Many people want to work remotely but don’t know where to start. If you want to start working from anywhere, these are some steps you can follow that could help you get there.
Steps to getting a remote job
- ARE YOU READY? Download the Questionnaire for Individuals: Are You Ready to Work Remotely?
- REVIEW THE INSTRUCTIONS. Download and review the instructions for Seeking Remote Employment.
- DEFINE YOUR “WHY”. Really decide why you want to work remotely–is it travel, parenting reasons, a flexible work schedule? Doing this will help you refine your search on what you’re looking for. It’s also important to know whether you want to be a freelancer, telecommuter, if you want to be employed by somebody or if you want to start out on your own.
- GET THE RIGHT TECH. Do you have a reliable means of being reached? Will you be working while traveling? Do you need a secure internet connection? Do you need a headset? Webcam?
- SHOW YOUR EXPERIENCE. Many companies won’t hire someone if they don’t have any remote experience.
- If you don’t have experience, think about places where you could get some experience to add to your resume. Freelancing sites like Upwork and Freelancer.com offer the opportunity to do small jobs for remote clients. Or volunteer in an online community.
- START TALKING TO PEOPLE.Word of mouth is absolutely the best way to find a job. Social media is an easy way to broadcast your availability. For example, LinkedIn is a great resource for people who are looking for jobs and offering jobs. Choose the social media tool that you use the most and start posting things like links to your profile/website and things of value that you’ve produced that show people what you can do. Be sure to update your profile and bio—make it really clear and concise as to what you do.
- LEARN ABOUT THE CLIENT/COMPANY. If you see positions that you really like, take some time to learn about the company. Engage with them on social media or send them useful information.
- SHOW YOUR VALUE. Are you a writer? Are you a customer service rep? Are you an accountant? The more clear you are on what you do, the more people know what they’re hiring.
- JOIN ONLINE COMMUNITIES. LinkedIn is a great place to start to meet fellow remote workers and remote-friendly companies.
- APPLY. Click HERE for a complete list of online websites where you can find remote work.
Pro tips
- Search and apply every day. Looking for work is a job in itself.
- Prove that you can be a great remote worker.
- Be reliable and responsive.
- Have a great Internet connection
- Be a proactive communicator.
- Watch out for scams. If it seems too good to be true, it’s probably is.
- Don’t give out passwords.
- You should never have to pay in order to apply for a job.
- Google search yourself to see what comes up. When you’re looking for a remote job, that’s probably one of the first things an employer will do.
Additional remote job resources
Podcast production by Podcast Monster
Graphic design by Alfred Boland
Original transcript
Welcome to the Collaboration Superpowers podcast. My name is Lisette and I’m interviewing people and companies doing great things remotely. Hello, everybody, and welcome to episode number 114. And happy last day of October. Today I want to talk about one of the things that people email me the most about, and that is how to find a remote job. So it seems many of you out there would like to work remotely or at least try to work remotely. So how do you do it?
Now I’m going to say the first thing that you should do when you’re thinking about finding a remote job is to think about why you want to look for a remote job. And I learned this from Kirstie Thomson in episode number 101. And she really highlighted for me the importance of defining why you want this remote job because some people want to work remotely for the flexibility, some people for the variety, some people want to travel, some people want to do it for parenting reasons, and some remote jobs are suited for some things and not for others. So there are some remote jobs that are not suited for travel, for example, or for flexibility. Maybe you have to have certain core hours on the job. So really decide why you want to work remotely, and that will help you refine your search on what you’re looking for. Also, you need to know whether you want to be a freelancer or a telecommuter or whether you want to be employed by somebody or whether you want to start out on your own. Really think through what it is that would suit your personality best.
The next thing I would do is to start paying attention, if you aren’t already, to social media. And by that I mean choose the social media tool that you use the most, the one that’s most natural, and start posting things there, links to your profile, things of value that you’ve produced that show people what you can do. Just start being a little more active on the social media channels that come natural to you. And of course the most obvious place to have an updated profile and to start becoming more active is LinkedIn. It’s a huge resource for people who are looking for jobs and who are offering jobs. So absolutely have your LinkedIn profile updated. Have a friend check your bio in your profile to make sure that it’s interesting and concise and really highlights the value that you can offer people. And then don’t forget to Google search yourself to see what comes up because when you’re looking for a remote job, that’s of course the first thing that people are going to do. They’re going to Google your name and see what comes up on the Internet. So give it a check and see what’s there. Okay, so now you know why you want a remote job, and your social media pages are being updated. Be very clear on the value that you are offering. Are you a writer? Are you a customer service rep? Are you an accountant? Be very clear on what you do so that people know what they’re hiring. And the more specific you can be, the better.
