Do you have what it takes to work from home? Working remotely requires a unique set of skills to achieve success, and not everyone is the best fit for this kind of job. The good news is, many of these skills can be gained through practice.
Whether you’re looking for a remote job and wondering what to emphasize on your resume, or you’ve already found a job and want to improve your abilities, read on for seven essential work from home job skills.
Time Management
When you’re working from home as opposed to in the office, you’ll still be expected to meet deadlines and respond in a timely manner. The difference is you won’t have a manager or coworkers around to help keep you on track, so it’s up to you to create a schedule and stick to it.For some, being at home—and being surrounded by distractions—can make it a challenge to keep up with their work expectations. That’s why practicing great time management is key to success for any remote job.
Top tip: Research and practice time blocking techniques. For example, try batching your time into 25-minute increments, and work on only a single task during each increment.
Organization
Working from home means your success is highly dependent on you and your chosen working style. Organization must be a key piece of that working style. A big part of organization is, of course, time management. But more than managing your time, you also need to manage your tasks and priorities.One of the first things you should decide when starting a new job is how you’ll categorize tasks and how you’ll track progress. Leverage online project management tools, many of which are free, to help you do so.
Top tip: Spend five to ten minutes at the start of every workday updating your to-do list and selecting two to three highest-priority tasks to do first.
Communication
When working remotely, you won’t have the same visual and verbal cues you might get in the office. Plus, your manager won’t be able to actually see you working, so communicating your progress is really important. You’ll need to have excellent written and verbal communication skills, so you can share ideas, collaborate, and ask questions when you get stuck.
Top tip: On day one, come to an understanding with your manager and team on expectations around what kind of communication you’ll provide during your workday, and during which hours of the day. This will avoid misunderstandings later
Computer Literacy
Regardless of what your remote job is, you should be well-versed in both software and hardware as you’ll be relying on technology throughout your workday.Working from home means setting up your own equipment and maintaining it, usually without the help of an IT person to handle any malfunctions. Keep any instruction manuals on hand to refer to when something goes wrong. You’ll also need to keep your own software regularly updated, so you should understand how the programs you’re using work and how to troubleshoot them.
Top tip: Familiarize yourself with popular office software, such as email platforms and remote learning tools, so you’ll be prepared for the tools used in your next job.
Self-Reliance
Working from home requires a lot of independence. It’s just you and your computer all day! There will be plenty of instances where you’ll have to find answers on your own, or learn independently through self-guided practice. If you’re a self-learner and a self-starter, you’ll likely thrive in a work from home environment.Self-reliance also means the ability to keep yourself on task, without depending on others to help you meet deadlines.
Top tip: Form habits now that foster your self-reliance. Start by testing time management techniques until you find the one that works best for you, then stick with it.
Ability to Set Boundaries
You often hear the term work/life balance, but never is it more relevant than with a remote job. After all, how do you keep your work life separate from your home life when your home is your workspace?It’s important in a remote job that you’re able to set boundaries to help you stay focused. That means removing or staying away from any distractions, such as your phone, snacks, pets, or places where you may be tempted to nap. If you maintain these boundaries, you’re likely to achieve a much healthier work/life balance and be more productive overall.
Top tip: Set up your home office space away from distractions, ideally separate from your bed and kitchen, or areas in your house with a lot of activity.
Self-motivated
Remote work requires an especially high level of self-motivation. There’s no one watching over you to make sure you’re being productive, and there are plenty of distractions at home to keep you from accomplishing your goals. Individuals who can overcome these challenges through internal motivation are much more likely to succeed in a work from home job.It’s also important when job seeking to look for remote positions that excite you. If you’re interested and engaged in the work you’re doing, you’re naturally more motivated to do it.
Top tip: Create your own motivations by rewarding yourself throughout the day for small and large achievements. An example of a reward could be a snack or a short break.
The most accurate transcribed text comes from high-quality audio recordings. How can you make sure your audio is as good as it can be, and what happens if your audio is not up to scratch?Appen’s transcribers are the best in the business. But when presented with a poor-quality audio recording, even they have got their work cut out.
There are several ways to ensure clear, crisp audio for speech to text, both during and after the recording.
At the time of recording
Some simple steps you can take to get great quality audio include:
Always use the best quality microphone you can afford.
Choose your location carefully to avoid background noise and interruptions.
Switch off all equipment in the room, for example air conditioning, as well as any computers or laptops that aren’t needed.
Also turn off mobile phones, or switch to airplane mode – even on ‘silent’ a mobile phone emits a signal that can interfere with a recording.
Close all doors and windows and make it clear to colleagues that you’re recording.
Explain to participants that the microphone is sensitive. Don’t rustle papers nearby or put documents on top of it.
Position speakers close to the microphone.
Test the recording equipment before you start and make sure you know how to operate it.
Brief your participants to avoid over-talking or interrupting – they should speak one at a time and as slowly and clearly as possible.
If times, dates or numbers are mentioned, make them as clear as you can, to avoid inaccuracies or inconsistencies.
After the recording
Sometimes, despite best efforts, the quality of an audio recording is less than perfect. In this situation, there are a few things Appen can do to help.
The first step is to flag the issue. When the person tasked to transcribe the audio can’t hear what’s said, they type the word ‘inaudible’. If this happens a lot in a transcript, the transcriber will alert their supervisor, who’ll let the client know at an early stage that the transcript might not be as accurate as either they or Appen would like.
That said, transcribers can themselves take steps to reduce the number of ‘inaudibles’. At Appen, transcribers routinely use the best quality, over-ear headphones. They can also slow down or speed up a recording, or try to enhance the audio, using a professional sound card like SoundBlaster.
In some cases, for example, if a recording is very old, in an unusual format or has been made in challenging, perhaps even covert conditions, a more specialist audio management ‘fix’ is required. Depending on the circumstances, Appen may be able to:
Cut down on interference or ‘hiss’ using noise reduction software.
Smooth out variations in volume using an audio ‘compression’ tool.
Reduce distortion by converting audio files into different formats.
Enhance a recording’s clarity, by manipulating the audio channels.
It’s always easier to take steps at the outset to ensure you get the best quality recording possible. But if your audio’s not perfect, don’t despair – with Appen’s help, it might still be possible to get an audio-to-text transcript you can use.
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Contact us to learn more about accurate, high-quality audio transcription services.
After the recording