I update this article as I find more resources. Last updated 10/23/19.
Please note that, unless otherwise stated, I do not guarantee the quality and reputability of the sites linked.
Telecommuting has long been touted as the future of work but, until recently, few companies have been willing to take it seriously. Now, however, there are a growing number of fully distributed (a fancy way of saying they have no office - everyone works remotely) companies out there in different parts of the world, employing people worldwide. Even some physically headquartered companies are getting into it. The opportunities are still improving, and perhaps it'll be a good opportunity for you. In this article, I will share with you some information about different things to consider to help make it easier for you to look for remote work. Do you work at a company and you feel like: "Why do I come in? I could do this at home!"? If so, remote work may be for you! I wish you success!
Can I Telecommute?
Obviously not if you do physical therapy, drive a truck, work construction, operate on people, or anything else that requires you to be physically present, the level of technology isn't currently high enough for you to do it remotely (and some may never be, partially because people may not WANT those professions to be handled through a drone/robot).
Arbitrage
If you'd like to work from home, there's an in-between option: retail and online arbitrage, which is buying stuff at a really low price and selling it again for a profit. Retail arbitrage is where people scour stores and others look at charity stores and garage sales looking for great deals on items that sell quickly and with enough of a profit margin online. Online arbitrage is when people only look at cheap prices online. If you don't want to have to drive from store to store to sale, OA is better. It's not for everyone, but if you're a shopping wizard who loves to shop, RA may be your ideal gig. Some people prefer to do both, and that's fine, too.
Popular sites to resell what you found include eBay and Amazon, and there are TONS of tools out there to help you get started, and a lot are free. Keep in mind, you'll need to have ready access to the post office and the ability to store stuff in your home, as well as have repackaging stuff and a computer. A barcode/UPC scanner is a definite plus, but there are phone apps you can use that will not only scan the code for you but they'll also tell you that items rank on Amazon and how much it'll get you. Buying a product for $1 when you can only sell it for $1.10 on Amazon isn't worth it - but what if it's worth $10? Some people are VERY good at this and not only earn huge incomes but became so successful that they have to get a warehouse and hire people to help them!
If you're using Amazon, they sell it and take a fee, and you can either be the dropshipper (FBM), or ship to Amazon and they'll ship it to the customer (FBA). Which is best? Both have pros and cons: Fulfillment By Amazon (FBA) vs Fulfillment By Merchant (FBM) and
Obviously, it's better if you have a vehicle to go to the post office, but enterprising individuals can make do until they can afford a vehicle. One important note is that if you want to do FBM to save money, you'll need to have a lot of space in your home (or have a storage space/warehouse), preferably a vehicle since you'll be going to the post office and other places daily, packing materials and boxes and, if your business grows, you'll need staff. FBA can mitigate, but not get rid of, many of these factors, at a price.
If you don't have much "seed" money, do some research and find items that have a high profit margin and quick turn-around, and start there. When it gets close to the holiday shopping frenzy (3 months before November), you can start buying up stuff that will be big sellers for gifts (again, you'll need to research to find out what's hot and what's not). In this way, you should be able to get your seed money back, plus a hefty excess, which you should reinvest back into your business. Keep increasing the seed money so that you can increase your profits and eventually you'll be at the point where you're safe and who knows - maybe you'll quit your day job.
Arbitrage can be lucrative if you're smart and diligent, so you should start looking for resources (many of which are free, but the pro stuff has a price). There are a lot of websites, browser add-ons, phone apps and PC software to help. Here are some articles, videos, sites and apps to get you started, in no particular order.
