Working from you laptop is the future and there are so many ways you can find remote job opportunities, whether that is part time, freelance, or full time. According to a FlexJobs survey, 66 percent of workers would prefer to work remotely full-time after the pandemic. Once you’ve built up your skills for remote work and have figured out what industry you want to work in remotely, it’s time to apply! Before we dive into where to look, I want to review a few tips to keep in mind while you’re on your hunt for taking the next step in your new remote career.

5 tips when looking for remote work

You WILL NOT get a yes to every job you apply to, and that is okay! We want to set ourselves up for success as best we can and the way we do that is through preparation.

TIP #1: Be specific about the jobs you apply to

Be very clear about the type of role you want. Do your research on what types of roles are best for your experience level based on your skills. As a strong applicant, your work/skills will cater to specific roles. It will be a less overwhelming process if you focus on 1 type of role to apply to and look for than 3-10 (example: ONLY looking for positions as a UX designer vs. looking at marketing coordinator, graphic designer, web designer, or digital marketing assistant roles).

Tip #2: Thoughtfully apply to a few jobs instead of spam applying to 50

A hiring manger (or contractor) will know if you just submitted a copy and paste application. You are going to want to tailor your resume specifically to each job you apply to in order to showcase how your experience and skills will benefit and be used in THAT specific role.

Tip #3: Do your research

You want to demonstrate you care and know about the business or company you are applying to work for or freelance with. If you aren’t familiar with their goals, products or services or what they do, they will immediately read as “desperately looking for a job” instead of “I’m ready to help crush it in this position for you”. The more you can relay you know what they are looking for and what they need in your application and interview, they better they can see you on their team.

Tip #4: Don’t be afraid to followup/reach out directly

Anyone hiring tends to be BUSY. If you are applying to a small company or business, they probably do way more than just review potential hires. If you are applying to a large company, they probably receive hundreds of applications. So if you can find someone’s email at the company to reach out directly to about applying or getting on the phone with them, the better your chances are.

Tip #5: Don’t take it personally

Anyone hiring for a role knows what they are looking for. And if that position isn’t suited for you, it is not against YOU as a person! The last thing you want is to end up in a job (even though remote!) you don’t vibe with. The person doing the hiring generally has a better idea of that fit than the applicant (speaking from experience!). Your best fit is out there! It just might take a few tries, so don’t give up and don’t take it personally.

100+ Websites to look for Remote Work and Jobs in 2021

Let the search begin! It is important to remember there are different ways and methods to look for remote work. I will outline them below for you so you can be more targeted in your search.

Remote Specific Job Boards

These job board sites specifically only list remote jobs. They will list jobs from fully dispersed teams AND companies that just have some opportunities that are remote. I usually suggest to start here.

1. Remote.co
2. Remotive.io
3. LetsWorkRemotely.com
4. Jobs.Crossover.com
5. VirtualVocations.com
6. PowertoFly.com
7. WorkingNomads.co
8. Jobspresso.co
9. We Work Remotely
10. MediaBistro.com
11. RemoteOK.io
12. Problogger.com
13. Talent.Hubstaff.com
14. HitMarker.com
15. Pangian.com
16. Skipthedrive.com
17. JustRemote.co
18. RemoteWorkHub.com
19. DynamiteJobs.co

Job Boards with Remote Options

These are my best kept secrets! This is how I first entered the remote work world as well as startup tech space. A little insider tip is going the route of working for or freelancing for startups – they tend to just need the talent and are willing to work around location (and sometimes tend to be remote anyways, even though they don’t *advertise* they are remote).

1. Angellist
2. LinkedIn.com
3. Authenticjobs.com
4. Glassdoor

Freelance/Contract Work

Freelancing or contracting is a great way to get started with working remotely (this is how I first ever started after graduating college!) The misconception with freelancing or contracting is that it is just odd jobs and small projects, but most of my contracting experience has come from long term work with one or two companies. Small companies or startups tend to need work longer term, but can’t yet afford to hire full time, so there are great opportunities to start that way (which sometimes the potential to be hired full time remote later on).

1. Upwork
2. Fiverr
3. Flexjobs
4. Freelancer
5. Guru
6. Mechanical Turk
7. Toptal
8. Freelancermap.com
9. People per hour
10. iFreelance
11. OnSite
12. Outsourcely.com

Fully Remote Companies

There are more and more fully dispersed companies, but sometimes it is best to go to their job listings on their site directly.

1. Invision
2. Automattic
3. Bandcamp
4. Pressable
5. Buffer
6. DuckDuckGo
7. CleverTech
8. Elastic
9. Sticker Mule
10. GitHub
11. Help scout
12. Toggl
13. Toptal
14. Zapier
15. ChartMogul
16. HotJar
17. FlexJobs
18. Doist
19. Knack
20. Ghost

Companies that hire Remote Workers

Just like the fully remote companies, it is sometimes best to go directly to a company’s site and look at their job listings page directly and filter out for remote work options. More and more large companies are now opening additional remote positions, so now is the time to start looking!

1. SalesForce
2. Dell
3. Geico
4. Amazon
5. Harvest
6. Trello
7. Twitter
8. Quora
9. Mozilla
10. Adobe

Working remotely has changed my view of what is possible

As more and more companies embrace remote work for the long term, I imagine even the number of jobs available will continue to grow. Working remotely has given me so much flexibility in my life without having to be in one location in order to advance and grow my career. Not only has it allowed me to have a better life balance and overall wellbeing, its allowed me to be in places that are less expensive to live or visit, travel anywhere in the world, and just improve my overall quality of life.

If it wasn’t for working remotely, I wouldn’t have so eagerly taken on living in a new country or moving away from New York. Seriously, the ability to work remotely has drastically changed my career and life and i am so thankful for it and believe if you really want to work remotely, YOU CAN!

So good luck on your remote job hunt!

Ready to take the next step? Get everything you need to work from anywhere inside my starter kit!