3 Ways You’re Sabotaging Your Work from Home Job Search (& What to Do Instead)

I’ll be honest. The work from home job search is not for the faint of heart. Not only do you have to track down openings and beat out the competition, you’ve got to wade through often scam-filled waters to find legitimate leads.

It’s no wonder, then, so many people want to work from home but few actually do.

On top of the difficult search itself, many remote job seekers are (unknowingly) sabotaging their chances of landing the work from home job they desire.

Believe me, I know. I’ve been there myself — applied to hundreds of job leads but never got hired (was even scammed once!).

Then, I realized, it wasn’t just the job search itself that was difficult and keeping me from my work-from-home dreams. It was the way I was going about it.

Instead of making the most of my search, I was sabotaging my efforts. You may be too. But don’t worry. You can fix it.

 

Sabotage 1: You Haven’t Narrowed Down Your Work from Home Job Search

What kind of work from home job are you looking for?

If you can’t answer that question, you’re going to easily get lost in your work from home job search.

Many people decide they want to work from home. Few actually consider which kind of work from home job is right for them.

This is the most common sabotage I see. And exactly the sabotage I too committed in the beginning. I spent countless hours applying to every single work from home ad I came across regardless of the type of position. Big mistake. And a complete waste of time.

Think of it like this, if you’re looking for a traditional office job, you wouldn’t apply to every single classified ad just because the opening was in your city, right? Right. Instead, you’d narrow your search to the jobs you’re qualified for. You’d also consider things like benefits, working hours, and pay rate.

You need to treat your work from home job search the same way — don’t just apply for anything and everything because the job lets you work remotely.

Try this Instead

Before you look at another work from home job ad, make sure you know what kind of work you’re looking for. Do you need a job with health insurance? Is flexibility key? Are you looking to supplement your income?

These are all important considerations of any work from home job search. To start, let’s look at the the types of jobs out there.

As a reminder, most work from home jobs fall into one of three categories:

• Freelance
• Independent Contractor
• Employee

Which is right for you? Here’s a rundown of the pros and cons of each:

Now that you have an idea of the type of job you’re looking for, you can stop wasting time looking at the wrong job leads.

Sabotage 2: You’re Looking in All the Wrong Places

Where you’re looking for work from home jobs can make all the difference in how smoothly your job search goes. For example, if your main source of work from home job leads comes from Facebook, you’ll run into a lot of get-rich-quick schemes, MLM opportunities, and other network marketing businesses. Not exactly the right fit for someone looking for full-time work or freelance opportunities.

This is a sabotage you might not even realize you’re committing. And that’s okay. But it’s important to know not all work from home job leads are created equal.

Try This Instead

Don’t rely on just one source of work from home job leads. Sure, it’s great (and convenient) to find job leads in your Facebook feed, but they’re not always the greatest (or most legitimate). And it’s also nice to follow work from home bloggers who routinely share job leads, but these are super high competition positions!

When 12 bloggers share one lead across their social channels, that one job opening receives thousands of applicants. If you apply to only these ultra-competitive openings, the chances of getting hired are slim to none. And guess what? You’ll feel defeated before you even really had a chance of getting hired!

Instead, make it a habit to check reputable job boards and scout websites known for having remote-friendly positions listed. When you take initiative, you can uncover your own job leads that aren’t being shared with the masses. This means the competition goes down and your likelihood of getting hired goes up.

Some places to look include:

Remotive.io

Remotive.io is one of my favorite communities for remote workers. It also happens to be a great place to find work from home jobs.

Remotive partners with a number of distributed workforces to share the latest positions that range from Happiness Hero to Full Stack Developer. Make it a habit to check their job page at least once a week. And don’t forget to sign up for their newsletter and Slack Community where you can connect with fellow out-of-the-cubicle thinkers.

Rat Race Rebellion

Rat Race Rebellion, RRR for short, has been posting work from home job leads since 1999 — yes, 1999! The site was started by Christine Durst and Michael Haaren (Chris & Mike), two huge supporters of virtual work. And they want to help others around the world find work stability and improved financial prospects as remote workers.

On their updated daily job listings, you’ll find everything from full-time jobs with benefits to extra income generators (and everything in between). And the best part? They personally verify each and every listing before they publish it. That means you never have to worry about scams when you turn to RRR during your work from home job search.

AngelList

Okay, so AngelList isn’t specifically a work from home job board. It is, however, the place to find a startup job. And since many startups also happen to be remote-friendly, you can find quite a few legitimate job leads here!

