Remote work has emerged as a beacon of opportunity in the ever-evolving landscape of the global job market, especially in 2023. The year 2023 has unfolded new opportunities for job seekers where geographical boundaries have blurred, and the physical office space is no longer a limiting factor in career progression.

Unfortunately, for job seekers looking to land a remote job, particularly without prior experience, may seem challenging. Yet, in this digital age, there are tons of resources that are designed to bridge the gap between aspiring remote workers and their dream jobs. In this blog post, we will navigate through myriad possibilities, offering practical advice and actionable steps to empower individuals in securing remote jobs, even with no experience in hand.

Let’s explore the pathways, strategies, and insider tips that can elevate your remote job applications.

Identify the Experience You Already Have and the Ones You’re Lacking

You need a thorough self-assessment when you perceive yourself as lacking in experience. This involves recognizing and analyzing the skills and experiences you already possess, as well as identifying the areas that require enhancement and development.   

Recognizing Your Existing Skills

• Transferable Skills: Take a look at your past experiences, whether in education, volunteering, or any other activities. Identify skills that are transferable to a remote work setting, such as communication, time management, critical thinking and problem-solving.
• Technical Skills: Evaluate your proficiency with digital tools and platforms, which are pivotal in a remote work environment. This could include familiarity with communication tools like Slack or project management tools like Asana.
• Soft Skills: Never underestimate the value of soft skills. And the most important ones are adaptability, self-motivation, and collaboration. These are often highly sought after for remote working.

Identify Areas for Development

• Gaps in Skills: Identify the skills that are commonly required in the remote jobs you’re looking to apply but currently lacking. This might involve specific technical skills like front-end development, UX designing, digital marketing, product marketing, etc.
• Industry knowledge: If you’re venturing into a new industry, find out the key knowledge areas that you need to know and familiarize yourself with. This will involve understanding industry jargon, and emerging trends.
• Networking: Recognize the importance and the benefits you can get from connections and networks within a remote work sphere. If this is something you haven’t explored, consider it a must-have skill that you should focus on.

Developing A Strategy

• Skill Development: Create a plan to acquire or enhance the skills you’re lacking. This might involve taking online courses, attending workshops, or getting the right guidance from mentors.
• Build a Portfolio: Even if you don’t have formal job experience, creating a portfolio that showcases your skills, projects and any freelance works can serve as tangible proof of your abilities. For example, I’ve landed a job in a global SaaS company as a Regional Marketer by exhibiting my past projects and my own personal blog.
• Engage in Volunteer/Free Work: Volunteering remotely for roles and projects aligned with your career aspirations will help you fill the experience gap and also provide you with real-world examples of your capabilities.
• Join Online Communities: Engage in forums, Facebook groups, and online communities relevant to your desired industry. This can be a valuable place to learn, network and discover opportunities.

Research What Remote Companies Are Looking For

It is important to gain a deep understanding of what potential employers are looking for in candidates. You may already have your own skills and experiences, but they may not be sufficient for you to get in front of potential remote employers. This will help you gain the ability to tailor your applications effectively but also align your skill development with market demands. This is how you can conduct research into what remote companies looking for in remote employees:

Understand the Job Descriptions

• Key Skills and Qualifications: You need to pay close attention to the skills and qualifications listed in the job descriptions. Identify commonalities across various remote job listings to pinpoint the most important skills in your desired field.
• Roles and Responsibilities: Understand the tasks and responsibilities associated with the roles you want to explore. This will help you identify any gaps in your knowledge and experience.
• Cultural Fit: Remote companies often look for candidates who align with their culture and values. Take a look at the company’s website, mission and vision, and social media accounts to get a sense of what they value.

Explore Industry Trends

• Industry demands: It is essential to understand the current demands in the industry. This could involve recognizing the impact of global events on the industry, emerging markets, or changes in consumer behaviour.
• Emerging skills: Technology is constantly evolving, and you need to stay abreast of emerging skills and technologies within your desired industry. Subscribe to industry newsletters, join relevant forums, and participate in webinars to stay informed.

Network with Industry Experts

• Informal Interviews or Discussions: Have an informal interview or discussion with professionals or experts in your desired fields. This can offer you valuable insights into what employers look for and how to navigate the industry effectively.
• Join Professional Groups or Communities: Engage in professional groups or communities related to your industry on platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook or Reddit. Make sure to participate in discussions, ask questions and connect with experienced professionals.

Leverage Online Resources

• Blogs and Articles: Make it a habit to read blogs and articles related to remote work and your desired industry. Look for tips, advice, guides, and experiences shared by remote workers and companies.
• Company Reviews: Explore platforms like Glassdoor to read reviews from current and former employees of your target remote companies. This can provide insights into the work environment, culture, and challenges faced by remote workers.

By aligning your skills and preparation with what remote companies are actively seeking, you can position yourself as a strong candidate without any traditional experience. Always remember to tailor your applications and showcase your skills and knowledge effectively to improve your chances of landing a remote job of your choice.  

