There is help at hand, though. Just follow these productivity-enhancing tips and you should be able to succeed during flexi working hours.

Set your goals

Putting off work by another day, or worse, over the weekend, can be the biggest stumbling block for you. The negative appeal of flexi timing is procrastination. There are surveys that say that 90% of people put off work at least once every single day.

To beat postponement, you need to set your daily, weekly, monthly and yearly goals. If that is too far-fetched, just go by weekly scheduling. And remember your ultimate goal. Whenever you think of pushing back certain types of work, ask yourself if it’s taking you towards your weekly or monthly goal or creating hurdles in your career path. If it’s not, then it’s time to get down to work. come what may.

Continuous two-way communication

Just because you are not tied to the company physically doesn’t mean you are not free to communicate with them about work. You have to maintain communication with your office through text messages, emails, phone calls (even video calls) to keep up your rapport with colleagues and superiors.

Importantly, when you are tackling a personal emergency, please inform them, so they know that you are not reachable around this time, or just to maintain the personal touch that is missing with ‘work from home’ or ‘part-time’ jobs.

Schedule your day

Flexi working hours only mean that you can work whenever you want. However, that sentence needs to be rewired into your brain. Flexi hours doesn’t mean postponing work for tomorrow. You have to set your daily work schedule, be it working only in the mornings, or only in the evenings. But set it and stick to it. Develop an office routine and abide by the rules of working.

Consider working at home as working from office. The only difference is that you are working when it’s most convenient to you and you are avoiding all the traffic and commuting time. However, whether you are working on your own, or remotely for others, you are still working for somebody at the other end. And there are deadlines for everything. Instead of accumulating all the work on one day, by postponing continuously, you should set down a strict protocol to only postpone if it’s way before schedule. For everything else, the deadline is now.

Similarly, don’t keep working at it, blurring the line between personal and professional time. This causes much rift in families, with spouses and children complaining that you are not sparing enough time for them. Make sure, you strike the right work-life balance. One hack here could be dressing formally when you begin to work. It plays on your psyche and has its effect, according to some cognitive scientists. Experiment, discover and become more productive. Your time starts now.

Be the right applicant

Step into the shoes of your employer. Who would you hire? The person who meets your eligibility criteria or any layman who applies for a job? It’s crucial to understand the job specifications before applying for it. Ask yourself one question. Do you qualify? Do you have the degrees and relevant certifications? Do you have the experience? Are you under qualified or over qualified? Once you’ve answered these questions, you can never go wrong with the next company you apply for.

Work on your cover letter

Some don’t send it and some pay the least attention to it. You don’t realize that your cover letter is where you can make the first impression. A letter full of spelling and grammatical mistakes will put off any recruiter. If you are applying online, make sure you space your letter between paragraphs and use a readable font of a reasonable size. Importantly, make sure you answer the one question the recruiter is looking for: how are you best suited for the job. Show qualifications and experience that directly tie in to the job on offer. And always address the recruiter by their second name. Otherwise, ‘Dear sir/madam’ should work.

Customize your resume

One size doesn’t fit all, and this is true of the jobs market as well. This is particularly crucial when you have several qualifications and experiences to write about. No need to have such a laundry list and it’s not necessary to list all your attributes either. All you need to do is take out stuff that doesn’t suit the job and add or keep stuff that is perfect for the job you are applying for. It shows that you have properly researched for the job and it shows you are hard working and dedicated. When you can’t pay attention to customizing your resume, how can you show that you care for the company you are applying for?

Put your best foot forward

We all have our weaknesses. It’s important to talk about your strengths. If you are a fresher, your cover letter and resume can talk about your qualifications, grades and awards won on campus. If you are an experienced person, you could talk about the many milestones you’ve reached in your career before getting down to basics like qualification, experience and so on.

Get the essentials right

Don’t call HR people to ask if they’ve received your resume or ask for directions to their office. You should get that from Google Maps or ask the receptionist. Always give your mobile phone number on the resume, not your landline. Don’t apply for a job that is paying less than what you are currently earning. Stick to the script; don’t expect the company to make an exception for you unless you are ready for a pay cut because it is your dream company. If that is indeed the case, say it in your cover letter to score extra brownie points. Once you do make it to the interview, don’t forget to send a ‘Thank you’ email after it’s over, and perhaps even follow it up with a phone call. Patience, perseverance and good manners always have a market of their own.

Attachments area

Which brings us to ‘functional’ resumes compared to the existing chronological variety where dates play a significant role and not the job you did. It’s time to not only adopt the contract culture but also emphasise the work you did rather than the time you spent at a particular company. Make sure your resume demonstrates not only the quantitative part of your work experience but also the qualitative aspects to them. 

It’s time to be multi-faceted and not wedded to one company doing the same thing over and over again. It’s time to take a break and do something new with your job. You could upgrade your skills and get a better pay at the same company or get into a completely different field just because you can. What’s more, you can do one better. You can work on contract and also become an adjunct faculty to transfer your knowledge to the future generation. It’s your way of giving back what you’ve learnt. And only a fixed term contract job allows you to do that. 

So whether you’ve worked for just a few days, months or years, you can turn that into your unique selling proposition. Focus on the job you did rather than the duration and you’ve landed your next job. Just remember to focus on work that is relevant to the job you are applying for. And don’t forget to talk about the attributes and goodwill you carried into your every job. If your co-worker or boss expresses deep gratitude to the work, your future employer will realise how helpful, creative or hardworking you were. And that could be a great value addition to the job you are applying for. 

If you are a habitual contract employee, it exemplifies traits few possess. That of accomplishing tasks in a brief period and be able to mingle with a new set of people to achieve your goals. It showcases your interpersonal skills and the fact that you worked in a team full of strangers.

Contract jobs are for those who are serious about what they do. They give their best in the shortest possible time, so they can do something better after that: pamper themselves by pursuing a hobby or fulfilling a long cherished dream. 

Just the way contract jobs are redefining workplaces, it’s time our resumes did that too. Focus more on the jobs and attributes you brought to your work and pay less attention to the duration of your work. That doesn’t really matter in a world where you can chase multiple careers. And that’s precisely what WorkFlexi.in offers. A fixed term contract job after which you also get a month’s minimum basic pay, so you can look for a job in the meantime without worrying about your living expenses. Welcome to a new world where you can LIVE and not just EXIST!