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Where the telework jobs are

By Jeff Zbar
Network World, 06/24/02

Not long after launching his telework information portal YouCanWorkFromAnywhere.com, Phil Montero had a realization. While workers and employers easily acknowledge the benefits of telework, legitimate work-at-home jobs are still almost impossible to find.

"The question that came back to me time and time again," says Montero, a three-year teleworker before launching his site in 1999, 'Are these jobs really out there?' "

The short answer is, yes. To help people find telework jobs, avoid scams, set realistic expectations and even propose telework arrangements with existing employers, Montero wrote, Work at Home: The Telework Job Seeker's Handbook. The 275-page electronic book, available at Montero's Web site via PDF, costs $27.95.

More than half the book is devoted to profiling ideal job candidates and work experience, tips on finding telework positions, and how to propose such an arrangement and make it succeed. There are definitions of commonly used terms, like flex-time and compressed work weeks, and industry-standard policies on issues such as childcare and management policy.

The remainder is a gold mine of resources and links for companies that hire teleworkers, community want ads and tips on writing a telework-related resume. Resources cover the U.S. and Canada, as well as a few international markets.

Montero takes pains to differentiate between telework and network marketing or "business opportunity" scams. Many people still believe telework includes multilevel marketing or the offers made with street-corner signs promising big rewards for working from home. Wrong, he says.

For that reason, Montero lays out what to realistically expect from an employer in a telework arrangement: a paycheck not determined by sales or purchase of goods, possibly equipment needed to work, and traditional worker benefits. In short, it should be a position within a company, maybe not as a full-time teleworker, but also not as an outside contractor.

"It should be listed as a salaried position, not an opportunity," Montero says. "You shouldn't pay money, and you shouldn't be asked to."