- How I Make $200/Day With Online Arbitrage
- A Complete Guide to Online Arbitrage Sourcing Tools and Programs
- How to Sell $98K per Month on Amazon Doing Online Arbitrage (In Summer):
- 10 HARD TRUTHS Why People Fail With Online Arbitrage!:
- Tactical Arbitrage FBA Online Arbitrage Sourcing Tools
- Top 14 Tools For Sourcing Amazon Inventory Online
- ABCs Of Online Sourcing
- Tools for Online Arbitrage: Sourcing, Research and Profit Calculation
- Online Arbitrage and Product Sourcing for Amazon
- ScanDroid Pro
- Findspotter
- Our 9 Favorite Chrome Extensions for Online Arbitrage
- Top Pricing & Repricing Software 2018 for Amazon and eBay
- 43 Best Amazon Seller Tools REVIEWED | Top Amz FBA Software 2018
- FBA Wizard
- Starting An Amazon Business Archives
- Retail Arbitrage 101 - The Ultimate Guide for Buying Retail and Reselling on Amazon
- The 5 Most Popular Ways To Start (or Grow) An Amazon Business
- Top 30 Recommended Retail Stores For Online Sourcing In 2018
- How To Read A Keepa Chart
- The Top 5 Ways We Source Inventory For Amazon FBA
- The Top 2 Amazon Seller Scanning Apps Reviewed And Explained
- How Much Money Do You Need To Start An Amazon FBA Business
- How To Sell On Amazon FBA - The Ultimate Beginners Guide To Getting Started On Amazon FBA
- Camelcamelcamel price searches on Amazon and other sources.
Here's a quick list of some extensions you may find useful (sorry, no links since there are too many browsers): Amazon Assistant; Amazon Quick Copy; Amazon Search Tools; Cently; Completed Listings on eBay; Ebates Rakuten: Get Cash Back for Shopping; FBA Calculator Free Extension; FBA Multi-Tool Restriction, Calculator + More; Giving Assistant Button; Honey; How Many?; Invisible Hand; Keepa - Amazon Price Tracker; PriceBlink Coupons and Price Comparison; RevSeller; Scanalyze - For Online Sourcing/Arbitrage; Tactical Arbitrage - Popular Products; Textrader; The Camelizer; and Walmart's Savings Spotter.
Aside from arbitrage, however, most remote jobs require a computer and/or a phone, sometimes with special software installed and/or specific websites. Here are some jobs that you can definitely find remote work for: Chief ____ Officer, VP, director, founder, manager, supervisor, team lead, customer service, tech support, graphic designer, programmer, web developer, executive assistant, administrative assistant, sales, PR, marketer, research, QA, tester, educator, trainer, escalations handler, scheduler, engineer, architect, and pretty much any other job that can be done with a computer and telephone, including most IT, creative and research jobs.
SCAMS
But there are scams out there, and mail-sorting/package handling has long been an area where this happens. So, do your homework by searching the net for reviews, and use the Better Business Bureau, Indeed, TrustPilot, Glassdoor and other sites to check out companies - although not all companies are listed on them. If you can't find a company listed, it may be that no employee ever wrote a review or filed a complaint, or the company is new ...or it's a scam. Again, do your homework. If a website looks too simple, it may be a scam, or they may suck at web page design. Look for non-affiliated information on the company and look on reputable sites.
7 Ways to Protect Yourself From Work-at-Home Scams
This brief article gives 6 Red Flags in Job Descriptions That Should Have You Running for the Hills and although some of the descriptions aren't comprehensive enough to cover all reasons, the list is helpful! Young people especially should take this to heart because of all the scams, like package/mail handling, payment check processing, pyramid schemes, low-paying, high-stress jobs and various other types of fraudulent/bad jobs. If it sounds too good to be true, it almost always is; it's either a con or a bad deal. If you get an unsolicited message that says you applied, or that you've been selected for a position (especially if you're not qualified for the title, or there is no title), you don't need prior experience and almost always if you can work from home, it is almost definitely a scam. Also, if they don't answer ALL of your questions completely; they don't provide an address; you can't find their business at that address (look it up on a map service); they list a location that doesn't exist or they don't seem to be located there; their website doesn't work or is shoddy; they want you to pay them something; they say you will receive checks in your name and then send cashier's checks, money orders, cryptocurrency, or wire money, especially to unspecified individuals instead of a company; or any of a number of other signs...Run away screaming! Read my article: Beware Hiring Scams for an example of a scam job I recently got offered.
