New guidance released by the government this week is encouraging those that can to work from home in the coming months. Working remotely undoubtedly has its benefits. Workers have more flexibility, save time on their commute and can achieve a better work-life balance.
With remote working being here to stay, there’s a specific skill set that is going to be extremely valuable. Whether you are already working from home or are looking for a remote working opportunity, you’ll want to ensure you have these skills under your belt.
Let’s take a look at the crucial skills you’ll need to be a successful remote worker.
One of the biggest challenges of working remotely is staying connected and in touch with your employer, colleagues or clients. If you’ve been struggling to adapt to working from home, it may be because your communication has dropped.
Use your communication skills to keep in touch over the phone, video calls, instant messaging or email. Hiring managers will certainly be looking for strong written and verbal communication skills for their remote roles.
When working remotely, you are likely to have more autonomy over managing your workload. Your organisation, planning and time management skills are crucial for staying on top of your responsibilities and meeting deadlines.
You’ll have information coming your way via phone calls, video meetings and emails. Ensure you are utilising your organisation techniques to take in, prioritise and manage the information and workload you receive.
When working remotely, you will be predominantly using your laptop and mobile phone. Your role may also include using online and cloud-based platforms that will help you to collaborate on projects.
Being generally tech-savvy and having the ability to learn and adapt quickly to new software has never been more important.
When you don’t have your boss looking over your shoulder and are surrounded by home distractions, it can be a challenge to maintain your motivation when working remotely. However, remote workers need to be able to avoid procrastination and distractions in order to focus and get their work done.
If your self-motivation skills could do with a boost, we recommend watching this.
Even while working remotely, most roles require some form of collaboration with others. If you’re working from home, it’s important that you don’t leave your team members in a difficult position waiting on updates from you.
To ensure that you are collaborating effectively, you should be making the most of the communication platforms that are available to you and keep your colleagues in mind.
While working remotely offers a fantastic opportunity to improve your work-life balance, it can also go the other way. Your work phone and laptop are always there and checking work emails may start to creep into your downtime.
When it comes to working from home, you need to strike the right balance if you want to avoid burn out. Your working time should be at peak efficiency so that you can impress your employer without overworking yourself.
If you’re currently looking for a remote working opportunity, you can register your CV with us here. We also recommend registering with CV-Library so that employers and recruiters can contact you about relevant roles.
