Job Hunting

Remote Year is a work and travel program, which means that Remotes should be working throughout the entirety of their program. It is your responsibility to secure and maintain your professional position—whether that is getting approval from your current employer, finding a new remote role, making the shift to freelancing or pursuing ongoing education. Remote Year is not a job provider, but we are happy to share how and where other members of the Remote Nation have found success.

Finding a remote job is hard. It requires serious commitment—to hustling hard, using your free time to scour job postings, constantly tweaking your resume, writing and rewriting cover letters, sending personal notes to old and new connections alike and working your booty off to prep for interviews.

Don’t get us wrong—you can do it. You may need to up your caffeine intake to make it happen, but we’re confident you have what it takes. If you’re starting from scratch, we recommend a few best practices to consider before throwing yourself into the job market. Start with a few tips from Rodolphe, founder of Remotive.io, a community of 25,0000+ remote workers, on how to land a remote job.

Polish your resume and online profiles.

• We are in the digital age, and you want people to notice your professional online presence. Ensure your resume and LinkedIn are both up-to-date and showcase your best work. Watch this 30-minute primer from a Remote Year alum on how to utilize your LinkedIn profile to get noticed by hiring managers and recruiters, and this RY knowledge drop on how to write a resume.
• Many job search sites allow you to create profiles, too. Take advantage of this feature and build out your profiles on sites like AngelList, a place where thousands of startups post jobs.

Sign up for job posting alerts and newsletters.

• Receive tailored job openings right in your inbox on a daily or weekly basis, instead of spending hours perusing through job boards for relevant roles. A few of the job search sites listed below allow you to opt-in to email notifications, or there are free newsletters like Remote Jobs Club to which you can subscribe.
• Read your weekly Premote Post email to receive any featured remote job opportunities that have been shared with the Remote Year network.

Join and participate in relevant Facebook groups.

• If you’re a Facebook user, utilize this platform to search for remote opportunities. Simply type “remote jobs” in the search bar, filter results for groups and request to join a few that look legitimate and active. A few popular groups include Remote Jobs, Remote Jobs, Work Anywhere - Inventive Hub and Remote Work & Jobs for Digital Nomads.

Network, network, network.

• It’s all about who you know, right? Have conversations with anyone who will listen and mention you’re looking for new, remote opportunities. Create and foster authentic relationships with professional and personal networks and in-person events, like Meetups, or through digital platforms, like Remotive Webinars. Watch this knowledge drop from a Remote Year alum on how to successfully network in the digital age.

• In this video, Dan Gold (RY - Darien) of @HalfHalfTravel talks through the steps he took to going freelance and introduces methods you can try yourself.
• In this blog post and accompanying video, Adam Yeagar (RY - Denali) walks through his roadmap to start freelancing after quitting his traditional marketing job.
• The Muse, the go-to destination for the next gen workforce to research companies and careers, created this guide of four steps to launching a successful full-time freelance career
• BeNomad, a site dedicated to actionable resources and real insights about the digital nomad lifestyle, wrote and ultimate beginner’s guide to becoming a freelancer digital nomad.

A few other resources include...

• GitHub published this list of established remote companies. They included established tech companies for which a significant portion of the workforce works remotely.
• Zapier has a blog post that features 25+ fully remote companies that let you work from anywhere.
• Remotive created this spreadsheet of a crazy amount of startups hiring remotely. Remember to prioritize quality over quantity by finding companies that hire in your niche or expertise area.