Excellent Work-From-Home Job Opportunities

"Make Thousands of Dollars Working from Home!" sounds like a scam and most of the time, it is. But, the great news is, remote work options are available and they are on the rise.

Whether you want to work at your house in your pajamas, from your local coffee shop, or while traveling the world, the following companies can help you achieve your Work-From-Home desires.

• Apple – Tech giant Apple has At Home Advisor position that allows employees to work remotely as customer support agents. The role is to translate technology into a language customers can understand. The position offers benefits such as employee discounts, the opportunity to grow with Apple, and a free iMac to use while working from home. The job is also a great gig for college students, who can schedule their work around classes.
• Xerox - Xerox has an extensive WFH program of over 8,000 home-based employees, which is known as the Virtual Workforce Program. Home-based employees are involved in a variety of functions, including customer care, tech support, quality control, software development, and much more. 
• Dell - Although Dell is headquartered in Round Rock, Texas, the company offers employee work options that include flextime, remote work, job sharing, part-time work, and compressed workweeks. Current openings for flexible jobs at Dell include senior-adviser, engineer, and executive positions.
• Toptal - Toptal is a talent network that connects the top 3 percent of software developers with remote work. But the coolest part is that Toptal's internal team of engineers is completely distributed as well. Toptal has no offices whatsoever. Everyone at the company -- from the CEO down to new hires - works remotely. 
• Loot – Loot offers a WFH position where you complete different actions for your favorite brands, such as taking pictures or sharing content on Facebook and Twitter. The more you work, the more you’ll get paid. This is more of a gig type of job. You have to download the company app to apply.
• Freelancer.com – It is a website where you can sign up and get paid for your skills. It has thousands of open jobs where you as a freelancer can work from home in your pajamas. Although most positions are not salaried, there are many jobs that offer near full-time work with flexible hours. This is more of a freelancer type of job where many projects are done on spec.
• Humana - Humana has received numerous workplace awards including the Computerworld 100 Best Places to Work in IT, the Best Employer for Healthy Lifestyles award from the National Business Group, and a ranking of 58 on the Fortune 500 list.
• ADP – It is one of the world's largest providers of business-outsourcing and human-capital management solutions. The company offers a number of full-time, flex, or at-home positions, as well as onsite part-time work.
• Amazon – Amazon offers many virtual positions for potential employees living in certain areas, which allows employees to work from home with just a high-speed internet connection, a working landline, and a PC. Unfortunately, for now, VCC positions are available only in Arizona, Kentucky, Texas, West Virginia, Delaware, Minnesota, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, North Carolina, Tennessee, Wisconsin, and Virginia.
• TeleTech - TeleTech offers many career paths for telecommuters with a flexible work environment. The program, called TeleTech@Home, has positions for employees who support and assist customers with a variety of service and technical needs, as well as those who carry out back-office functions including chat and social media.

How to Succeed in Male-Dominated Industries

Gone are the days when women were concentrated in lower paying service jobs like retail workers and administrative assistants. Now more and more women are holding high level and high paying jobs in previously male dominated industries. To be successful in these industries, women require a lot of joggling especially if they are married and have children to look after.

Here are a few suggestions for women to get ahead in an industry that is known to be male-dominated.

• Make sure your value is known - One of the main challenges faced by women in the ‘male-dominated’ industries is making their value known.  It can be intimidating for some women to play by men’s rules. Women need to play on their strengths and characteristic qualities that are sometime lacking in men. Many women think they need to change when working in a male-dominated environment. But, your unique qualities or working styles can be the catalyst that helps you to be noticed as a person of value.
• Don’t be the ‘Yes’ woman - In many industries, there is tremendous pressure to work hard and go the extra mile.  Women must not feel obligated to say ‘yes’ to anything that doesn’t remotely list under their responsibilities. Agreeing to taking on every project in striving to be a ‘good employee’ will not do any justice to you in the long run. If you don’t learn to say no, you will ultimately hurt both yourself and the company you represent. It is important, however, to stand up for the projects you really want to work on.
• Be Confident - Having confidence in yourself goes a long way and can get you where you want to be in your career. Being confident, you won’t feel the need to get the ‘approval’ from anyone as women are just as capable of holding certain positions that appear to be reserved for men only. Being a woman, you may be playing more than one role. It is advisable not to allow domestic worries impact upon your confidence and focus at work.
• Be strong and structure oriented - As a woman, you need to not only prove yourself, but be relatively outspoken about it too - something many women are not comfortable doing. Being structured in your work, organized, technically strong, and ensuring you’re assertive goes a long way to earning the respect and recognition for a job well done.
• Have patience, perseverance and positivity - Maintaining a positive attitude and focus, together with equal doses of perseverance and patience, will stand you in good stead. One step forward is one step closer to getting ahead.
• Build contacts – Networking after work is a big part of building contacts in any industry. This is often done in environments that aren’t particularly female-friendly, but breaking into this is a must.
• Motivation and mentorship - Going it alone up the career ladder is hard. One of the most valuable things is to have a mentor - someone who has succeeded in the system, understands the challenges, and can guide you through some of the peculiarities of the industry, as a result of his/her own experience and lessons learned. A mentor can also push you a little harder than you might push yourself.