HIRING PRACTICES
Some companies have learned the hard way that remote hiring requires new tactics in interviewing to screen out the riffraff, so you may find yourself having to complete tests (Crossover gives you a battery of them, including recording your voice and answering IT questions I didn't usually know the answer to that weren't relevant to what I was applying for - go figure), answering unusual questions, and even telling them about you. Some companies take 4-6 weeks just to make up their mind if they want to offer you a job, while other companies have a mandatory, 3-months, at-will, probationary period to make sure you're a good match for each other. Some companies (like [How-To Geek](How-To Geek)), though, will accept your resume even if they're not currently hiring - just in case you're a good match for them! There are some companies that ONLY hire through recruiters, while others only offer actual employment if you're in the country they're based in, and everyone else is a consultant. Many remote companies require that you be fluent in English, except linguistic jobs (like translators), so you'd be better off searching for remote work in your own language and in countries that use that language.
SALARY LIMITATIONS
Keep in mind that companies based in countries with currency that is weaker than the value of your currency may not be able to offer you a salary you can accept - I had a Malaysian company admit that to me. Other companies, however, must be on the US$ standard despite where the founders are, because they can offer good salaries. Still other companies may be pretty stingy, even with programmers, despite being 100% remote and being in the US or Europe.
Crossover is an outsourcing company that is not always one of those companies that is generous with salaries - although it depends. They offer a flat salary to everyone - no matter where you are, your marital status, how many children you have or anything else. Customer service (L1) earns $30,000/year, which is a ton of money for Indonesians, and maybe a fair salary for Canadians, but it's care for a family of 4 on that in the US. L2 will get you $60,000/year, but they do expect some pretty wicked technical skills for that amount. Programmers and managers may see even more than that. So, if you're in a country with a weak currency, Crossover may make you rich, but not all employees think it's a great place. Unfortunately, as it's a recruiter, it's hard to know which reviews are for Crossover and which are for its clientele. Also, Crossover claims that they're very fussy about who they'll accept for placement, and the tests I took seem to indicate this is probably true (although some did NOT target the job I applied for). Finally, Crossover will invite you to an online "hiring event" after you apply; if you don't attend it, you'll be rejected. Please read this article about its leaders. I am not a fan of outsourcing companies because they usually offer low wages, move jobs to cheaper countries and treat employees like numbers. TeleTech and several others fall into this category.
BENEFITS
Some (like Automattic and Zapier) offer some pretty amazing benefits, such as required vacation time, flexible hours, yearly expenses-paid company get-togethers, gym allowance, home-office allowance, new computer, and more, while others (such as Crossover) are still fairly traditional and don't really give you anything you might get at a physically located company. Because a fully-distributed company has no physical office, it doesn't have all the overhead costs, and should be able to offer better than usual salary and benefits, but if they're selling their services and products at a local price, they won't necessarily be able to!
RECRUITERS
As a side-note, be careful to note the difference between a company hiring you and a recruiting/headhunting agency. The latter takes a chunk of your income for themselves, some don't give any benefits, and some fleece you with sky-high promises and fees while giving you the shaft (ECP seems to have a bad history in that regard). Unfortunately, some of the remote-only jobs are ONLY available through these recruiting agencies.
You should also keep in mind that some companies with bad reps hire through recruiters to dodge their reputation problems so, before you accept a job, make sure you check where you'd be placed at.
Other recruiters include Toptal and Hubstaff Talent. The former has very high standards (top 3%) for freelancers they'll accept, but I've heard bad things about them, and the latter tends to focus on technical work, and I've heard good things about them.
# Job Sites # Aside from fraudulent job sites, some job sites do nothing more than recycle other sites's jobs, either by using an aggregation service which either shares job openings to multiple sites through a network (like Nexxt Network, formerly Beyond.com, which includes Monster, TechCareers, RetailGigs and 50+ other job sites), or by mining the data (scraping) from other websites without permission. Employers tend not to like websites that scrape their job openings.
TRAVEL
Maybe you'd like to travel the world, instead of working remotely - believe it or not, you can (although most countries will require a bachelor's degree to do so and, if you're teaching a language, you'll probably need both a related degree AND a teaching certificate)! These places help you find placements around the world, so you can work and explore!
BeHere helps women who move around the world find places to live, gyms, co-working spaces and more.
