I’m thinking about trying to win a few non-local development contracts, however, since I haven’t done that before, I’m not sure about a couple of things. My target is European employers (I live in EU myself), but I’m interested in hearing opinions about other markets (US, Australia).
I’ve been looking through contract jobs in UK and almost none of them mention whether they accept non-UK EU residents as candidates for telecommuting or not. Very few of them mention those things - the majority don’t. Since programming contracts are usually non-permanent, I would assume telecommuting should not be a problem, but I’m not sure.
So my question is - if a contract job posting does not explicitly indicate that non-locals can apply and telecommuting is acceptable, should I still apply? If employers do not expect this in most cases, I don’t want to waste my time contacting them (as there are obviously quite a few of them).
I’m not quite sure what you mean by “contract” jobs but something I’ve noticed in classifieds and at freelance job sites is that when a buyer posts an ad or bid request, if they want someone from their particular location they’ll usually post the location as well. Sometime it’s pretty ambiguous though, such as “Need web content - Connecticut area”.
That never stops me from bidding if I think I can do a good job. What’s the worst case? They say “No Thanks” or complete ignore my bid? They write and call me a moron for answering their bid when I have no intention of moving to Connecticut? So what?
Of course, you don’t want to waste your time bidding jobs that you can’t possibly get, but if you think you are the best person for the job, go for it.
I have to agree with at least enquiring to ask them if their interested in someone who doesn’t live close to them (but who is willing to commute or conference via the net). Some jobs require physical meetings, being able to get to certain offices or being on-site in order to take the role on effectively but there’s an ever increasing range of organisations who recognise that skill can be hard to find in a local region, and by widening the net to allow web based working (or home based) gives them a better choice of candidates. While you may think it’s a waste contacting all of them (if there’s a chance they may say no), I would say the opposite, it’s an opportunity to broaden your client base and while you may get a range of “no” answers, there’s likely to be a few who will show some interest in working with you (even from a distance). The ones who are likely to say no are government, corporate, large businesses, so it may pay well to aim for individuals or smaller businesses. If you visit their site and get an idea for how they work, it’ll help you pick which are the likely candidates as there might be signs from their “about us” page.