Remember, the amazing thing about women is that we’re stubborn individuals who will build strong, supportive networks to help each other grow. Keep a positive attitude and always challenge yourself to learn more. With knowledge and confidence, you can enter any office and show that you’re a valuable addition to the team.

Hiring Trends for 2017

Hiring is going to be a challenge for tech positions, particularly for security and networking roles. 

Here is a glimpse of what is expected on the hiring front in 2017. The following forecast is based on the research conducted by Robert Half Technology and TEKsystems.

• Marginal salary gains – Majority of IT leaders expect IT salaries to stay the same compared to 2016 rates. Many organizations are relying on rate cards from several years ago, and the IT segment is suffering a degree of wage stagnation.
• Some skills are more likely to get raises – There won’t be department-wise salary hikes, but in-demand roles will get raises. These roles will be – programmers & developers, software engineers, security and cloud based computing.
• IT headcount expanding for some – Some companies will add new positions in the year 2017. Most of them will put IT hiring on hold.
• Contingent IT staff increasing - IT leaders report that in 2016, 80% of their IT team members are full-time staffers and 20% are contingent workers. Looking ahead to 2017, CIOs are predicting a slight shift in the ratio of full-time staff (76%) to contingent workers (24%).
• Skills in greatest demand – Database management, desktop support, network administration and cybersecurity are the most in-demand skills.
• Explosion of tech roles - Our technology-driven lifestyles mean that more employers in finance, retail, healthcare, etc., need employees who can derive insights from data, create a mobile app, or code a website. A tight overall hiring market and increased demand for tech talent makes recruiting those coding and analytics stars even more difficult.
• Pay transparency - Transparency in the workplace isn’t new, but in 2016 we saw a big push from policymakers for employers to be more transparent about pay. New rules from the federal government will require some employers to disclose workers’ pay by gender, race/ethnicity.  In 2017, employers should prepare for increased salary negotiations.

How to Find Internships

Internships can be a great way to get your foot in the door, gaining valuable work experience in a position that would not normally be open to someone with your skills. Finding one and getting it can be hard though. Follow these strategies to land great internships.

• Look for internship listings – Visit career services office of your school or regularly browse their website to check internship listings. Many companies also post internship positions on their ‘career’ web page. Select a number of different internships and be sure to follow the application instructions precisely. Many internships are very competitive and until you hear back from an employer – don’t assume that you will be accepted. Be proactive by continuing to apply to new internships as you find them.
• Make a good resume - You know what you are good at but the employer will need to see them in ink. Ready your resume, highlighting the skills that could be beneficial in that field and mention your achievements in previous internships or a project at college where you volunteered. Showcasing your skills, while keeping in the mind the requirements for the job, plays an important role in getting yourself the right internship.
• Do your research – Before going for an interview, research on not only the company and its products, but also on the business itself. Read about company’s stock market performance, its employees, their backgrounds, competitors, media coverage regarding news about the company etc. Potential interns who get noticed in an interview or on the job are the ones who have an opinion- they aren’t afraid to speak up, give input and contribute to brainstorming sessions. But in order to have effective and credible input, one has to put in the time and do the research.
• Use and know the product - Being unfamiliar with the product or web site of the company is fatal- because interviewers will get to know about your ignorance. Candidates, who have used the product or know it well, share insight and knowledge and they even have stories about how the product has helped them in their career etc. 
• Weigh benefits correctly – Weigh the benefits of internship in terms of the value they add to your profile the knowledge that you gain from that role. Taking up just any internship is not good for your profile. Get the one that is relevant to the career you intend to pursue. 