Croissant App helps you to find co-working spaces in various parts of the world.
Jobbatical helps you find temporary work in countries worldwide.
Remote Year helps you to find work for 4-12 months from one part of the world to another.
TechMeAbroad (IT) focuses on tech jobs in numerous countries for those wanting work overseas.
Working Nomads* - Specializes in jobs for people who want to travel
FREELANCING
If you're the type that likes to make projects and then sell them to companies who want to use them, or you like to do piecework (making things when you get an order, like a blueprint, drawing, app, etc.), you should look at these. Some are specialist sites while others, like Fiverr and Upwork, allow freelancers in most any field. * means the site has some sort of application/screening process.
- Campfire Labs hires freelance journalists and writers who already have experience with top companies, and pays a very nice fee for your work. They take the top 1%.
- CloudPeeps
- Coworks has a curated list.
- Fiverr
- Freelance Writing Jobs: Writing, Online Content, Editing, Blogger, Publishing, Telecommute/Flexible
- Freelancer
- Gigster
- Gun.io* has an extensive, triple-vetting acceptance process.
- Guru
- HubStaff Talent
- K & L Industries LLC
- LinkedIn ProFinder
- OnSite*
- ProZ - freelance translators, interpreters, subtitlers and other language professionals.
- Reddit ForHire - freelance for hire can post (read the rules!), requires an account must be older than 10 days and have more than 50 combined link/comment karma. Connected flair:hiring thread also has some freelance opportunities.
- Rev* - translation, transcription, subtitles & captions
- PeoplePerHour*
- Side Projectors
- Speedlancer* has an application and screening process.
- Time to Teach/The Center for Teacher Effectiveness is specific to behavioral education trainers (educators and speakers welcome) who want to have their own business speaking and training but with the program and materials already, plus support. Train-the-trainer program costs $800 ($675 if you pay within 30 days of signing contract). You will provide training to help school teachers, principals and administrators as an independent contractor, meaning you'll have to do your own marketing. NOTE: You have to do your own marketing; I.E. Find your own clients, make your own appointments, etc.
- TopTal* has a very stringent acceptance policy - only the top 3% are accepted.
- Upwork
- The Virtual Call Center offers 3 levels of independent, remote contractor work (paid by order, by the minute or by the hour), doing customer service, order-taking (foods, tickets, etc.), etc., often for large companies. Salaries range from $9-$18. You must join an info session and orientation, then pay for certification and a background check (if needed).
- Wethos takes in qualified freelancers and puts them into a team to work on an existing project.
- The Work at Home Woman* is for women only, and the list is updated each Monday.
- Working Solutions helps connect you with remote jobs and has specific requirements to accept you, such as a landline, and you'll have to complete a series of assessments.
- Work In Startups (startups, tech) has full-time, part-time, freelance and internships, European-based, job posting and expiration dates shown. Jobs for marketers, testers, designers, managers, consultants, programmers, sales and co-founders.
- X-Team (IT) is not REALLY freelancing, because you work for them; it is specific to developers working on contracted jobs writing programs for other companies.
TELECOMMUTE JOB SITES
It's not the largest job market, in terms of careers and availability, but there are opportunities. Here are some websites that I know about, and I've listed a few articles after that. Please note that "remote" doesn't always mean telecommute/at-home. Many of these sites also offer free information on job searching, interviewing and more. Please note that curated sites (marked with * for free and $* for paid) are liable to give you better quality results because they screen out scams and bad companies. Following are lists of remote-specific, generalist and non-profit sites, along with a few articles to give you some more choices and info.
Remote-Specific Sites
- Authentic Jobs - designers, developers, and creative pros
- Escape the City dates only visible on individual job postings, not in preview list.
- Dynamite Jobs
- Europe Remotely* has remote jobs only for people in Europe.
- FlexJobs$* has remote & flexible jobs, and over 40,000 organizational info listings.
- HEA Employment has no sort features and you must sign up to apply for jobs you're interested in. I have a bit of concern about their legitimacy because they have a testimonial on their about page with an image, implying that is "Stacy H.", but the image is a stock image used for marketing.
