If you work in tech, you already know that finding remote work can be difficult. Even though remote working is on the rise, there still aren’t enough positions for all the employees who are seeking a remote career.
The internet has made job searching much easier, but among the thousands of job postings you can find online, remote jobs are still a rare find.
However, if you adjust your job search techniques, you’ll find that there are quite a few companies willing to work with remote teams, even if they don’t seem to be looking for help, or aren’t advertising their openings.
In this post, we will be discussing hacks for finding remote jobs. These are strategies that can help you increase the chances of finding a job that’s not only remote, but also fits your skill set. Let’s get started.
Everyone says to tap your network to find open positions, and that it’s all in who you know. It’s true, but no one really tells you how to do this, and many of us have a lot of anxiety around it. Here’s how you can get started.
Who should you contact for job search support? People who you have a comfortable relationship with. These are people you’ve had casual conversations with, emailed or chatted multiple times, or connected with in some other way.
As you’re less likely to get a response for your efforts, avoid connecting with people who don’t know you at all. It will be a waste of time and you’ll burn bridges before they were even standing. Only reconsider if you’re confident that you can make a decent approach with someone.
If you get nervous thinking about reaching out to people, remember that this is business; you aren’t bothering them. In most cases, they will appreciate hearing from you.
Sometimes you are helping them fill a void, and making them look good by having someone to refer to a position. There are jobs out there, and people want to fill them. You will also be helping by giving them a chance to connect you to those positions.
There are several companies that help businesses manage hiring through an online dashboard that captures applicant information, and makes it much easier for hiring managers to handle applications.
You’ve probably seen these sites:
The problem (for you) is, none of these sites let you search their sites for positions, yet they are full of great jobs that need to be filled. So this is what you do:
Go to google.com and type this in for your search:
site:zoho.com + (position, remote, or industry)
for instance: site:zoho.com remote marketing
Take any of the domains above and search for them on Twitter’s advanced search. You can include keywords such as “remote”, “marketing”, or “location”, to help you narrow the results.
Choose Live from the results to see all of the most recent tweets. Save the results page in your job search bookmark folder.
Cold emailing is one of the most used marketing techniques, and it can also work when searching for jobs. But for some reason, cold emailing scares people. They closely relate it to cold calling, when it is more like sending out your resume. For that reason, it can also be referred to as job outreach. This method allows you to find jobs quicker versus waiting for opportunities to find you.
Here’s how to get started.
It’s important to identify the type of job for which your skills will be best suited, but would also be a good experience for you. Here are some key points to help you:
Suppose your service is blog writing. Anyone who already has a blog would be able to use the service, but that could be millions of companies. You should pick something you enjoy writing about. For example, SaaS tools.
Now you know what you’re looking for: SaaS startups.
AngelList, GetApp, and Product Hunt are good examples of where you can start looking. They offer tags and decent search options to narrow the results to the specific types of companies you might want to approach.
A great platform to look in is Hubstaff Talent, which connects you with thousands of employers looking for remote professionals. Plus, it’s completely free to search and hire on Hubstaff Talent.
Keep in mind. You can do this for ANY business sector. B2C works even better than B2B because there is significantly less competition and the topics might be far more relevant to your experience.
For B2C products, you can search Google for brand names that you would want to work for, and many will have a list on their site of places to purchase products. This list is your directory.
In additional, these sources work as directories:
Unfortunately, this is where things get a little fuzzy. Do you want to be completely honest, or make it sound legitimate even if it isn’t, when getting your foot in the door? Some will try to be as honest as possible, but there are some others who won’t.
The email shouldn’t sound like too much of a pitch and it also cannot be all about you. You have to make sure they know that it’s beneficial to them, and that it’s sounds as personal as possible. Most importantly, it must be short.
For example:
Hello Software Company team,
I just read your latest post “How to save money on the hiring process” and wanted to reach out. I love the bit about saving time with interviews.
I was wondering if you are looking for additional bloggers, or have any other positions available for someone with a marketing background.
Thank you for your time,
Jane Smith
http://linkedin.com/jane-smith
Once you have the pitch written, and the directory found, it’s time to get to work. Visit each company’s site and see if they have a blog or not (when you’re searching for writing jobs, for example). You’ll have a hard enough time selling your service if they don’t already believe in what you do. If you find any websites without blog pages, you can ignore them.
Here are some of the information to put in your spreadsheet:
Once your pitches and contact spreadsheet are ready, it’s time to start sending out emails. One thing to remember is that while getting cold feet right before the moment you send them isn’t uncommon, the people you will be in touch with are professionals just like you, and that this is business.
If you get responses telling you to stop sending them emails, be sure to mark those companies on your spreadsheet and avoid contacting them again. You can use emailing tools to make things easier. Mailshake, Woodpecker, and Quickmail.io are some of the many great apps that make cold emailing more efficient.
This might be more difficult, but if you can send them a link to a site where they can learn more about your writing or service—especially costs—they’ll appreciate it.
Otherwise talk to the people who respond, thank them for their time, and try to build a relationship for the future if they cannot hire you now. This is a great way to get more work down the road (see networking above).
It takes time to get good at cold emailing, but it almost always provides work. You don’t want to sound like a robot or automated message, so try to add a bit of personalization to each email if you can.
One more thing: use a new Gmail account just for this purpose, so you don’t get listed as spam.
Hiring employees can be very tiring especially when the list of candidates doesn’t seem to have an end. Employers can sometimes hire the first ones to apply to save time and hassle. When they don’t, the main reason is because they aren’t fully convinced that any of the earlier candidates are fit for the job.
If possible, try to be one of the first applicants (or the very first, if you can) for the job that you want. The important thing is not just to be fast, but effective as well. Basically, aim to make a good impression and convince them that you’re perfect for the position as early as possible.
Tips to success:
To make this hack successful, you have to stay on top of new opportunities. This requires setting up alerts on emails, SMS, app notifications, etc. You want to be one of the very first to apply before they get so inundated with applications that they just start throwing them in the trash (yes, this happens).
Set up alerts:
Here are some apps you can use to set up alerts, so you don’t miss anything.
You can also do it manually. You can leave tabs open for the websites you’re monitoring, and refresh then scan several times a day. When you find something you like, send out an application as soon as possible.
When you start your remote job hunt, the to-do list will be long and the process might be daunting. It’s easy to get lost and disorganized, especially since you have multiple steps for each application or search.
That’s on top of some follow-up tasks you will encounter once you start the applications, such as filling out questionnaires, setting up interviews, or completing trial tasks.
Therefore, it’s a good idea to treat the whole process as a project. Break it up into smaller tasks, and create detailed checklists to make sure you’re completing all the necessary steps. Use the tasks to leave notes or even add comments with updates. You can also set reminders for yourself with weekly tasks you need to do, such as checking all the jobs boards for new positions or doing another wave of LinkedIn prospecting or following up.
This will not only help you stay organized and on task, but it will also give you a realistic overview of your current opportunities so you can better understand how to prioritize the time you have.
