How to land a remote job in 10 days

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Even as the number of remote opportunities out there continues to dwindle, one of the top questions I get is how to land a remote job. So let’s talk about it!

First, the caveat I always give: there is exponentially more competition for remote jobs than for on site ones, so you will need to be at the top of your game, and expect your search to take a lot longer than usual.

So with that caveat, what can you do to maximize your chances of landing a remote job?

Focus on Remote-First Companies and Job Boards

My first suggestion is to identify some target companies that are remote first and be strategic about engaging with the company, employees at the company, recruiters, etc. Get to know the product. These are things that can help you stand out from the crowd in a large applicant pool, increase the chances you get responses from recruiters/hiring managers when you do apply, etc. With the high applicant volume remote-first companies get, this can give you an edge.

The reason I suggest targeting remote-first companies vs remote jobs at non-remote companies is because there’s less risk of RTO (return to office) or of jobs being incorrectly labeled as remote.

And second, remote-first job boards can be helpful as they vet the companies/jobs to verify that they’re remote (or so they claim - I do think there can still be misses here).

A few remote first job boards to try:

Remotive: Pretty large collection of remote jobs, and they also have a paid community you can join for additional support.

Remote Source: free newsletter + remote job board

Flex Jobs: they claim to verify all remote jobs though some may be outdated

We are Distributed: for international readers, this one may be worth a try as they focus on remote, distributed opportunities available to people anywhere around the world.

We Work Remotely: large remote job board, heavy on US-based roles; companies do pay to post jobs here which limits the number of fake jobs.

There are lots more but hopefully this is a good start! One pro-tip: sign up for alerts to help you be an early applicant!

Some less common ideas for finding remote opportunities

1. Look for job posts from people working remotely. Some companies do a lot to promote themselves, others are more quiet about it. This may help you uncover some remote companies you wouldn’t have thought of. For example, there are tons of remote non-profits but most don’t have advertising budgets!

2. Look for companies using tools for remote work like Deel or Remote - their websites list their customers and these customers are likely hiring for remote roles - and at a pretty high volume that necessitates tech stacks to support their remote workforce!

3. When searching job boards, search for phrases like “async communication” or “distributed team”. These are phrases that indicate the company is remote.

Standing Out in the Process

Be highly qualified: The first thing you need to know: you need to be supremely qualified to be considered for these roles. In my opinion, it’s not worth pursuing a remote role if you don’t meet 90% of the qualifications, and in many cases, they’re landing people who are slightly overqualified or have a few years of experience in that role at that level vs people growing into the role. This will vary based on the role - in areas like HR where there’s an abundance of candidates, whereas there may be more flexibility for in demand skills like AI/ML engineers.

And the hardest part of people to accept is that you need to be highly qualified in the eyes of the reviewer taking 30 seconds to look at your application. They aren’t hiring for potential, they’re hiring for proven results and impact doing similar work in similar contexts. If you’re struggling to be objective, try leveraging your favorite AI assistant and encourage it to be brutally honest!

Differentiate yourself: This is true in any search, but particularly for remote roles where there’s more competition, do all the extra things - send the intro emails, answer all the questions, upload the optional cover letter, etc. Each of these things signals that you’re serious about the opportunity and will go the extra mile. Respond and schedule quickly when they do reach out. Send a note to the interviewer ahead of the interview (you can find their email in the invite if the recruiter didn’t share it!) and send a thank you after. Very few candidates do these things, and the ones that do definitely differentiate themselves. Hiring managers always comment on these things so it really does pay off!

Time zone flexibility and openness to contract/short-term project can also help open up opportunities for remote roles.

Demonstrate skills that line up with remote environments: If you’ve worked remotely before, note this on your resume (you can include it in parenthesis next to the employer). Remote work does come with unique challenges and some people struggle in a remote environment. So remote experience does give you an edge.

Other skills that help people thrive in a remote environment? Being self-directed, driving your own growth and development, strong written communication, and good problem-solving skills. These are areas the team will likely be looking for throughout the process, and there are small ways you can show you do/don’t have these skills just in how you engage. For example:

• a candidate who schedules quickly appears organized while one who needs reminders may raise a flag around this.

• a candidate who references the research they did appears self-directed and good at using their resources; one who asks basic questions that are in the email communication or job posting may come across as requiring more hand-holding.

• a candidate who is able to use technology smoothly comes across as as well-positioned to navigate remote work while one who struggles with their camera or with screen sharing may signal that they aren’t as comfortable with technology that supports remote work.

Listing technology you’ve used can also help signal your remote readiness - Asana, Trello, Notion, Clickup, etc. are all tools that are popular with remote companies.

And a few final tips

The search for a fully remote job in 2025 is a tough one. The vast majority of jobs are hybrid or on site. Some companies may use remote work as a carrot to try to win great talent. Others may use it to offset less desirable aspects of the job - like lower compensation and benefits.

Consider the full package and your priorities when deciding what to put an emphasis on in your search. Some hybrid jobs may still offer many days where you can work from home, and make sense if your commute is under an hour. Some jobs may be mostly remote but simply require travel a few times a year. So consider your lifestyle, and if you’re struggling to find remote opportunities, see if you can find options that fulfill most of the things you’re hoping to gain from a remote role, even if they aren’t fully remote.

Finally, in my experience, most companies aren’t willing to negotiate from fully on site to remote but some may be; often a hybrid workplace may offer more flexibility. That said, it never hurts to ask - just be prepared to hear “no” a lot. But once you’re employed, if you’re a top performer, they may become more flexible over time.

In the News

• This article on Mom Brain popped up on my feed recently. It’s from a few years ago, but very relevant today at a time when women are overworked, underpaid, and juggling far too much without societal supports. If you care about women, advocate for paid parental leave, flexible work schedules, affordable childcare and all the other things that will help women (and ultimately, society!) thrive!!

• Last week, I shared how Microsoft is offering exit packages to those deemed “low performers”. This week, they announced that they’ll be laying off 3% of their workforce.

• McDonalds is opening 900 new restaurants and hiring 375k workers. I’m sure this means they’ll be aggressively hiring across their corporate offices as well as it takes lots of HR and operations professionals to support a 45% increase in their workforce!

🙋Answering Your Questions🙋

Each week, I’ll answer one (or more!) of your questions in this section. You can submit your questions here.

Personally, I try to be myself as much as possible and do show excitement about the opportunity. Companies want to hire people who want to work for them. I don’t think people need to play hard-to-get in their job search, and in fact, most companies have enough options that if someone seems disinterested, they might cut them loose and focus on those who are genuinely excited about the opportunity.

I think it’s human nature to want to work with people we enjoy and click with and building a personal connection can only help as long as you don’t end up talking about irrelevant things at the expense of showcasing your skills!

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