These days almost any job can be done from home. That’s a new development. Most working people can easily remember a time when “remote,” jobs were rare and suspect. Ubiquitous or not, finding the right opportunities is still an art form.
“Networking,” strikes many as being the unique domain of the elite. The sort of thing people do in ancient colleges where ivy grows freely on distinguished buildings.
The reality is much more mundane. Networking is something anyone will a little bit of initiative and social ability can accomplish. In this article, we take a look at how you can use networking to your advantage to find good, lucrative work-from-home opportunities.
Are Work-from-home Jobs Legit?
It’s a natural question. As referenced in the introduction, there used to be a degree of deserved suspicion surrounding work-from-home opportunities. The internet is, after all, a dangerous place, and it isn’t very hard for a clever scammer to get sensitive information from a person under the guise of offering employment.
In fact, the world of remote work has been developing steadily over the course of the last two decades, only to become supercharged by the pandemic. Since Covid-19 closed down offices all over the planet, everyone from startups to Fortune 500 companies has brought their labor efforts to the home front.
In fact, there are many successful companies that don’t maintain physical office spaces at all. So, yes. It is very possible to find legitimate work-from-home opportunities. In fact, most career specialties have some form of remote option that you can pursue.
To find legit work-from-home jobs, you simply need to:
- Develop a great resume: While the work-from-home vibe is more casual than the traditional office workspace, professionalism is still key. You need to make sure that your application materials are in great shape.
- Research: Remote or in-person, it is always important to research the company you are applying to thoroughly. This will help establish their credibility and also just give you a good feel of what it is like to work for them. There are many websites out there that compile reviews from current and former employees.
- Start the application process: Most people recommend that you limit your submissions to one or two a day. That way, you can modify your application materials slowly if you find you aren’t getting as many bites as you hoped for.
And what’s the missing ingredient to all of this? Networking! Below, we talk about what networking is and how you can use it to your advantage as you look for a new job.
What is Networking?
Networking is largely misunderstood by people who don’t actively do it. You hear the term and it’s easy to imagine privileged people sitting around at privileged cocktail parties, handing out jobs to all of their privileged friends.
Does that ever happen? Sure. But most networking is just about making connections. The majority of employers aren’t trying to find jobs for all of their drinking pals. They want to find the best professionals for the job and networking is one of the ways that happens.
A job listing can produce hundreds of candidates. Even with recruitment software that helps narrow down the candidate pool, it can still be hard to determine who is the best fit for the job. But what if the person in charge of recruitment has friends at the local university? Or they belong to a social club with other local entrepreneurs?
Suddenly, they have new pipelines from which they can get firsthand knowledge of possible job candidates. Maybe a college professor tells the recruiter about a bright student who will be graduating in the spring. Or a manager at another company tells the recruiter about an employee who is looking to move into the remote workspace.
The recruiter appreciates the insight because now they feel a little more confident that the applicant will do a good job. After all, someone the recruiter trusts has vouched for them. And the applicant gets to jump to the head of the line. Rather than sitting in a slush pile of hundreds of applicants, they can be sure that they will be given strong consideration as a candidate.
Of course, recommendations will only get a person so far. They still need to be skilled and qualified. Still, the networking process can make it easier for the right person to find work, and for recruiters to find good candidates.
Great, right? But how do you establish a useable professional network? Below we take a look at a couple of tips that can help you use relationships to advance your career.
Networking Done Right
There are many resources that you can use to stay connected with local job prospects. These include:
- Friends and colleagues: Your work friends in particular may be an excellent source of insights into the local job scene. Put the word out that you would like to find a good work-from-home job, and see what happens.
- Educators: The same is true of former professors. College professors are often still involved in the professional communities that they came from— either socially, or as active participants in the business community. Many employers will ask college professors for recommendations when they are looking to fill an opening.
- Professional clubs: Don’t know many people in the industry you are trying to break into? That’s ok. Most towns will have professional associations and social groups that make it easier to form connections with like-minded individuals.
The key to successful networking is to be clear and confident with your intentions. Don’t be afraid to advocate for yourself and showcase your skills. Just be sure to maintain a professional persona. Though networking is a social activity, it requires a professional standard of behavior.
Though you may develop a friendly relationship with the people involved in your network, you should treat them with the same consideration you would a coworker.