If you are looking for internship positions with renowned companies, log on to ThGongzuo.com to find the right internship and save your precious time.

Start-up Advice for Women Entrepreneurs

More and more women are starting their own businesses and getting aware of the opportunities available outside their 9-to-6 jobs. But, for women it is challenging to focus on their new mission, as they have to struggle to strike work-life balance.

Here are the few tips that may help them to start a new business:

• Find your passion - You are going to spend long hours working for your business, so pick an industry that you don’t just like, but are passionate about. When you are passionate, it shows, and your enthusiasm and belief in what you are doing translates to your customers, sparking their enthusiasm about what you are offering.
• Keep your home and work life separate - It is important to set aside time for both personal and work lives, in order to give each the attention it deserves. Set specific office hours and unless there is an emergency, stick to them. Train yourself to work during office hours and do not accept calls or check emails after hours. Your customers and clients will also conform to your schedule as long as you stick to it.
• Don’t pay attention to any disadvantages - Don't put any energy into wondering if you have different challenges than any other leader or business owner because you are a female. If you are good at what you do, that's all that matters.
• Be positive, flexible and patient - It takes a good amount of time to build a business. Continue to have a positive outlook and don’t stop believing in yourself. There has never been a successful business owner that hasn’t run into some challenges!
• Don’t let the lack of confidence or fear hold you back – Women are generally more afraid of failure than their male counterparts. Moreover, cultural traditions also discourage women from taking leadership positions. Women are less confident than men in starting businesses. Don’t let the fear of failure stop you from being an entrepreneur.
• Believe in yourself – Actually, women have better communication and consulting skills, are more caring and loyal towards their organisation and peers and, compared to men, are less competitive, confrontational and aggressive, and less driven by money. They are far more dynamic and capable than previously believed. So, believe in yourself and be a leader!
• Get the right support - Seek out networking groups, coaches and mentors that will not only cheer you on, but challenge you to take your business to the next level. Network with other businesswomen in your field that can give you an eagle’s view of what’s working and what’s not.

 If you are dreaming of setting up your own business, log on to TheGongzuo.com. We will help you in launching your start-up.

Tips For Moms Returning To Workforce

Re-entering the IT workforce after taking time off to stay at home with kids can be difficult and emotionally challenging process for women. Many females worry about their technical skills still being relevant and if they will still fit in and adapt to a workplace environment all while juggling their new added responsibilities at home. 

Experts say transitioning back into work life can be a smooth shift with the right attitude and mind set. According to the survey conducted, 95% of female professionals said that the unique skills involved with raising children are portable to the workplace, increase confidence and energy, and enhance the ability to motivate others, tolerate ambiguity and apply past experiences in new ways.

Here are the tips for returning mothers:

• When you send IT job applications to prospective employers, do not explain the gap in your career in cover letter. Instead, you can mention it in your resume. Brush up your interview techniques.
• Be clear on your objectives and priorities. Do not hesitate to ask for flexibility or a part-time schedule, but should make the request before a final round of interviews. 
• If you are returning to a previous employer, mention your past success that highlights why you are a valuable asset. 
• Stay in touch with your employer, co-workers and prior managers during your opt-out time and follow what’s happening in IT field.
• Be honest about why you’re returning to work and what you want to get from your return. Whether it is money or career accomplishments - your motivations will guide your job search, so it’s incredibly important to know them ahead of time. 
• Before sending out applications, research through IT job search engines, such as TheGongzuo to get an idea about which technologies are in demand.
• Talk regularly with other moms who have gone back to work about their experiences and challenges.
• Consider options such as telecommuting, part-time, flexible schedule or freelancing while returning to the job market to achieve a good work-life balance.

To restart your IT career, register at TheGongzuo.com and go through the list of IT jobs. Job postings for different technical roles such as data analyst, PMO, program managers etc. are listed out on our website. Find out which role suits you best that will take your career to the next level.