Looking For A Mobile Job? Here's What You Need To Know

Table of Contents

You need to keep on top of travel expenses
There’s a big emphasis on productivity
You may be a lot happier

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Mobile jobs are the natural development of a fluid society and economy – employers now have the technology, foresight, and will to give their employees more flexibility.

This flexibility makes mobile jobs appealing to a lot of people, but there are some really important things you need to understand about them before you dive into a role.

From expenses to happiness, these are three of the key things to know about mobile jobs.

You need to keep on top of travel expenses

Travel is the crux of a mobile job; mobility is a part of the role because you go from place-to-place. And when you move around there will be associated expenses and you need to know how to keep on top of them.

Expenses quite obviously cover fuel – if you’re in a mobile job then you’re probably driving.

When you work within a mobile role, you can expect to get a budget for the diesel and petrol you buy for your vehicle. This is likely to come one of two ways:

Getting money on the gallon for the fuel you use
Receiving a fuel card to make your purchases

In both examples you’ll need to keep a record of your expenses – to redeem them or as evidence for the travelling you’ve completed – and what you need to know is that fuel cards provide this by creating an electronic invoice.

Mobile jobs are the natural development of a fluid society and economy – employers now have the technology, foresight, and will to give their employees more flexibility.

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So, if you don’t receive a fuel card from your employer it’s a fine idea to explore getting one. I recommend that you read up on fuel cards and check out what you can expect from them. For instance, the Allstar card offers a range of benefits and you can find out about them here (the 24-hour account management feature is particularly useful).

There’s a big emphasis on productivity

When I talk about there being an emphasis on productivity in mobile jobs, I’m talking about how efficient you are when you work – if your time is being in the right way.

This is important because one of the big reasons companies use mobile working is that it’s believed to be a more productive way of working. The reason for this being that you have more freedom to work in a way that works best for you.

You should be prepared to be tracked at all times and this is likely to feed into your reviews.

You’ll need to keep a record of the work you’ve done – both the tasks that are undertaken and the time it took to complete them – and what you need to know is that this will be done via time-tracking software.

So, if you’ve not been doing this already then it’s good to try it before you start your job. I advise that you do some research on time-tracking software and find out what data they collect. For example, HourStack uses a range of data entry points and you can learn about them here (having the predicted and actual time taken for a task is one of the most helpful).

You may be a lot happier

Enjoying your job has never been more important and there have been great strides made in recent years towards recognising the value of mental health in the workplace.

Part of the appeal of mobile jobs is that they give employers more licence to focus on your happiness.

The flexibility and reduced overheads of mobile jobs allow employers the space to make sure you actually enjoy what you do and where you’re doing it. These are some of the things progressive employers are adopting:

Mental health days
Work schedules that fit around you
Counselling services
Working from home when suits

So, you should think about what you want out of work – what really makes you happy and what doesn’t.

Companies have been measuring employee satisfaction for years but prospective employees now do it too – my advice is that you check employer review sites to see if the mobile role and business are really geared towards making you happier.

A great way of doing this is to check the company review on Glassdoor and you can do so here. Keep in mind when you’re doing this that some people may not leave a balanced review (they could be an outlier with either a more or less positive experience than the average employee).

Recommended reading: Successful Job Hunting During COVID-19

Expenses, productivity, and happiness, these are three very different qualities in mobile jobs, but you can expect to see them in almost every role you go for.

Now you have the resources to look into them further, I suggest you go away, do your research and then decide if you want the flexibility of a mobile job.