If you’ve never worked a remote job, it may seem like a farfetched fantasy. You’ve heard of people out there who work full-time while traveling Rome or sitting in bed. But you might be wondering how you can get that life for yourself too.
Well, I have good news.
It is definitely possible for you to find remote work!
Whether that’s through your current skillset, or building a new one. You can absolutely do it, and in this post, I’ll share with you some steps and approaches to set you on the right track.
Make Sure a Remote Job is Right For You
First things first, it’ll be helpful to do some deep thinking to make sure remote work is the route you want to take.
For some people, working remotely is the best thing since sliced bread. It suits their lifestyle perfectly and they wouldn’t trade it for the world. And in fact, of people who work remotely, 91% report having a positive experience with it.
Though some people aren’t drawn to the remote lifestyle, and genuinely prefer to go to the office each day.
Here are a few pros and cons of remote work for you to determine where you stand.
Pros of remote work
You pick your schedule. You get control over your day. You’ll have to attend meetings, and some companies will ask that you be online during certain hours. But for the most part, you’ll get to build a daily schedule that fits your personal rhythm.
You can live wherever you want (for a time). You can work from hostels across Central America. You can move to a French Villa. You can spend the winter in Hawaii. If you’re fully remote, there’s no office to tie you down. Just be sure to check the company’s policy as some companies may only allow remote work outside of your country or state for a defined period of time.
It can help your focus. For some people, offices are terrible for productivity. They feel distracted by the nonstop social energy or uncomfortable that their workscreen is constantly visible.
It may be better for work-life balance. Some remote roles will allow you to build your schedule, so, you can watch your kid's soccer game at 3 pm or go to your favorite morning yoga class. As long as you get your work done, you can create your life how you want. It is important to note that not all remote jobs have flexible work-hour policies so it’s best to look for both policies and not assume one means another.
You can design your work environment. You can work from your kitchen table, the swanky coffee shop down the block, or the WeWork downtown. You get to figure out where you work best and customize your days to that.
You don’t have to commute. No more commuting? Hallelujah! You’ll no longer have to spend an hour each morning sweating in traffic, nor will you repeatedly tweak your neck from falling asleep at awkward angles on the subway ride home each day.
Cons of remote work
It can get lonely. You don’t get the built-in social stimulation of going to the office. If you’re an extrovert, then joining a coworking space might be necessary to stave off loneliness.
You may not leave home enough. Without a reason to leave, it’ll require pro-activity to avoid becoming an overly reclusive hermit.
Your work and personal life will bleed into each other. It’s pretty hard to leave work at work when you work from home. If you don’t create strict boundaries, you might find yourself burning out more often.
Communication with your team is trickier. You’ll no longer have the benefit of in-person meetings or the ability to stop by your boss’ desk. If your online communication isn’t on-point, then miscommunications and chaos can easily ensue.
It can be harder to motivate yourself. Some people need the accountability of an office setting and the 9-5 structure to get their work done. It can be hard to get work done when nobody is making sure you’re doing it.
Home is full of distractions. At the office, it’s just you and your computer. At home, there’s your kitchen begging to get cleaned, your favorite novel pleading to be read, and your guitar singing “Please strum me!” You’ll have to learn to focus and tune out distractions.
While there are pros and cons to working from home, the truth is that most people who try it never want to go back. Of people who work remotely or hybrid, a whopping 98% want their work to be at least partially remote for the rest of their career.
Do you still feel drawn to the remote lifestyle?
If so, then read on, and by the end of this article you should have a good grasp of how to create a remote career for yourself.
And if you do know you want to work remotely but feel lost at how to find passion in your work, you might appreciate this article on how to find a job you love.
Background About the Job Market for Remote Work
About one-fifth of Americans currently work from home. Unsurprisingly, that number is expected to gradually increase year after year.
As far as actual jobs go, here are the most commonly posted remote roles:
Accountant
Executive assistant
Financial analyst
Project manager
Customer service representative
Software engineer
Customer success manager
Accounting manager
Product designer
Writer
But if all those roles sound foreign to you, don’t worry. At this point, you can find a remote option for pretty much every job that you do on a computer.
If you are willing to switch industries, here are the top 10 industries and fields for remote workers:
Computer & IT
Accounting & finance
Marketing
Medical & health
Project management
Customer service
Sales
Administrative
HR & recruiting
Operations
Another way to think about remote work is to find companies that are remote-centric and then look for openings there. Here are several companies with some of the most remote job openings as of the publication of this article:
Lumenalta: A business that helps enterprise companies launch digital products.
Hotjar: A company that sells software to help product teams learn about their users’ behavior.
Toptal: A global network of software engineers, designers, and finance professionals.
TestGorilla: A screening platform that helps employers objectively evaluate job candidates.