A quick search today yields 259 startups hiring remote workers:

What I like about AngelList is the ability to sign up for a free account and create a profile. When you create a profile, you can more easily apply to open positions. It’s also a great way to see which companies may be a good match for you based on your skills. This will save you tons of time and streamline the application process — win, win!

Indeed

Indeed is the world’s largest job search engine. In other words, Indeed scours the far reaches of the Internet to find job postings and puts them all conveniently in one place.

With Indeed, you can literally find hundreds of real remote jobs in a matter of a few clicks. Seriously. Try it for yourself. Simply type “remote” in the “where” box below and hit search.

what	where
job title, keywords or company	city, state or zip jobs by

Easy, right? That’s why I routinely turn to Indeed to find (and share) the latest remote jobs with others. You can find everything from freelance opportunities, extra income gigs, and of course full-time remote jobs with benefits.

And just when yo thought it couldn’t get any easier, it does! If you sign up for a free account with Indeed, you can create a job alert.

With an Indeed Job Alert, you can save your remote job search. Then, once a day, Indeed will email you an updated list of the newest leads — no searching required. On average, that amounts to 40 remote jobs delivered directly to your inbox.

To set up your own job alert, simply sign up for an Indeed account (it’s free). Then search for remote jobs. From the search results page, you’ll be able to set up your alert:

That’s it. Now you’re all set up to receive a daily dose of remote jobs. It really doesn’t get much easier than that. And don’t worry — if you’re looking for freelance jobs, you can set an alert for that too. There is no limit to the alerts you can create to suit your personal work from home job search.

Sabotage 3: You’re Not Giving Off a Work from Home Vibe

Without even knowing it, you may be giving off the vibe that you’re totally not the work-from-home type. How so?

• Your resume isn’t remote-friendly.
• Your social profiles are lacking
• You don’t have an online presence to speak of

More and more, companies conduct online searches of potential candidates before they offer them a job. They’re looking at things like your social media profiles to what you share with others and even your general online presence.

Remote companies, in particular, want to see candidates that are active online. After all, as a remote worker, you’ll be interacting with coworkers via online platforms and social channels, so being active on them already shows you’ll fit right in.

Similarly, your resume may be lacking the right keywords needed to land you a work from home job. And since most resumes don’t make it in front of human eyes, it may be a big reason you’re not getting any callbacks even though you’re applying to jobs like crazy.

Try This Instead

Dust off the ol’ resume from your computer’s archives and give it a remote makeover. It’s easier than you think. It all starts with the right keywords to get your resume past applicant tracking software and in front of a real person.

The best way to strategically place relevant keywords into your resume is to use a template that can be easily customized for each job you apply to.

In this completely fictional resume, you can see just how easy it is to swap out keywords in the “skills” and “expertise” sections to better match the position you’re applying to.

But how exactly do you know which keywords matter? The job advertisement itself will contain lots of clues.

In the above example, I’ve highlighted some of the keywords you would pull from this particular job ad and incorporate in your resume. Again, having a “skills” and “expertise” section means you can easily swap out skills to better match exactly what the job ad says, giving you the best chance of getting an interview.

To see how well your resume stacks up against an advertisement use Job Scan.

This tools will tell you how well your resume incorporates appropriate keywords found in any given ad. It’s free (up to 5 scans a month), and will give you a headstart in crafting a perfectly tailored resume for each remote job you apply for.

Social Media

Once your resume is shipshape and remote-worthy, turn your attention to your online presence. Specifically, what do your social media profiles say about you?

About 60% of hiring managers check out applicants on social media. Needless to say, you want yours to give the right impression and advance your chances of getting hired.

In general, you want to refrain from posting anything politically charged, insensitive, or profanity laden. And try to keep personal photos to a PG-rating 🙂

And just because you stay off social media doesn’t mean you’re in the clear. Some companies, especially those with distributed workforces, may look at a lack of social presence as not being ‘connected’ — a definite strike against you.

So, at the very least, get on LinkedIn, make connections, and post some interesting reads related to your industry. Set up a Twitter profile and tweet  Your online presence really can make or break your chances of getting hired as a remote worker!

Improve Your Work from Home Job Search

There you have it — three unsuspecting ways you may be sabotaging your own work from home job search. Are you guilty? Let me know in the comments below. Still struggling? I want to help. Leave your questions and I’ll do my best to answer. Happy job searching 🙂

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