Build trust early
Remote employers rely on confidence that each team member will do their job and produce high-quality work. If you can demonstrate passion for what you do, that you care about your work and your motivations are in the right place, it will resonate. Consider pursuits or projects outside of your day job that illustrate this, and steps you’ve taken to hone your craft and develop your skillset. Remote employers will be interested about you as a person, so show your human side. Dialing back the corporate speak and being authentic makes you more trustworthy.
Show that you’re manageable from a distance
A lot of what happens remotely is written, so consider your CV and cover letter as your first opportunity to demonstrate your ability to convey written information clearly and concisely.
Consider how you’ve used different platforms to effectively communicate information appropriately. Here are some things to shout about:
How you’ve adapted to people’s communication preferences (methods, timing etc.)
How you’re a proactive communicator.
Steps you’ve taken to improve and hone your communication skills.
How you’ve engaged in informal conversations with colleagues.
Your efforts to meet team members offline.
Teams need people that are able to come up with creative solutions. There may come a time when the entire company is unavailable, so you will need to be versatile and capable of solving problems on your own. This might have previously come in the form of start-up, entrepreneurial or other remote work. Maybe you had to create a pandemic-related solution on the fly, or perhaps you're a new grad who completed part of your degree from home. Experiences like these are great to include in your application.
Tailor your CV (and LinkedIn profile)
If you’ve held a job that was fully remote or hybrid, make that easy to see. Prioritise points in your employment history that show how you’ve successfully worked with teammates or managers while remote.
Since so many workers have worked remotely during the pandemic, you’ll want to show how you’ve gone above and beyond while making the transition. For example, perhaps you revamped the workflow of your team to be more remote-friendly, or hired new team members and onboarded them virtually.
With more companies adopting applicant tracking systems, you need to include relevant keywords and well-articulated phrases on your CV. Mirror your experiences to what the job description is asking for and prioritise skills or tasks that are stated as required or preferred.
Another good practice is to add specific examples of how you've used remote tools and platforms. Anyone can state that they've used software X or done task Y, but being specific gives employers a better i-level and real-world experience.
Make sure your LinkedIn page is also up to date for your remote-work job search. If you’re open about your aspirations on the platform, you can add that you’re specifically looking for remote opportunities in your page headline.
Be ready and well prepared for interviews
It may not take as long to land a remote interview as it would a face-to-face, so make sure you're prepared as early as possible. Research the company, learn about their culture, what they do, and everything you might think is important. This can give you a better sense of what they're looking for in a candidate.
When interviewing don't try to be something you're not. Especially in the remote world, it's important to recognise that we all have different ways of working, and that's ok. Be truthful about your skills, the tools you know how to use, and what you expect from the job.
You might feel pressure to have the best, most-correct answer to every question. But sometimes the best answer is, "I don't know, but here's how I'd find out..."