Available for work

Falkorre

I am wondering.
I am a highly qualified 27 year old guy, living in dublin, who can take a pc apart and put it back together blindfolded. I am also a wheelchair user, and for various reasons, this means that my ideal employment situation would be based from my home office, where I have several P4 computers and access to broadband internet.

Yet, for some strange reason, I cannot seem to find a company in this country, who are open to the idea of employing a highly capable, highly flexible, person whos only problem is that I need to work from home. Therby saving them office space and making adaptions for a wheelchair, freeing up a PC, phone etc for somone else!

There must be somone on these boards, who runs or owns a company, who would like a tech support guy, or sales guy or repairs guy, or *anything* who would be willing to consider even trying employing a home worker like me on even a temp basis??

If nothing else, it would be one way people with disabilities could be employed by companies whos offices may not be accessable.

Any takers? Im ready, willing and very adaptable!
Refs and experience available by request!

B

WhiteWashMan

highly qualified for what?

being able to strip and rebuild a PC isnt exactly a hugh skill.

and you would need better reasons why you should work at home. after all, business factor in the cost of desk, lighting, heating, phone, pc etc into their business plans.

come on, sell youself!

RicardoSmith

With respect putting PC's together is very easy and I've never found anywhere that really valued it as a skill. I don't even do it for most of my friends as they always have a family member who works in IT and can do it for them.

However if you can code, you'll be able to pickup work. Coding work is one where people are happy to let you do it at home. If you have the time pick up some certifications aswell.

Do you have any coding skills? If so...http://www.rentacoder.com/

Falkorre

Sell myself? ..hmmmm ok,...

I am self confident, and work well on my own initiative or as part of a team.

I have a lot of experience when it comes to dealing with people, and most people find me easy to get along with.

Being a wheelchair user, I have had to work damned hard to "sell myself" to people my entire life, and I'm told more often than not that I have surpassed peoples expectations of me.

I always conduct myself in a highly professional manner.

I will try my hand at almost anything I am phsically capable of doing.

I am a perfectionist, I take pride in the details of any job.

I have a personal and professional interest in the IT industry.

I can do a LOT more than take apart a pc etc, that was just an example. I have yet to come accross the pc related problem I have not been able to fix, and Ive been at it for 10 years now.

I cannot code yet but am willing to learn. I do however have some reasonable knowledge of html and am looking into Dhtml.

WWM, im not entirely sure what you mean by "better reasons for working from home"? ... my reasons are simple, I am a wheelchair user, I have spina bifida and epilepsy, which makes driving impossible, therby screwing me regarding transport, and I have recently (last year) been diagnosed with MS, so being realistic, working from home is an option that would benefit me and my potential employer, as id never be absent due to transport issues or any other problems associated with my mobility issues.

And yes, it means they wont have to provide a desk, office, lighting, heating, phone, pc, fax, etc or even change the building to suit my wheelchair.

RicardoSmith

AFAIK there obligations on the the employer if they have staff working from home in terms of heath and safety, and also insurance. When I was doing it I was self employed as a contractor. So that removes the obligation on the client. Realistically thats what you'd have to consider if you want to work from home. Therefore you need to look at projects that can realistically be done from home. Did you look at the jobs on that website? Especially the programming jobs. Thats the kind of projects that generate enough income to make it worth while. Web stuff in general isn't well paid, as like support everyone can do it.

You'd be better becoming clued up on some database technology, and some coding language along with it. Thats where the money is.

casper-

I would have to second Ricardo's advice ... having several computers for test servers and a broadband connection would make you an ideal candidate for doing either web (ahp/psp + database) and/or programming (Win32, etc.) - although I'd say that web work might be easier to gradually get in to since you can start with basic html/flash/etc and slowly work in coding as need be. And when you're in that arena, for the most part, people are definitely happy when contractors provide their own equipment and space.

FWIW, all things being equal, I'd definitely hire a contractor who had broadband available over a slightly better coder who only had dialup.

Just my €0.02.

casper-

Originally posted by Dawntreader
There must be somone on these boards, who runs or owns a company, who would like a tech support guy, or sales guy or repairs guy, or *anything* who would be willing to consider even trying employing a home worker like me on even a temp basis??

I'm curious about the sales aspect - do you have any experience in that area? Is it in cold-calling clients, doing mailings, or any number of other things?

WhiteWashMan

Originally posted by Dawntreader

WWM, im not entirely sure what you mean by "better reasons for working from home"? ... my reasons are simple, I am a wheelchair user, .

actually, what i meant was you would have to have some compelling reasons why the company would want you to work from home, not just your personal state of affairs.
personally, if i was going to hire you, it wouldnt matter to me if you were in a wheelchair, in a lift, a basketball player who is 8ft tall or a midget, if the company policy is to work from an office, then you will work from on office. that just the way things work.
so when i say give reasons why you should work from home, i mean, what reasons should a company change its work practises for? does it make finanical sense to them? can you still do your work form home, and get the full functionality of an office?
do you have an office at home, and as ricardo mentioned, it does have to be vetted by the companies health and safety. my home was when i set up an office in my spare room.

Originally posted by Dawntreader
And yes, it means they wont have to provide a desk, office, lighting, heating, phone, pc, fax, etc or even change the building to suit my wheelchair.

with regards to this, the company is still going to have to pay for all these, and now you are asking them to be empty?

i think you would need to target your companies carefully. ensure that working from home is practised in the company.



with regards to the selling of yourself, no offence, but you sound as if you are going speed dating
a lot of the items you have noted down are opinions. they may be correct and valid, but they are not going to get you a job. i can say that im the worlds smartest person, but would any one believe (pipe down you at the back!)? so why would any one believe you are what you say you are?
the point is, if youare going to sell yourself, you need to be more specific.
you asked about work from home positions.
you are trying to sell youself to someone who will give you a job and allow yuo to work from home. right?
right.
so what points are you going to use to sell yourself?

"i conduct myself in a professional manner"

im also good looking! but is it relevant?

if you want someone to hire you, then you have to have somthing that they need. being professional doesnt cut the mustard. its an intangible, it cant be measured. you need to be able to say, i can program in xxx language. i can set up a citrix farm. i am an exchange 5.5 administrator. i am an as400 operator.
you need to tell people what skills you have.

hmmm, put it another way, its like putting down a more conversational form of CV. you need to get accross the skills you have, and then why you are the person they want to hire.