Getting tired of the daily commute and sitting in the office all day?
If you prefer working from home, a career as a sales rep or customer service associate may be your best bet.
Last month, employers in the sales world posted the highest number of online job ads targeted at stay-home parents and those who like to work in their pajamas, according to Wanted Technologies, a provider of hiring research based in Quebec City, Canada.
Nine of the top 20 jobs listed by Wanted that allow candidates to work from home were for direct or related sales positions. In April, there were close to 7,000 online job postings for medical sales reps, insurance sales reps, account executives, and customer service associates, among others.
The biggest benefit of working from home is the amount of time saved by not having to commute, said Kent Woloson, 46, director of Midwest sales for the Chicago-based social media company AdParlor. "I wake up and I'm at work," he said. "I live in a suburb in Illinois called Lake Forest and it's an hour and half-long trip each way to Chicago."
He said the biggest challenge of working from home is that he misses out on the daily camaraderie with co-workers. Also, he often has to take on more family responsibilities during normal work hours. "Sometimes your spouse forgets that you're at work and adds to your errands for the day," he said.
All told, 19,000 online job ads were available for positions that allow candidates to work from home in both full-time and part-time stints, a 3% increase from the same period last year. The non-sales jobs include editor, typist and data entry positions.
According to Wanted's research, the skills and tools needed for the majority of those stay-home jobs include Microsoft Office, customer relationship management, search engine optimization, JavaScript and HTML.
Write to Damian Ghigliotty at Damian.Ghigliotty@dowjones.com
