the meetings and they could see me,” he says. “We felt like we were really connected.”
Developers working abroad should also
have access to technological upgrades the company makes. To ensure that
his work stayed up-to-date, Frangipane kept one laptop in his U.S.-based
workplace, one with him in Italy and linked the two using remote access
software.
Customer service representatives
In the ever-expanding world of
telecommuting, call center and helpline personnel lead the charge, says
Kate Lister, president of the Telework Research Network and co-author of
the book “Undress for Success: The Naked Truth about Making Money at
Home.” While wages in this sector usually lean on the low side — the
Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that customer service reps earn a
median salary of $30,460 per year — opportunities abound in companies
that range from medical helplines to fast-food chains.
“When you order a pizza, sometimes the
dispatcher is sitting at home dispatching it from somewhere else in the
country,” she says. “Even the IRS helpline folks are (sometimes) working
from home.”
Telecommuting in this field comes with
its own set of challenges, adds Lister. Finding jobs can be difficult
with the wealth of work-from-home scams on the Web, and employees must
have a quiet space where they work.
“There’s a zero-tolerance policy for
background noise,” she says. Babies crying, dogs barking or doors
slamming can mean losing the job.
Health care
ThinkstockFall ill at a hospital in the
U.S. and a transcriptionist in Australia might write up your doc’s
notes, a specialist in South America could examine your test results,
and a top surgeon in Europe could lead the operation by video chat.
That’s why health care is one of the top fields for telecommuting, says
Sara Sutton Fell, CEO and founder of Flexjobs.com, a job search site
that specializes in telecommute, part-time jobs and positions with
flexible schedules.
“The (health care) subcategories that we
see the most (telecommuting jobs) in are nursing, pharmaceutical, case
management, therapy, medical coding, nutrition and psychiatry,” she
says. “So much of medicine now is digital. … You don’t have to be in a
room looking at an X-ray anymore.”
Fell says that telecommuting positions
in this field range from data analysts and health care project managers
to neurosurgeons who work remotely. Despite the increase in medical
telecommute jobs, many positions still require workers to be physically
present. To ensure that working from abroad is possible, employees
should seek out telecommuting positions and clarify the parameters of
telecommuting with their boss upfront.
Graphic design
Workers can create logos, websites,
publicity materials and marketing products from any corner of the globe
and get paid decently to do so. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports
that 29 percent of graphic designers are self-employed, meaning that
many can make their own schedules, and the median pay is $43,500 per
year.
Despite the independent nature of the
job, many designers work in teams or on collaborative projects. To stay
in sync with stateside team members, Jay Mulki says that employees
working abroad should focus on communicating clearly, taking active
steps to stay in contact with key team members and fulfilling every
promise they make in a reasonable time frame.
“You need to come across as a person who
is self-disciplined, who can control their work in terms of doing the
work and initiating the work … and be able to access people within the
organization,” he says.
Education
ThinkstockTraining specialists, online
instructors, curriculum writers … the list of telecommuting positions in
the education field is extensive. Sara Sutton Fell of Flexjobs.com says
that telework education jobs range from language instructors who
conduct lessons by phone or video chat to those who work behind the
scenes creating and perfecting online teaching tools. The majority of
teleworking jobs are available at the college and university levels, she
says, “but there’s a surprising amount at lower levels or in
administrative on the education side.”
The trick to landing a telework position
is seeing through the scams. To help eliminate ads designed to sap your
time and money, Fell recommends using search terms such as
“telecommute” and “telecommuting” over “work from home” or “work at
home,” and carefully investigate companies that post listings for
telecommuting jobs.
Administrative managers, support
According to Flexjobs.com, there are
currently more telecommute and flexible job positions in administrative
work than any other field except medical and health care. Admin jobs may
offer the ability to work from anywhere, but salaries are usually low.
Workers holding positions such as office managers, financial clerks,
bookkeepers, material recording personnel and administrative assistants
have median salaries that range from $24,100 for bank tellers to $36,610
for desktop publishers, reports the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Frangipane says that workers in any
field who have a job that doesn’t allow telecommuting may be able to
slowly negotiate a telework option. Frangipane himself started working
from home one day per week, then ramped it up to five days over time.
“Once they could see that I had high
productivity working from home, then I said, ‘Hey, I’m thinking about
moving my home,’” he recounts. “Regardless of where you are in the
world, if you work the same hours as your office normally expects, then
it really doesn’t seem to matter much when you move your home a little
farther away, like 4,500 miles.”
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