Work-From-Home Options Help Job Seeker After a Move

Urban living has certain rewards: access to great amenities and, often, more options for finding jobs in a traditional work environment. But if life brings unexpected changes—for example, a move to a rural community from an urban setting—then work-from-home options can help you keep your career on track.

Our success story this week is about Michelle W., a job seeker who’d been living in an urban setting when she made a move to the country.

One of the trade-offs became quickly evident: life in her new rural setting offered fewer job opportunities, she said, than were available in the city.

Michelle’s solution to her job search dilemma? Launching a search for work-from-home options, a career goal she met after becoming a FlexJobs member and being hired as a part-time chat specialist by ActivEngage, an automotive digital and software company that provides managed chat services and technology to car dealerships and the automotive industry.

Michelle’s move from the city landed her in Morehead, KY, and she decided to look for a job that would allow her to work from home.

“I relocated from an urban area with plenty of job opportunities to a rural community, where good-paying jobs within a reasonable driving distance are fairly scarce,” Michelle wrote, responding to questions FlexJobs asks of successful job seekers.

Commuting was not an option, Michelle said. “I couldn’t afford the time or money it would take to commute for a total of over 3 hours each day, so I began my search for a legitimate work at home job,” Michelle wrote.

Finding a Remote Job with the Right Fit

After her relocation, things initially moved a little slowly in her job search, Michelle told us.

“It was almost a year before I landed a telecommuting opportunity at a major data clearinghouse (and finding that job was pure luck!),” she wrote.

Despite the advantages of being able to work from home, Michelle said there were disadvantages to her first remote job.

“The fact that it was at home was great since I was able to avoid a long commute,” she wrote, “but the downside was being required to work 12-hour days that left me with no time for my family or myself. In addition, my health began to suffer from the long days of sitting at my desk. I knew there had to be something that would be a better fit for me, but I had no idea how to find it.”

Signing Up for FlexJobs—and Finding Great Work-Life Integration

Michelle set about her job search with commitment, and determination, she told us.

“I was checking out every lead I could find on the Internet and reading every blog post I happened across, when I found a post about FlexJobs. This sounded like something a bit different, so I decided to look into it.”

In her responses, Michelle was upfront about her hesitation about signing up for a FlexJobs membership.

“I was initially unsure about signing up for a service that required a monthly fee,” she wrote. “There’s a lot of scams out there, but FlexJobs really sounded different to me and I was eager to see what it was all about.

After doing her research, Michelle determined that a FlexJobs membership was worth the price.

“I ended up finding a coupon code online for a discount on the first month’s fees, and decided to just try it out for a month,” she wrote. “I knew I could cancel if it wasn’t for me, so I felt like it was worth a shot.”

Advantages of a FlexJobs Membership

Compared to other job search sites, Michelle said, FlexJobs offered clear advantages.

“I was immediately impressed when I had the opportunity to fully check out the site,” Michelle wrote. “The number of jobs that were listed far exceeded what I was expecting, and they weren’t jobs for no-name companies or anything that sounded questionable. These were real jobs at well-known companies, and the salaries (where listed) were actually decent.”

Michelle told us she was happy to see the extent of the job categories FlexJobs offers.

“I was so surprised to find that there was also a huge variety of jobs, something for just about every schedule and every skill level or interest. I really felt like I had gotten more than my money’s worth by signing up with FlexJobs because of this.”

Michelle continued, saying that FlexJobs “provides information about the companies that are hiring, and each of these opportunities has been checked out and determined to be legitimate. That meant a lot to me because one of my biggest concerns in finding a flexible telecommute position was whether the company and/or job opportunity was actually valid. The thing I liked best was the fact that I was able to find my current job after using the site for just over a month.”

Tips and Inspiration for Other Job Seekers

Here’s what Michelle shared about her overall FlexJobs experience, and the strategies that helped her meet her job search goals.

“I had the most success with setting up a search agent that allowed me to look for exactly what I wanted in a job,” she wrote. “Since there were so many job listings available, I decided to search only for part-time telecommuting jobs that were hiring in my state.”

“On some other job search sites, it’s necessary to search outside of what you’re actually looking for, just to have a shot at something/anything,” Michelle said. “But by setting up this search agent on my FlexJobs account, I received new job postings in my inbox almost every single day.”

Bottom line? “My new job is part-time and I am happily working from the comfort of my home!” Michelle said.