- Just Remote (tech, management) offers design, developer, marketing and management/c-suite jobs.
- Landing.Jobs (IT) has programming jobs in European companies
- NoDesk also offers lists of remote companies and remote job boards.
- Outsourcely - worldwide
- Pangian offers remote jobs and a remote job academy, as well as a chat area, although most jobs are not accessible if you don't pay.
- The Penny Hoarder Work-From-Home Job* uses article titles that sometimes include the job title and is for US jobs only. Icons show location
, whether there are benefits
, a flexible schedule
and if phone work is required
. Unfortunately, the summary list doesn't show when it was posted, and the job articles don't necessarily give much info or have a posting date. They state that they "vet" (curate) jobs they post about. You can search by keyword and location.
- Power to Fly is for women, trans, gender non-conforming and non-binary people. They have an application & screening process that may take 2-4 weeks.
- Rat Race Rebellion has a completely different and, for me, inconvenient way of sharing job openings.
- Remote.co
- Remote.com occasionally sends you invitations to apply for specific jobs, although I don't know who sends the invitations, shows companies you're interested in and which are interested in you, has an internal message system and connection network, and you can create a profile.
- Remote OK has a list of top companies and remote work statistics. I couldn't find any other info about them, not even an about/contact page. The guy who made it is Peter Levels.
- Remote Work Hub*
- Remotees (IT) is an aggregator that saves you some time because it lists certain remote jobs from other sites, including We Work Remotely, Stack Overflow, Jobspresso, Remote OK, GitHub, Dribbble, Remotive, Working Nomads, and Authentic Jobs. They do not put a date on the jobs, and the links take you to the originating sites.
- Simply Hired
- Skip the Drive has a company list, aggregates using Jobs2Careers, no dates (but you can sort by date), and links to sites like Career Builder, Career Arc, Monster, Zip Recruiter, Experteer, Every Job for Me, Job Case, Velvet Jobs, Virtual Vocations and Geebo.
- TranslatorsCafé.com has linguistics jobs (interpreting, translating, copywriting, editing, captions/subtitles, etc.).
- Virtual Vocations$* has 15,288 researched, telecommute-friendly company profiles. They have a limited number of free jobs listed, too.
- We Work Meteor (Meteor) is niche-specific: remote jobs for the app Meteor. No about/contact/FAQ page.
- We Work Remotely has contract jobs, too, and offers a list of remote companies, including their top 100.
- Wemote offers a place to put your anonymous profile and they work to help you make connections and curate jobs for you. Instead of your photo and name, you choose an iconized animal to represent you (choose wisely so that it matches the work you seek!). I have yet to see a job opening there or be matched to a job, although I can ask to be connected to several companies daily.
- Workaline
- The Work at Home Woman* is for women only, and is updated each Monday.
Virtual Vocations has produced a list of 50 telecommute job sites, not all of which are on this list.
Non-Telecommute-Specific Sites
You can search on tradition job sites for "telecommute", "remote", "fully distributed", "home" and similar. Who knows what you'll find - if they're famous sites, it's pretty much a sure bet you'll find lots. For the websites below, I've used a modified link to bring up remote jobs, where possible. You'll need to change the location on some sites. If you have a problem with a link, it's probably because I incorrectly erased the location and affiliate info from it (send me a comment so I can fix it, please), so just go to their website and type in the keywords above. If that doesn't bring up anything, try each word separately to bring up jobs - some websites use all, but some don't.
- AngelList (startups, tech): offers full-time, part-time, internships from all over the world, with 30+ job positions in tech and running a startup (including C-Suite positions). No info on when a job was posted.
- Authentic Jobs (IT, creative): "home" and "remote" has Full-time, Contract, Part-time, Freelance, Moonlighting, and Internships.
- Behance (IT, creative)"remote" and "home"
- CareerBuilder has jobs and resume storage.
- CareerHooks
- Clearance Jobs specializes in jobs that require security clearance.
- Cryptocurrency Jobs serves blockchain and cryptocurrency companies only (type in "remote" for the location), no about/FAQ page.