Now where do you go to look for remote jobs? Let me just say start by Googling how to find a remote job because there are lists being manufactured all the time of the top 100 companies offering remote jobs and top 25 places to look. So probably, your best research is going to be to start Googling how to find a remote job. You’ll find all kinds of things.
Now some personal favorites of mine… And of course depending on your why and what you want to do these may not be the best for you. But I have to say I’m a big fan of Upwork, and I used it when it was Elance. And it totally saved me. The company that I had worked for had just gone out of business, and I didn’t have much money in the bank account. And I had just moved to the Netherlands and didn’t speak the language. And I thought, “Okay, I’m going to try to figure out how to make it work.” And I got on to Elance, and I just started applying for jobs. And it didn’t take long before I had a number of jobs that I was working on. And from there I built a reputation and everything turned out for the best. So I’m really a big fan of Upwork. But there are lots of other places like FlexJobs, like guru.com, freelancer.com, 99 designs. Simply start Googling how to find remote jobs, and there will be tons of websites out there as well. I’ve also got a Twitter list. So if you go to @lightling, you can subscribe to my remote job’s Twitter list. There you’ll find a whole bunch of different places that are offering remote jobs. And I add places to that all the time.
And for another great resource on working from home, specifically, I highly recommend checking out workathomesuccess.com. That is the website of Leslie Truex who is one of the guests on my show in episode number 91, a great episode to listen to, by the way, and the most popular podcast episode so far.
This brings me nicely to the tip section of this podcast because Leslie gave some great tips in her interview. And the thing that she advises people when they’re looking for remote work is just search and apply and do it every single day. So don’t wait for the stars to align. Don’t wait for things to look perfect. Start searching and applying today, and do it every single day. So just start and do. And of course if you’re doing more freelancing, she says, reach out to your market every day. So if you’re not applying for jobs, then make sure you’re reaching out. That’s what I mean by the social media profiles. Pick the profile that works for you, and just start reaching out to people and showing them how you deliver value.
My next tip is going to be prove that you can be a great remote worker. You’ve got to be reliable and responsive. You have to have a great Internet connection, and you have to be a proactive communicator, all of these tips that show that you can do the job well will help companies feel like they can trust you. Like oh, this person is obviously a pro. They’re going to work great on my team. So get yourself organized and prove that you can do it.
And my other tip is watch out for scams. There are definitely Work From Home scams out there, and it’s always good to be aware of those. So the basic rule of thumb is if it seems too good to be true, it is probably too good to be true. So really pay attention to scams. Don’t give out passwords. You should never have to pay in order to apply for a job. And listen to your intuition. If your spidey senses are tingling, there’s probably something there that’s not quite right.
Okay, so to quickly recap all of the things that we’ve learned about how to find a remote job, figure out why you want to work remotely so that you can build the career around what you really want. Get active on your social media channels, especially LinkedIn, and start showing the value that you can offer people. Google how to find a remote job and start looking at all the different websites that are out there. Look for the ones that appeal to you and start there.
Also, use your own network. Word of mouth is absolutely the best way to find a job. When people can match a position with a personality, that’s going to obviously be the best. So be very clear about the value that you offer and make sure that you’re communicating it to as many people that you know and as many companies that you’d like to work for. And then just start and do. That’s just the best way to do it.
Okay, that’s it for today. I hope that these have been some great tips to help you find a remote job. If you want more tips and stories about how to work from anywhere, then visit collaborationsuperpowers.com. There you’ll find more podcast interviews, video interviews, and the Work Together Anywhere workshop, which is being offered all over the world in person or online. That will definitely get you fast-tracked for remote team success. Stay tuned next week for another interview with the remote team doing great things. A very big thanks to Nick, the podcast monster who makes this podcast sound so pro. You can hire him to make you a star at podcastmonster.com.
And another big thanks to the incredible Alfred Boland, the dazzling designer for the Collaboration Superpowers brand. You can hire him to make you look cool at bolanden.nl. All right, everybody. Until next time, let’s go out and get great jobs and be powerful.
