I’ve just found a new subject to research about: telecommuting. Or in simple words — working from home, working where you want to.
Since I moved in the Netherlands, I have been looking for opportunities to work as a journalist, or as a writer, researcher, proofreader and editor. With the many facets of journalism — writing, researching and editing are my favorites. Call me obsessive-compulsive but it is actually a job for an OC. You can’t miss a period, a comma or an apostrophe. Whenever I analyze myself and why I like editing, there’s a part of me that usually feels bad. Because proofreading and editing are really made for fault-finders. “If you can’t find a mistake, you shouldn’t be an editor”, should be the slogans of editors. Which reminds me of one of my favorite Journalism professors. “There should always be a mistake”, he said.
Unluckily though, there are not much opportunities available for English-speaking writers here because Dutch or Nederlands is the primary language. I’ve tried to apply for communication jobs but the problem is either I am not a native English (I honestly don’t understand this) or my Dutch is not perfect. Of course, communication jobs are language-sensitive, so I actually understand that part. Whenever I meet people who work for the same industry, they say that I have done so much, that my cv is very impressive, but they cannot hire me because they need someone who has the needed Dutch language skills. They tell me I should go into freelancing. But how?
I did a lot of freelancing work when I was still working in the Philippines — wrote articles for newspapers and magazines and wrote scripts for televisions programs. Most of the time, the problem is not getting paid on time, or not getting paid at all! And I even know the people I’m dealing with, huh?! This is one of my major concerns if I ever go into freelance-telecommuting projects. But well, I’ve decided to give it a go since there are more and more people advising me to go freelance. Maybe this will make me earn bucks! And I don’t have to leave writing at all!
Luckily, there are endless telecommuting/freelancing resources on the net. Especially in America, more and more people seem to have decided to try working from home and be close to their families, especially women with children. Well, this is not exactly my reason, but what the heck, I want to give it a try.
Here are only some interesting websites I found:
Telecommuting Today
About.com on telecommuting
Freelance Writing Gigs
Online Writing Jobs
Craigslist
JournalismJobs
Tjobs
Writer Find
Write Jobs
Love to know
Digital Journal
Suite101
Demand Studios
Freelance.nl
For anybody who is interested in telecommuting and/or freelancing, try one of the above-mentioned websites and let me know about your experience. #