- Direct Employers DE Jobs - lists millions of jobs worldwide
- Dice (IT)
- #epicjobs
- Dribbble (IT, creative) has a designer's network.
- Expert Job Match requires that you type in your location, so enter "remote telecommute" in the job description field. No ability to sort results. Probably uses an aggregation service or maybe scrapes from other job sites.
- Every Job for Me requires that you type in your location, so enter "remote telecommute" in the job description field. Click "skip" in top-right corner to bypass signing up after searching. Some sorting functions available. Probably uses an aggregation service or maybe scrapes from other job sites.
- F6S No dates on preview list - only job listings. They also help startups. Connect with Accelerators, Funds & Investors, also get connected with startups looking for your skills. They also offfer some free services for tech startups.
- Find Dream Jobs requires that you type in your location, so enter "remote telecommute" in the job description field. No ability to sort results. Probably uses an aggregation service or maybe scrapes from other job sites.
- Geebo offers jobs by location (city, state/province: certain parts of US only) as well as classified ads, scams and shams, adwatch (it watches for ads with the keywords you select and emails you). Select your location first. I guess it's like Craig's List. Registration required to apply.
- GitHub (IT) is not a job board, but they list IT jobs.
- Glassdoor not only offers jobs, interview & salary info, and resume storage, they also provide reviews of companies - possibly the most complete, although TrustPilot only does reviews, and Working Mother offers a list of best companies to work for, along with a lot of resources.
- Government Jobs lists jobs with city and state governments in the US
- Hacker News/Ycombinator isn't a job site, and it seems they use an aggregator to make an article with jobs listed, but there doesn't seem to be an easy way to search to find remote jobs. You can use kristopolous' console script to search the thread.
- Handshake specializes in jobs, internships and volunteer work for students and recent grads.
- Hired (IT, management) has Software Engineering, Engineering Management, Design, Data Analytics, Developer Operations, Quality Assurance, Information Technology, Project & Product Management; make a profile first. They seem to offer primarily tech and management jobs.
- Indeed has jobs, resume storage and company reviews.
- It's My Career sends notifications to your desktop about jobs, but doesn't get your consent to do so. It also forces you to register if you want to see the results of your job search and claims to be affiliated with several companies, including Indeed, but I don't see the proof. Be careful.
- JobCase aggregates from your choice of sites: CareerBuilder, Glassdoor, Indeed, LinkedIn, JobInsider & JobCase itself. It requires a location but sometimes doesn't turn up anything remote when I search "USA" with all sites selected.
- Job Center of Wisconsin is often recommended by experts in WI, but is a bit difficult to navigate. Used by the US Dept. of Vocational Rehabilitation & its partners to place clients.
- Job Country lists jobs from multiple job sites - scroll to the bottom for other countries.
- Job Insider no search options other than by keywords and job titles list.
- The Job Network sends notifications to your desktop of jobs, but doesn't get your consent to do so. Be careful.
- (Jobilize](https://www.jobilize.com/job/search/api?q=remote+telecommute&loc=) lists jobs worldwide by mining many different websites.
- Jobs in Cincinnati
- Landing.Jobs (IT) has only got European jobs.
- Lara Jobs (IT) focuses on Laravel and PHP, as well as other tech jobs.
- LinkedIn is probably the largest business networking website. They have a resume builder if you pay for premium membership, but it's only as good as what you put in your profile and how well you can edit it. Free users have the ability to make a profile (basically, their resume), participate in their forums, write posts and articles, network with other people in their circles, connect with some people, and have a limited ability to do other things.
- Milwaukee Jobs
- Monster
- MyJobHelper
- Naukri specializes in jobs in India.
- Nerdy Hire is scraping data from other sites or using an aggregation service.
- Neuvoo offers a USA tax (federal, state, SSI) calculator, scrapes data from other sites or uses aggregator.
- Nurse is specific to nursing, and has services to help nurses and aides.
- O*NET Online is considered one of the best places to look for jobs by some experts, but it's confusing.
- Purple Briefcase specializes in jobs, internships and volunteer work for students.
- Recruit Military specializes in jobs for veterans.
