Virtually Yours: The Lure of a Virtual Job

In today’s industry jargon, anything that lacks direct physical presence or co-location is ”virtual.” The plain English meaning of ”virtual” has ceased to be a part of e-age industry. And that’s a relief, for though I am all for ‘virtual’ work, I hold serious reservations about receiving ‘virtual’ salary or ‘virtual’ payments (fill in the missing smiley).

Getting back to the topic, I can safely say that ‘virtual’ jobs are highly sought after by modern employees. Virtual jobs offer increased privacy, personal time, and flexible schedule. The money is no different than from regular jobs, for a ‘virtual’ job is a regular job, only instead of going to an office everyday, you are logging onto a computer network from anywhere you want.

Wherever it is possible to virtualize a workspace, even employers are interested to do that for ‘virtual’ workspaces seriously cut down on establishment costs and energy wastage. However, everything in the world comes for a price, and though the ‘virtual’ employee enjoys a lot of liberties and can schedule his/her work round the clock, in effect he/she is an employee who has to stay on call for a greater period of time than regular office goers.

To work in a virtual job, a higher degree of mutual credibility, both on part of the employer and the employee is a necessary part of the equation. Most so called work-at-home jobs in the freelancing market are to be assessed very carefully. A lot of them are scams, and a lot of them, due to the proliferation of entirely free job lists, create the opportunity for scams. Job lists that have no financial interest in safeguarding the applicants are places most frequently used by scammers.

I have personally been prey to such scams many times where I could feel that the client had started out genuinely, but realized mid-project that it was easy to cheat a worker sitting in another continent. As old-timers say, ”opportunity makes a man thief,” and the opportunities of the internet have created many cheats who otherwise may never have thought of acting dishonestly.

Of course, the outright cheaters, those who are sincere, dedicated, and methodical in the worship of cheating as a profession, and find the very concept of honest work horrifying, will always be there. This is why, unless it is a reputed employer and well known company, going for a virtual job in absence of a physical interview is always a risk. A physical interview gives both parties to the employment an opportunity to interact that is vital for beginning a relationship and forming a basis of trust.

I would like to stress that people running honest businesses in places which are within your physical reach are rarely going to cheat you, if you work in a virtual job for them. But in these cases, the employer is sure to call you in for a physical interview. The employer will both assess you properly and brief you about your work physically. The employer will also be interested in learning the kind of computer set-up and facilities you have at your home, and whether you have alternatives, so that you can continue to deliver even though your PC is down.

The fact that his home was close to three internet cafes helped one of my friends get a virtual job. He was able to convince the employer that even if his own PC, and his brother’s PC were not working, he could still walk down to any of the three Internet café’s finish his/her work and deliver on time. That’s all it really takes to start a virtual career or get a virtual job: convince an employer to take a risk on you and prove that the risk is low enough to take a chance. A virtual job will put you back in charge of your time and will keep you away from unholy office politics. It’s a very good career if you can find a trusted source of employment.