By Tamra Ingram Curry
November 30, 2020
This entire year of 2020 has been unprecedented, no doubt. Many things have changed; the way we conduct our careers has surely, but we have changed the most. The way we think about everything we do in our own homes is impactfully different this last year, and that has steadily begun to move into the workplace as well. Businesses must keep producing products and services, and employees must keep generating incomes, these are absolutes. What has not been straightforward and absolute is how, as a country, we go about successfully making such a drastic transition in a now continually changing environment. The required changes are going to manifest differently in the vastly diverse types of businesses, of course. The virtual workplace explosion is one answer to how this transition will manifest, as we see more zoom team meetings, remote interviews, and other virtual hiring processes. What does working remotely look like? Are virtual interviews as effective as person-to-person interviews? How and when do we know our company should transition to remote working? Are positions at our business considered essential and expect our employees to travel to work as normally in the past?
This shift from on-site jobs to virtual jobs is an interesting concept in the post-industrial, consumer-driven American economy of the last several decades. Most of us have become accustomed to working away from home. It has been normal working closely with other people, often in physical and collaborative jobs such as construction or manufacturing. White-collar businesses and service job mindsets have driven our economy to the top worldwide.
By May of 2020, if you were able to keep your job and transition to remote work, how easily did that happen? If you were one who lost your job and had to seek a new one, what skills could you offer a company if you had to work remotely with them? Job interviews that must take place remotely must be handled in specific ways for this transition. There is a real pressure out there to be skillful and pliable enough to know how to work and effectively produce trade goods and services in this new era. For some people that pressure is downright frightening. How can we make the transition simpler, and less intimidating for some?
The Swivel to Home Based Offices
Many Americans were fortunate to make the transfer from office-based jobs directly to home-based jobs. Others, however, were already working remotely in their field and nothing much in their day to day has changed. Professionals who may have easily made the switch include those who work as content writers, web designers, sales or marketing associates, general office assistants, and administrative assistants. Some smaller based restaurants have started cozy one or two-person remote food trucks to cope with seating restrictions and their newly limited customer base.
There are several topics mentioned by Arianna Huffington’s book Thrive about self-care and employee health. Employee health and self-care has been a vital consideration for large companies even before this year, according to Huffington. Health, especially mental health, will be just as crucial for the home-based workspace as much as it was in the office-based workspace, and likely even more vital. Traditionally the idea of, “don’t take the work home with you.” was widely accepted and encouraged; before the pandemic, that is. That notion is impossible now, as for many of us, our workdays unfold at home Monday through Friday. Huffington develops the concepts of office nap areas, and healthy snacks provided by and replenished in the company’s break rooms each week for all employees to take advantage of. She discusses the introduction of three-week vacations as opposed to the normal one-week allowance. The concept that healthy workers produce wealthy workplaces (Huffington) is such a fantastic new concept, that we must adapt these ideas into the home offices of 2020 too.
Starting Over
Millions of other workers have been forced to start over and in most cases virtual or remote work is the best place to start. The Penny Hoarder has some great ideas for starting a home-based business in 2020. The article discusses ideas such as freelance writing, virtual assisting, tutoring, entrepreneurial work, social media consulting, and content writing. If you happen to be a hugger and are honestly not doing so great without the personal encounters, you might consider a new job of food delivery driver, photographer, babysitter. You could also give music lessons or start a house cleaning business. Each of these are more independent jobs will provide you with healthy person to person interactions without the crowd effect and danger of the moment (Connors).
Fortunately, many of these great ideas are locally based and do not require much travel. Traveling to other states or going hours away from home base has recently been an issue as some states have restricted access to non-residents.
The other fortunate thing is taking on one of these new local jobs can help the community of essential workers feel better about going to work away from home. For example, if they know their kids are home safe with a tutor or qualified babysitter, they can focus on doing their own job better and with less worry. Peace of mind is invaluable these days; it has no qualifying price tag available.
Employers Finding Virtual Employees
Many of the interviews conducted today are happening via Skype, Zoom, or even FaceTime videos. Video interviewing has changed the way interviewers perform pre-hire screening from the ‘old ways’ of face to face encounters. Spark Hire, a company that claims to be an expert in the field of remote work, has established its company as one who connects, like a bridge, communication accessibility between employers and job seeking candidates. Test Prep Nerds, mentioned by Spark Hire (Tolan), helps candidates to understand the prerequisites employers have, and what they are looking for in new employees. Connecting employers and remote employees is by itself an exceptional, brilliant idea of a new business concept in this remote world. It is entrepreneurial thinking such as this like the companies mentioned by Spark Hire that will get America back on its feet economically.
How to Get Noticed
From an employee’s point of view, resumes should also be revamped and edited enough to be relevant to the needs of employers who are seeking remote workers. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) in a resume is a modern key to become noticed by potential employers. Adding SEO in your resume headlines and titles could be what keeps you in the company’s human resource pile instead of their trash bin. Listing specific skills in a specific area of the resume, say on the upper left of the email or letter, is vital for being noticed.
Interviews are being conducted via video as well. One important element of video interviews that Mark Beal speaks of in his book, 101 Lessons They Never Taught You in College, is to script your skype sessions by giving a good deal of thought to where you will conduct your interview in the home setting (Beal). He also mentions being thoughtful in what you will wear, to dress as if you are meeting face to face. Clean your home office and do not have posters or pictures in the background that may seem inappropriate or that could disqualify you for the job before the interviewer can ask the first question. Everything will be evaluated even your living space. It is undoubtedly one factor an interviewer considered, so little opinions plastered on your walls can eliminate your opportunity, even if you have the most impeccable skills to offer the company.
No one can say when or if this new normal will revert to the old normal, of pre-pandemic times, so we cannot bank on it. Many new doors have now opened and become decorated with fresh and vibrant wreaths of unexpected success. Some employees may never get back to working at the office again in the future. I say, let us make the best of our present challenges by engaging our brilliant minds to jump the hurdles of 2020. My challenge is to think bigger than the pandemic and its imposed limitations and communication routes. We will continue to perform skillfully and create excellently just as we have always done as Americans. Remember, we are a nation of people who have conquered bigger obstacles in our past. I believe we can make even this trial in life a steppingstone for new, innovative, and creative platforms.
Beal, Mark. 101 Lessons They Never Taught You in College. Toms River NJ, Beal Sports & Entertainment, LLC, 2017.
Connors, Tiffany. “We Found the 26 Best Ideas for Home-Based Businesses in 2020.” The Penny Hoarder, The Penny Hoarder, 11 Nov. 2020, http://www.thepennyhoarder.com/make-money/start-a-business/home-business-ideas/. Accessed 27 Nov. 2020.
We Found the 26 Best Home-Based Business Ideas for 2020 (thepennyhoarder.com)
Huffington, Arianna. Thrive. New York, NY, Harmony Books / Penguin Random House LLC, 2014 -2015, pp. 22-113.
Tolan, Josh. “Experts Weigh-in On the Pivot to Remote Work.” Spark Hire, Spark Hire, hr.sparkhire.com/tips-for-hr-pros/remote-work-video-interview-platform/. Accessed 27 Nov. 2020.
Hiring with a Video Interview Platform for Remote Work – Spark Hire
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