Help Scout: A customer support platform.
Zapier: An online platform that simplifies automation by linking up different apps.
Here’s a full list of the 100 companies with the most remote jobs.
With that said, let’s go into more specific tips on landing a remote job.
Step 1: Find Remote Jobs to Apply For
For people who haven’t worked a remote job before, the idea of finding one can seem as unlikely as capturing a unicorn. You may not feel sure where to start.
But it’s not nearly as hard as it seems. Here are some ideas and resources to get you started on your remote job search.
Seek remote opportunities at your current employer
Even if your current position is fully onsite, there may be a hidden opportunity here.
The reality is if you’ve been working at your company long enough to earn the trust and respect of your manager, then you might have more leverage than you realize.
One of a manager’s top goals is to hold onto employees who are performing well. If you are an asset to your team and company, it’d be quite a hassle to replace you.
So it actually may be within reach to request just a day or two of remote work a week, and over time you might be able to scale that up to mostly and even fully remote.
Use remote job boards
There are job search websites out there specifically for remote job opportunities.
Here’s a list of some of the top sites to use:
4dayweek.io: A job board that features roles with four-day work weeks. A great resource for those who value work-life balance.
JustRemote: This platform has all kinds of remote job listings across the globe. You can also pay a monthly fee to get access to jobs that companies may not otherwise post.
We Work Remotely: This is one of the biggest remote job boards where you can find roles for just about any remote industry.
FlexJobs: This is another one of the bigger resources, with 150,000 job postings from 6,500 companies.
wellfound: This is a job board specifically for joining startups. If that direction appeals to you, you’ll find postings for all kinds of roles for startups at different stages.
Use LinkedIn Premium
LinkedIn Premium has a fancy little feature that lets you send a message to anyone, even if you aren’t connected. This can be a powerful secret weapon when looking for a remote job.
Try this out.
Find a company that is either fully remote or hires remote workers. Here’s a place to start.
Once you find a company you’d be interested in working for, figure out who is in charge of the department you’d want to work for and send them a message on LinkedIn.
If they are hiring, then great! You’ve put yourself in the right spot. And if not, you are on their radar for when they do.
Take advantage of your network
There are a few different ways to use your network to find a job. One strategy is to scan through your LinkedIn contacts and take note of any appealing companies where you have a contact.
If any of those companies happen to be hiring for a remote position, then reach out to your contact and ask if they’d be willing to refer you for the job.
If you’d like a few more other networking ideas, check out this post on how to use your network to find a job,
Go freelance
If you’re willing to start a new career path, you could convert your existing skills toward freelancing.
If you know how to code, you could offer your services as a freelance web developer.
If you’ve worked in human resources, you could become a freelance HR manager.
If you’ve worked as an in-house graphic designer, you could offer freelance logo design.
You get the idea.
Alternatively, you could also pick up new skills.
For example, if you can learn to build websites, edit videos, copywrite, or do content marketing, then there are endless clients for you out there.
And these clients are everywhere.
If you learn to edit videos, any influencer with a YouTube channel or Instagram account could use your work. If you know how to copywrite, then any online business could use your help.
It’ll take some initiative, but there are boundless remote job opportunities if you’re willing to learn valuable skills and put yourself out there.
Subscribe to freelance job posting newsletters
If you do choose to go the freelance route, there are also a few newsletters out there that can help you find remote job opportunities. Individuals will curate and share freelance postings they see on LinkedIn and Twitter.
Here are three to try out:
Freelance Opportunities: Every Friday, this newsletter releases 100 freelance jobs of all kinds.
Freelance Framework: This newsletter provides a broad array of gigs specifically for freelance writers, editors, and journalists.
Content as a Creator: This one is specific to content and marketing. But if that’s your thing, give it a shot.
Alternatively, you can try Upwork to find gigs. It’s a great resource where people post freelance opportunities that you can apply to. You can find everything from helping develop a board game to editing someone’s code.
Join an online community for remote workers
If you’re new to remote work, it can also help to join an online community.
You can learn from the wisdom of more experienced remote workers and find resources and job openings that others share.
Here are a few communities to check out.
GrowRemote Online is a virtual community platform that initiates online and in-person conversations about remote work.
Remotely One online community is a members-only community. They have a private Slack channel, a podcast, and in-person summits.
Nomad List is an online community geared toward digital nomads and travelers. They offer in-person meetups across the world and resources to empower members to work from wherever they want.
Digital Nomads Meetup. Check out if there’s a Meetup group in your city where digital nomads gather.
Let’s Work Remotely Facebook Group is a group where you get access to community-vetted remote job opportunities.
Make remote work non-negotiable
We all know how tiring job searching can be.
