Why a Standard Telecommuting Resume Form Will Cost You the Job

The University of Oregon reveals that approximately six percent of American workers currently telecommute. This translates into eight million workers. Looking forward to the year 2020, the school anticipates that this number will rise to about 30 percent.

Industry dangers

Telecommuting jobs are a double-edged sword for some employers, since these positions increase the potential for data theft, accidental data corruption and unauthorized information alteration. They also require a candidate who is a self-starter and possesses the discipline to finish a task, even if it is past quitting time. Thus, they call for a worker who is thoroughly honest and willing to put the well being of the company before personal wants and needs.

Even though currently telecommuting jobs are oftentimes filled with employees who already work for a company, more and more businesses post openings for virtual office work that brings together the organization with untried and unknown workers. Not surprisingly, hiring managers look for clues contained within a resume that point to 'Ëœthe right' candidates.

Sample resume for telecommuting jobs

The Money Making Mommy offers the basic nuts and bolts of a sample resume. For telecommuting jobs, it is advisable to highlight the desired position in the objective portion. If the position calls for a full-time telecommuter, identify yourself as such an applicant.

If instead it asks for a freelancer, part-timer, independent contractor or on-call telecommuting professional, make sure that you address these conditions as part of the objective. A business that advertises for an on-call telecommuter is not interested in dealing with a candidate seeking full-time employment.

Adapting the standard resume

There are two areas of a telecommuting resume that must be adapted to each job posting: the objective and the summary of qualifications. As already discussed, the objective highlights the position for which the applicant seeks to outshine other candidates. Specificity can make quite a bit of difference, and when applying for telecommuting medical billing jobs, stating so on the resume is sure to create an advantage over the more generic notation that a worker is looking for "a telecommuting opportunity."

The second area that requires position-specific adaptation is the resume listing of skills. Good examples are telecommuting jobs using an auto dialer or similar equipment. Employers heavily favor applicants who have experience with the technology -- either using or maintaining it -- and who also know how to perform ancillary tasks, such as message retrieval and transcription.

A third area that also plays an integral role is the frequently omitted list of professional affiliations. For example, a candidate applying for legal secretary telecommuting jobs should include membership in professional organizations such as Legal Secretaries Incorporated (LSI), Legal Secretaries International or a local legal secretaries association. This instantly heightens the candidate's credibility.

A standard telecommuting resume form cannot account for the sheer volume of variables that the job market offers to applicants for these positions.

Sources

University of Oregon: "HR - Telecommuting"
Money Making Mommy: "Telecommuting Resume Help"