Hiring managers’ advice for landing a work-from-home job
Highlight and Develop Your Remote Work Skills
Work-at-home jobs organize differently from jobs in which every employee works in the same office. If you know how to use Trello, Asana, or Salesforce, that is an asset to remote companies. “I would say that some of the skills that are necessary for remote work that stand out more to employers would be time management, being able to focus on productivity, fluency in different remote work platforms, and also video conferencing,” Grimmett said.
Revise Your Resume For Each Application
You should revise your resume for each job you apply for, highlighting the skills that match each one. When applying for remote jobs, highlight skills that show you don’t need to be in the office to be valuable. “It could be organization skills that can be parlayed into being a virtual assistant,” Swan said. “It could be using your people skills, meaning can you establish pretty quickly a rapport with people.”
Convert Your Office Skills to Remote Skills
You could parlay skills you developed at your last office job into something you do from home. “It might be being a lead generator,” Swan said. “If people have been a salesperson in a retail environment and they can show that they’ve been successful at that, that can be translated into more of a corporate sales environment that is not retail. There may be some hurdles to get over for sure, because it is a different kind of environment, but sales skills are transferable.”
Consider How Your Current Job Could Be Done Remotely
If you’re currently working on location, think about whether you really need to be there. “Of course, industries such as construction will always need to be in-person,” Gilbert said. “If you sit back and think to yourself, ‘If I had the software on my personal computer, I could perform my job duties at home every day,’ then odds are you’ll likely be able to sooner than later. Insurance, finance, sales and marketing, HR, and administration are a few that come to mind that will open more remote work opportunities.”
Transition to the Virtual World as a Professional Assistant
If you have experience being an office assistant, you can transfer those skills to work for someone who might not have an office, such as “small businesspeople or other people who just need somebody to take care of their appointments or keep track of email,” Swan said. “The best thing is if you have some knowledge of social media marketing and scheduling, even from writing skills that you can offer people, this can all be done remotely.”