The US Bureau of Labor Statistics estimated that at least 27 percent of US workers work remotely (including hybrid), as of September 2023. The good news is that this figure is predicted to rise, with up to 37 percent of Americans working from home by 2030, and 74% of companies planning to implement a hybrid work model, according to recent research.
If you find yourself working in a role or company that has no remote potential, or you are unemployed and seeking remote or hybrid jobs, the good news is that there are plenty of career opportunities, remote-first companies, and hybrid employers that afford this level of flexibility.
How do you find remote roles?
To find fully remote and/or hybrid remote roles, you can use sites such as Remote.co, We Work Remotely, LinkedIn’s job board, Reed, and Indeed. Although the latter three are not remote-specific, they do include a filter by which you can choose to only display roles within your industry that satisfy the remote criteria. It’s also worth looking into start-up job boards such as Otta and Work In Startups. Often the employers listed will be quite flexible in their policies and may even have rapidly expanding global teams that foster a remote working environment.
And of course, don’t forget to tap into your network. Your professional connections may be able to refer you to someone they know, or to their own employer, especially if they are already working remotely.
The online job board that specializes in remote and flexible work, FlexJobs, has released data on 15 companies they have identified who are hiring for the most remote jobs across a variety of roles over the last three months. These roles span from social media managers, to accounts specialists, to project and program managers, to sales executives, and marketing analysts.
Before we get into the list, here’s a very important point to remember:
- Robert Half International
- CVS Health
- Kelly
- Randstad
- LHH—Lee Hecht Harrison
- Thermo Fisher Scientific
- Kforce
- UnitedHealth Group
- CFS—Creative Financial Staffing
- Stride, Inc
- Twilio
- Aquent
- Aston Carter
- BCD Travel
- Welocalize
Now, for the not-so-good news.
Getting hired as a remote worker is becoming increasingly competitive due to the saturated demand, especially since the pandemic. For you to maintain a competitive edge in the remote job market, you need to understand and display key competencies that are required for success in a remote or partially remote role.
Remote worker strengths employers are looking for
Many employers are seeking key qualities that signal a candidate will not only thrive in the role itself, but also in a work-from-home environment. Here are a couple of the most essential key qualities you’ll need to demonstrate, and how:
Collaboration
Especially when working at home, collaboration signals a candidate will be adaptable, work well with others, and keep their team and the business on track for success. If you don’t consider yourself a team-player or find it necessary in your current or previous in-office role, it will become almost imperative when you start working from home.
Through maintaining a collaborative spirit, using Slack channels or Teams for example, to keep your colleagues abreast of updates, just as you would if in the office, you can ensure a seamless transition to remote work and success in your new role.
To demonstrate your collaborative skills to a prospective employer, you could refer in your resume and in your job interview to the time during the pandemic when everyone was forced to work from home, when you maintained active communication with your team and impactfully collaborated to a project that led to a successful outcome. Be sure to explain what exactly that collaboration looked like in that role, and quantify specifically what the successful outcome was.
Communication
Similarly to collaboration, communication skills are paramount to an effective remote work environment. Remote teams collaborate more efficiently when everyone is on the same page, which can only happen if there’s clear communication. It’s easy for messages to become misinterpreted if relayed via email or even a Teams message, so try to be as clear as possible, considering the reader at the other end of your message and possible ways the message could be received and interpreted.
You can evidence your strong communication skills by undertaking short professional development courses, or again, referencing to the time you worked remote or hybrid previously.
Self-motivation
Working from home requires a good deal of trust—for both you and your employer. Because it is virtually impossible for managers to check in constantly when you are working from home, you’ll need to demonstrate how you manage time effectively, work independently, and balance competing priorities to meet project deadlines without having someone over your shoulder. There are plenty of ways to evidence self-motivation, using examples within and outside of work.
For example, if you studied from home recently while working and balancing family responsibilities, this would make for a fantastic example of how you were able to pace yourself through assignments, while achieving deadlines at work in addition to completing tasks at home simultaneously.
Remote roles are in abundance, and based on the future outlook, they don’t appear to be declining any time yet. Whether you’re currently employed and seeking to pivot or change jobs, or you’re unemployed and actively seeking work, you need to adjust to this new norm by actively developing your “remote” skills so that you become an asset to employers and thrive in your career. Pull from a variety of experiences so that you can effectively highlight these strengths on your resume and throughout the application process, thus making yourself a sought-after candidate.
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