- Reddit Hiring is a Reddit thread that lists a wide variety of temp/perm/freelance job openings
- Reddit Internships for free and paid internship opportunities
- Stack Overflow (IT) has a major forum for tech conversations, so it makes sense that they advertise IT jobs.
- StartUs is startup-specific in Europe.
- Stella supposedly offers jobs not found elsewhere. You'll need to type in "remote telecommute" and delete the location info.
- Tech Careers has more than just techjobs.
- The Muse
- Upward.net requires that you type in your location, so enter "remote telecommute" in the job description field. No ability to sort results. Probably uses an aggregation service or maybe scrapes from other job sites.
- USAJobs.gov has only government jobs.
- Work In Startups (startups, tech) has full-time, part-time, freelance and internships, European-based, job posting and expiration dates shown. Jobs for marketers, testers, designers, managers, consultants, programmers, sales and co-founders.
- Zip Recruiter
Non-Profit Job Sites
- 80,000 Hours
- EA Work Club
- Effective Altruism Job Postings on FaceBook
- GoodWill
- Idealist
- Independence Now specializes in helping the disabled.
- Jobs That Help
Further Resources
- Free Getting Started With Telecommuting Course - Virtual Vocations
- JobKit* provides a subject-oriented list of job boards.
- Free Code Camp offers free web development and design courses, including certifications. They have chat, forums, videos and more, are a 501(c)(3) charity and the best part of all is that if you already have the skills to complete one of the projects (milestones), you don't have to complete the exercises before it - they're testing your skills, not forcing you to study what you already know. Want more? If you get all 6 certificates, you'll get a full-stack certificate, and they are recognized by many companies and schools. Did I mention it's free?
- Skillcrush teaches the tech skills you need to build a flexible and fulfilling career. You'll get certifications and, unlike some other sites, once you've paid you have access for life.
- WorkinTech.io* (IT, creative) has job boards.
- Here is a list of Hubstaff's 25+ Resources That Will Help You Land Your Dream Remote Job. It's a good resource and includes a list of remote companies and a couple other resources, but it's 3 years old, so some of the info is not entirely correct {I can tell you right now that BitWage, 6. Arctic Startup, 15. Workatho.me, 22. Inbound.org (aka GrowthHub) and 23. Growth Hackers (the job list) are all dead}.
- Zapier's 25+ Fully Remote Companies That Let You Work From Anywhere is another old article, but it does list several remote companies that you can hit up for a job.
- Rodolphe, founder of Remotive.io, has a list of 900+ Startups hiring Remotely in 2019 that you can try, too.
- Pangian offers a list of over 80 companies hiring remotely in 2019
- This is a much shorter article from Skip the Drive for choice remote companies, with a brief description and rating of each.
RESUMES / CVs
Everyone's giving out advice about resumes. I'm not an expert on this, but I found some resources that might help you.
Aside from a personalized cover letter, networking with others, and interview skills, your resume is probably the most important tool you have for getting a job. Since the late 1990s, a monster has arisen to plague job seekers, and it is the boon of HR: Applicant Tracking System (ATS) software. I'm currently writing an article about it, which should be done in a week or two. The short story is it's an automatic system to sort resumes based on specific criteria and, even if you're the best candidate, if your resume doesn't match the criteria your resume will get a low ranking. It'll never be seen by a person. It's a known issue, and it affects lots of people. I'm not good at resume writing so, although I'm qualified, two different ATSs scored me at around 25% for what I'm applying for. One ATS even marked me as highly qualified for Java because several of my jobs had been on the island of Java, Indonesia!
Thus, it is important not only to get your resume out there but to find expert help to make it more likely to match ATSs. There are strategies for this, but they aren't 100% because every ATS works differently. That said, if you can afford the time, learn the strategies and fix your resume, or get help.
There are some places out there where you can make your own resume, too. Here are 3 options, each with multiple templates - free or paid. There are others, so feel free to search!
- Resume Hero
- Enhancv
- KickResume also helps you to publish it on a simple website.
- StandardResume
- FindDreamJobs's Resume Builder
- LinkedIn's Resume Builder
*Keep in mind that the fancier a resume is, the less likely it'll make it past ATS software.