If you’ve been at it for a while, you may lose your confidence and become more desperate. You may start to apply for jobs you wouldn’t have thought twice about at the beginning of your remote job search.
You start to lower the pay range you’d consider. You start looking for jobs that are only mildly exciting. You might even stop looking for remote jobs and include in-house jobs in your search.
But here’s the thing. If you want to work remotely, you have to make that a non-negotiable.
Only look for remote jobs. Don’t even apply for non-remote jobs. And in your interviews, be clear that you want to work remotely.
If you decide you’ll only apply for remote work, then eventually, you’ll land a remote job. But if you open your search up to any type of job, then there’s a good chance you may find yourself working in another office.
Step 2: Master the Remote Application Process
Once you’ve found some ideal jobs to apply for, it’s time to learn how to put together a stunning dossier.
Craft an effective remote job résumé
The sole job of your résumé is to sell you. So remember to write a custom résumé for each job you apply to.
Yes, it’ll take more time than shooting out the same résumé to each position. But it’ll vastly increase your chances of getting an interview.
For each role, customize your relevant experience. And even adjust the aesthetic and style of the résumé to match the company’s image.
If you don’t quite feel like a résumé writing pro yet, check out these four crucial errors to avoid when writing résumés.
Write a compelling cover letter
In your cover letter, make sure to play up your remote-relevant skills. Consider speaking to these ones:
Strong communication. You’ll be making a lot of connections through email, Slack, Asana, Notion, and Zoom. Let them know how much you value crystal-clear communication.
Self discipline. When you’re remote, you need to motivate yourself to stay on track. Not everyone can do that. So make it clear that you can.
Reliability. You may be working with people across different time zones. So if you need to get a project done by 3 pm so that Casey in Greenland can look at it before they finish their workday, then it’s very important that you get it done by 3 pm.
For more tips, check out this article on how to write an excellent cover letter.
Step 3: Ace the Remote Job Interview
Once you make it to the interview round, you can greatly increase your odds of success with just a little preparation.
Prepare for these remote job interview questions
First, expect to answer any questions that your potential employer would ask if this were an onsite role. Because those will definitely come up.
Besides those, you can expect some remote-specific questions. Here are a few to prepare for.
Have you worked remotely before? It’s okay if the answer is no. They ultimately want to know that you can self-motivate, keep yourself on track, and stay communicative with the team.
Why do you want a fully remote role? Be honest with your motivations here. Whether it’s to avoid commuting or so that you can live in Bali. Just make sure to spin it back to the company and explain how it will help you contribute more effectively.
How will you communicate with your team to make sure everyone’s on the same page? This one is a biggie. When you’re remote, communication is key. Mention that as long as you know what the communications norms are, you’ll absolutely abide by them.
How do you deal with distractions and stay motivated? The inability to stay on track is a pitfall for many who try remote work. Whether it’s the Pomodoro Technique or time blocking, let them know that you know how to get your work done.
Get your tech ready
You don’t want to be in a situation where it’s one minute before your video interview, and all of a sudden, your Bluetooth headphones won’t connect, or Zoom is asking you to update and restart your computer.
Go through this checklist 10 minutes before your interview to make sure all systems are go:
Figure out what platform your meeting on
Open Zoom (or whatever platform) to see if there are updates to run
Make sure your mic and speakers/headphones work on that platform
Look the part
You can bet your remote job interview will take place over video. It’s good practice to match the level of formality of the company.
If they didn’t give you an explicit dress code, then snoop through the company website photos or employees’ LinkedIn profiles to get a sense of how formal you should dress.
Optimize your background
Here are a few tips and tricks to present yourself as well as possible in a video interview:
Get a ring light so that you are well-lit. Here’s an option.
Elevate your camera to eye level. It’ll feel weird if you’re either looking up or down at the other person. Don’t worry if you have to MacGyver it and rest your laptop on a stack of books; the interviewer will be none the wiser.
Avoid virtual backgrounds. No Golden Gate Bridge or unnaturally fancy-looking hotel room. Research suggests that virtual backgrounds make you come off as less trustworthy and authentic than a real background.
Make your background simple and tidy. No clutter or chaos behind you. Though you also don’t have to sit in front of a white wall—it can be tasteful to include a degree or sculpture in your background. Better yet, studies suggest that a plant will make you seem more trustworthy, and books will make you seem more professional.
If you’d like more general tips on how to ace an interview, here’s a complete guide to becoming an interview aficionado.
Get Some Extra Support Finding a Remote Job
If you’re still feeling uncertain about how to land a remote role, or if you’ve been trying for months to no avail, you might consider working with a career coach.
They are trained to help you identify the job you want and then get it (and then succeed at it).
If that sounds like it could be supportive, reach out and set up an introductory call to learn more about how we can work together.
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