Remote work

How to Get a Remote Job: Advice From Remote Company Managers

Competition for remote jobs is intense, but if you’re genuinely interested in remote work, you’ll get the remote job sooner or later. RemoteHub asked remote company managers to share tips about how to get a remote job in their team.
It can be hard to get an office job, but it’s so much harder to get a remote job. The reasons for this are quite obvious – not only do a lot of people want a remote job for it’s great benefits, but the talent pool is so much bigger than for the office job – this means, a lot more people apply.

Remote jobs receive hundreds, or even thousands, of applications from all over the world – out of the 13,730 remote job applications Doist received in one year, they hired 18 people. That’s only 0.13% (one in a thousand).

With that many remote job applicants, you definitely need to stand out if you’re serious about joining the remote team. When you have the right skills for the remote job position you’re applying to and you’re willing to put in the necessary effort, you’ll increase your chances to get the remote job immensly.

Focus on crafting a high-quality application for remote jobs

When I asked Andrew about how to stand out when applying for remote jobs at Doist, he shared a good point:

“This can be challenging when candidates from all over the world are applying, but generally speaking, most of the applications we receive are very low quality. Focusing on crafting a high-quality application that has an organized resume, thoughtful responses, and demonstrate that you are genuinely interested in joining Doist.”

While there are a lot of applicants for remote jobs (even thousands!), most of them have a general resume that they wrote a couple of years back without putting too much of effort into it. They are using the exact same resume for every remote job role they are applying to.

Put in the effort when crafting your thoughtful resume for the next remote job you’re planning to get!

Record a video intro for your remote job application

Remote company may receive thousands (still blows my mind) of other applications for their remote job opening, but most of them are plain PDF resumes that are also sent to a lot of other remote companies.

This is just a text in a PDF. Maybe there’s a photo of the person, but often not. What if you would include a little bit of your personality into the application when applying for remote jobs?

You could record a short video intro of yourself. Make it personal to the company and role you’re applying to. Talk a little bit about yourself and explain why you would make a good fit for the role. Video doesn’t need to be perfect. Don’t spend too much time on finding the right background and angle. Just shoot the video with your phone. It’s more important that you stay yourself and show your genuine interest in working remotely at the company.

“The video intro is definitely a way to stand out, and not many people take that route (even if you suggest it),” agreed Larissa when we discussed about how to stand out when applying to remote jobs at Marketgoo – a remote company behind do-it-yourself SEO tool.

Making a video of yourself doesn’t obviously guarantee that you’ll get the remote job, but it’s very likely that you at least get a personal response. Most candidates never hear back.

Also, you’re not a text in a PDF for the remote company like the rest of the applicants. You’re a moving and talking head in the video who is making effort to get a remote job in their team!

Turn rejection into a learning opportunity

The fact is, only one from the thousands (what!) of remote job applicants gets the job. You put a lot of effort into the remote job application. You researched the remote company and you know you would be great addition to their remote team. You recorded a sweet video of yourself even though it came out embarrassing. And you still didn’t get the remote job! It must be very frustrating.

Instead of getting frustrated and sending a distasteful email over a bottle of wine that you definitely regret (both the email and the bottle), you can turn this into a learning moment and an opportunity to get the remote company’s attention.

Just ask for a feedback about your remote job application – this again shows your genuine interest in the remote company and you may get some valuable insights on how to improve your application.

Several current team members at Doist were initially rejected, but got the remote job by being proactive and turning a rejection into a learning moment.

Be specific about why you’re applying for this particular remote job

I again saw the need to be specific about the company and the remote job role when I asked the CEO of SafetyWing about how to stand out when trying to get a remote job in their company.

“Answer all the questions in the application, say why you are applying to us specifically,” anchored Sondre my understanding about what is the most important when applying for remote jobs.

Competition for remote jobs is intense, but if you’re genuinely interested in working remotely, you’ll get a remote job sooner or later.

Put in the necessary effort, be specific about the remote job and company you’re applying to and don’t be afraid to be the real you – when you get the remote job, they will get to know you anyways!

Like with a lot of successes in life, persistance is again the key here. Often it’s only persistance that separates the successful from the unsuccessful.

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