Why I'm Better At Home - Ask Anne, The Pro Writer

(www.thegoldenpencil.com)

Hi Anne,

I love your newsletter! I had a quick question about the article “How to Apply for a Freelance Writing Job.” You mentioned that in your application you give a short pitch on why you’d do the job better from home. Any chance you could share some insight on what you include in that pitch? I have struggled with this especially in applying for jobs that do not mention telecommuting.

Thanks so much for your help!

H.

Hi H.,

I did say that didn’t I. Maybe I should change it.

There seem to be three kinds of employers in the world.

1. Those love love the idea of telecommuting and never make that a barrier, so you don’t have to say anything about it at all. They are the ones who make it clear they expect you to telecommute. Oh, occasionally you’ll see a demand in a telecommuting ad like “must have fax, phone, and internet connection!” I always wonder if they are new to hiring freelancers or if they got stuck with one who didn’t have a clue.
2. Then there are the folks who won’t allow telecommuting under any circumstances. I always figure they want me to be as miserable as they are. You’re never going to convince this person you can do the job well at home.
3. Finally there are the people who may be open to a telecommuting freelance writer, but they haven’t really thought about it. These are the ones you can often convince to at least give it a try.

The problem, of course, is that numbers 1 and 2 often don’t spell out there telecommuting policy in their ads. The first makes an assumption that everyone wants to come to his (yeah, I picture these folks as men) office. The second’s ad may sound roughly the same, but they are in fact open to real freelancers.

Sometimes you can tell from the ad that telecommuting is out. If they list specific hours or talk about their wonderful causal-Friday dress code, I figure they don’t want to hear from me and skip it.

But when I see an ad that doesn’t make it clear and it’s work I know I can do from home I usually just send my normal query – a resume, a brief proposal, whatever. I make the assumption that telecommuting will be fine with them. Somehow it seems to work out. Maybe they can tell from my credit list that I work at home… you know, I’m not sure. But I can’t remember a time when someone wanted to hire me than changed their mind when they discovered I wouldn’t come to the office. Not much help, am I?

Let’s get some other comments on this… please?

Do you have a question about freelance writing? Ask Anne, The Writing Pro – that’s me ;) Ask in the comments or send an email and put Q&A in the subject line so I can sort it out from spam and I’ll do my best. Meanwhile, you’ll find some Q&A’s here:
http://everyjoe.com/category/ask-anne-the-pro-writer/

Write well and often,

Two newsletters:
Abundant Freelance Writing – a resource for freelance writers including 3x a week job postings.
Writing With Vision – for those who want to get a book written.

Image from http://www.sxc.hu