Other Resources
Slack Communities can be used to help you connect with people with similar interests, which can be a great way to find work.
Slofile lists 1,000+ different types of Slack communities by 29 categories, 22 language and 7 regions. It is easy to search.
Standuply has a list of 2,000 in 8 categories with sub-categories.
AirTable has almost 60 fine-grain topics and over 450 communities organized in a database you can look through. You can view by topic, location or as a grid (a spreadsheet).
Job Sites Where You Can Create an Online Resume (Profile) - My article shares the features and sections of several websites that offer profiles. On LinkedIn
Should Your HRD Use Applicant Tracking System (ATS) Software? - My article about ATS software, for both businesses and job-seekers. On LinkedIn
8 Things You Need To Know About Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) - ATS is the bane of job seekers and the boon of HR. It weeds out candidates - including some of the best - if you don't know how to write your resume so that a PROGRAM will like it. It's not how qualified you are for the job, it's how good you are at writing your resume to match the algorithms, which puts many people at a severe disadvantage, especially with large companies (80% of Fortune 500 companies use ATS)! Are you being weeded out?
Do a Free Scan of Your Resume to See what ATS Rates It for the Job You Want. It also offers LinkedIn Optimization. The ATS scan gives you several helpful free tips to improve your resume, but you'll need to pay to get them all, while the Optimization only gives you tips for your LinkedIn Basic Info (job title, name, photo,location, and industry) - you must pay for the rest.
Zip Job will write your resume for you, including ATS compliance, for a fee. You can get a free resume evaluation, too, with general advice, but the specific advice must be paid for.
There are professional resume services out there that charge hundreds, even thousands, of dollars and guarantee results. If you're not good at making a resume and don't have any HR experts as friends, you might want to shell out that money but I'm not sure if it'll be worth it if you're looking at jobs with salaries that are fairly low. Also, keep in mind that, as with companies you want to work at, you should carefully research these resume services to make sure that they're not fraudulent!
Please note that if you upload your existing resume to a site, or import it from LinkedIn, you'll probably need to edit it because some websites don't parse the information correctly and your resume on their site will be wrong, while others will be looking for data LinkedIn didn't provide or you didn't fill in. For example, when I used my LinkedIn resume on certain employers websites, it was expecting to see the starting and ending months for former employers and, quite frankly, I can't remember that far back so it's empty on LinkedIn. And, as always, these automatic resume approvers cannot work magic - garbage in means garbage out no matter how nice the formatting is. So, after you upload your resume, make sure to check all the data!
Reviews of 9 Resume Writers...and resume writing services has links to local services and executive-level resume services.
A couple of years ago, I used Resume Hero's service. It takes in your info, allows multiple resumes, and has a few different templates to choose from. It's not perfect, and I had some problems with how it interpreted my resume when it parsed it, so I had to do some editing (other job boards as well as headhunter and company HR sites sometimes make the same mistakes), but it may be a starting point.
I took a look at the resume builder that LinkedIn offers if you pay for their pro membership but it is entirely dependent on your profile so, if your profile sucks, so will your resume. It uses a very basic format that LinkedIn claims is popular. This is going to be true of most resume builders, I suspect.
A lot of websites now offer this service, including Indeed. [Resume Robin] will distribute your resume to a bunch of sites.
- 6 Resume Tips from the Pros - ZipRecruiter
- The LinkedIn Cheat Sheet for Advancing your Career - Sam Oke, Symphony Inc. (I had to sign up to get this, but I'm sharing it with you.)
- 139 Action Verbs to Make Your Resume Stand Out
- ZipJob's Top 11 Sites to Post Your Resume To
- CareerCloud's The 10 Best Sites to Post Your Resume Online
I hope that this article helps you to find work - it's based on my own - current - job search for remote work. It took days of research and months of job hunting to write. If it does help, please add a comment letting us know where you found the job! :)
If you work for one of the companies listed and see an error, or would like to offer an affiliate connection, please let me know! :)
If you have suggestions about other sites, let me know that, too!
(This is a greatly updated version of a post from earlier in February.)
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