Remote Job Interviews

How to Find Your Dream Job

The world-wide standstill caused by the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic is clearly far from being over. With global lockdowns sticking, it is evident that we all have to embrace the new status quo and modify our life and work habits accordingly.

For busy professionals in most industries, the worldwide lockdown has resulted in one or several of the following adverse outcomes:

  • Reduction of earnings.
  • The complete loss of jobs.
  • The inability to proceed with business as usual due to some newly introduced limitations.
  • The increased difficulty of finding new orders or job openings.

If any of these scenarios apply to you, you may feel locked in a jobless situation or a job you do not like.

Survival of the Fittest

With one in ten people becoming unemployed in many developed countries, the global labour market is going to look like survival of the fittest pretty soon. The bad news is that many sectors of the economy will remain closed while surviving businesses may need years to recover from the economic backlash.

What also makes finding your dream job extremely difficult is the lockdown itself. In many countries, companies still willing to recruit new workers cannot:

  • Organise live interviews to learn more about the candidates.
  • Run several interview stages.
  • Introduce new workers to the formed teams and ensure that new team dynamics is positive.

The good news is that some part of the workforce has already ‘been there’ and knows exactly how to overcome these challenges facing us all in the 2020’s.

Enter Remote Workers

Many professionals have never sought to work 9-to-5 jobs in the first place. In 2017, the Forbes list of best employers included 100+ companies offering flexible jobs with telecommuting options or full-freelance cooperation style. With 68% of US workers positively appraising the capability to work from the comfort of their homes, it was only a matter of time until more companies join the ranks of Amazon, Appen, IBM, and Hilton Worldwide.

However, the benefits of having a remote job are meaningless to you if you cannot find one. So, how do you search for and secure the best offering in the market without physically meeting your prospective employers? First, let us debunk several popular myths in this field:

1. Remote work is not sustainable and is only suitable for one-time orders.
Actually, the current lockdown has proved otherwise. Most freelance workers have retained their customers and proceed with business as usual. On the contrary, the increasing unemployment rates clearly indicate that traditional jobs do not provide any comparative advantage in this field.

2. It is not possible to find a ‘reliable’ remote job and build a career.
The names of the companies above clearly indicate that top employers in the market are willing to invest in their remote workforce. Moreover, a personal portfolio and ‘industry record’ can be more reliable for finding new orders and job offers than being dependent on a single provider.

3. Fully remote job interviews and recruitment are not possible since you still have to visit the physical premises of your employer.
While specific arrangements may vary depending on a particular company, many professional freelancers have never met their key clients in person over many years of fruitful cooperation. This is perfectly normal and professional.

A Crash Course in Remote Job Interviews

To succeed in getting your dream job, you need to address three separate goals:

  • To find the maximal number of job offerings that suit you.
  • To boost your potential attractiveness to these employers.
  • To schedule and successfully complete multiple interviews with their HR specialists.

Let us analyse these objectives in more detail.

1. Finding a job offering under the global lockdown can be more complicated than you think at first glance. While you should definitely browse through such websites as Glassdoor.com or Reed.co.uk or their alternatives in your area of choice, many lucrative recruitment offers are not posted there.

To avoid potential complications, top-class businesses frequently prioritise the recommendations provided by their trusted managers or employees. For example, if you are looking for a high-quality essay writing service, you will probably select the one recommended by your fellow students and having good online visibility and ratings. This means that you should become a member of your professional network or community in order to see the ‘full picture’ of your targeted job market.

This goal can usually be achieved via the following actions:

  • Join 3-5 professional forums and become a valuable member of these online communities by helping others.
  • Follow all online groups started by the companies you like and be their active member.
  • Maintain a network of contacts with your colleagues employed by competing businesses or the companies you consider interesting.

Following these simple steps can quickly expand your job search scope with ‘hidden’ offerings coming to you via personal communication channels.

2. Imagine looking for your ideal partner on a dating website or app. Since you cannot meet the candidates in person, your online profile has to demonstrate all relevant information about yourself and make you an interesting match. The same is true for your professional accounts or your own website.

  • Make a portfolio demonstrating the skills you possess and the tangible results received by your past clients.
  • Clearly explain what kind of relationship you are looking for (freelance or full-time remote work).
  • Mention the willingness to quickly acquire new competencies required for a particular job.
  • Provide some credentials from your satisfied customers.

3. After you have completed the ‘passive’ steps towards securing your dream job, it is time to enter the active phase. The primary recommendation that can be provided in this sphere is to focus on economies of scale rather than a particular company and position.

The new paradigm that may be highly valuable to you is informational interviews.
As opposed to traditional job interviews, this format is merely an informal conversation with a person working in your preferred area of interest. It can be initiated by:

  • Joining a group meeting of an online community (see above).
  • Finding some referrals via your professional network of contacts.
  • Simply contacting a person via email or social media profile.

In combination with regular job interviews, informational interviews can provide valuable insights into the potential problems with your CV or your skillset and the ways you can improve these areas. Moreover, an informal meeting can easily result in a future ‘official’ invitation to the company or getting a valuable recommendation for some other opening within the industry.

Author Bio
Anna Clarke specializes in Education, Marketing, Business and Technology topics. As the owner of online writing company 15 Writers, she has extensive experience in providing academic Literature Review writing help to students around the world


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