Familiarize with Remote Communication and Collaboration Tools

When we talk about remote work, effective communication and collaboration are essential to ensuring seamless operations and team synergy across different time zones. Getting yourself familiar with various tools and applications that facilitate interaction not only enhances your productivity as a remote worker but also showcases your preparedness to potential employers.

So, what kind of remote tools should you familiarize yourself with?

Communication Tools

• Slack: Widely used for team communication, Slack allows for direct messaging, group chats, and topic-specific channels. Understanding its features like thread conversations, file sharing, and integrations.
• Zoom: As a prevalent platform for virtual meetings, mastering Zoom involves understanding how to schedule meetings, manage participants, share screens, and ensure optimal audio and video settings.
• Zoho Cliq: Familiarize yourself with Zoho Cliq for both chat and video meeting functionalities, exploring features like channels, file sharing, and third-party integrations.  

Project Management and Collaboration Platforms

• Asana: It is important to learn how to create projects, assign tasks, set deadlines, and communicate with your remote team members within Asana, a popular project management tool.
• Zoho Projects: Understand the use of tasks management, and time management in Zoho Projects to organize and prioritize projects and tasks in a collaborative manner.
• Jira: Extremely popular in tech and development teams, get to know how to navigate through Jira for task assignments, tracking project progress, and collaboration.

File Sharing and Document Management

• Google Workspace: You should gain proficiency in using Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides for real-time document collaboration and management, and understand the functionalities of Google Drive for file storage and sharing.
• Zoho Workdrive: Learn how to store, share, and access files securely using Zoho Workdrive, and explore its collaborative tools like Writer, Sheets and Show.
• Microsoft 365: Familiarize yourself with using OneDrive for file storage and sharing. Also understand collaborative editing in Word, Excel and PowerPoint.

Time Management and Scheduling

• Google Calendar: Understand how to schedule events, set reminders, and share availability using Zoho Calendar.
• Todoist: Explore how to manage your tasks and projects using Todoist. Learn how to set priorities, and deadlines and categorize tasks effectively for easy access.
• Time Doctor: Learn how to work smarter and optimize the efficiency of your work with Time Doctor’s data-driven tools.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Tools

• Zoho CRM: Learn how to build excellent customer relationships with Zoho CRM. You can harness the power of omni-channel presence to deliver personalized experiences for customers and enhance customer loyalty.
• Salesforce: If you’re aiming for customer-facing roles, you should familiarize yourself with navigating CRM tools like Salesforce for managing customer interaction, data and information.
• HubSpot: Get a clear understanding of how to manage contacts, and sales pipelines, and launch effective marketing campaigns using HubSpot.

When you invest time understanding these tools, even at the basic level can help you enhance your remote working capabilities and make you stand out from others in the application process. Consider attending workshops and webinars to understand these tools better with hands-on experience.

Apply for Remote Internships

Did you know that like traditional jobs, you could gain practical experience through internships?

Remote internships not only provide a glimpse into the remote working world but also enable you to apply learned skills, and network with experts and professionals. It also potentially paves the way for future remote job opportunities.

So how you can apply for remote internships?

Identify Internship Opportunities

• Online Job Platforms: Explore platforms like Monster, Indeed and LinkedIn, filtering searches to identify remote internship opportunities in your desired industry.
• Company websites: This is one of our favourite methods. Visit the career pages of the remote companies that you’re interested in. Some of the top remote companies may not advertise internship opportunities on remote job platforms but list them on their own websites.
• Networks: Leverage professional networks, alumni groups, online forums, and Facebook groups to discover remote internship opportunities.

Tailor Your Application

• Customize Your Resume: Do not send generic resumes. Customize your resume by highlighting relevant skills, projects, and experiences that align with the internship opportunities. Make sure to include your familiarity with remote tools and applications.
• Write a Compelling Cover Letter: You should attach a cover letter that expresses your interest in the role, and showcases your understanding of the company. Also, highlight how your skills and experience make you a suitable candidate.
• Include Portfolio (if you have any): Create a portfolio showcasing your previous work, projects or any relevant tasks that can be shared along with your application.

Prepare for Online Interviews

• Technical Setup: Ensure your computer, internet connection, camera, and microphone are in optimal working condition for online interviews.
• Practice: Although you’re not attending the interview physically, you need to be prepared. Engage in mock interviews and focus on articulating your thoughts clearly. Be prepared to discuss your experiences, skills and motivation for applying for the remote internships.
• Research: First of all, try to get some information from the person who interviews you. You can easily get their details from LinkedIn (most of the time). Understand the company’s operations, culture, and any recent developments to showcase your interest and preparedness during the interview.

Maximize the Internship Experience

• Active Participation: You need to show your involvement by engaging actively in meetings, discussions, and projects. Don’t be afraid or hesitate to share your ideas and take initiative.
• Ask for Feedback: Don’t be shy and seek feedback regularly on your performance and areas for improvement. This will help you with your skill development and showcase your eagerness to consistently learn.
• Seek for Mentorship: When you join as an intern, there are high possibilities to identify a mentor who can guide you through your internship and potentially beyond.

Applying for remote internships can be a stepping stone towards building a successful remote career. It provides you with practical experience and allows you to apply your skills and see the results in a real-world setting.

Choose the Right Remote Jobs Platform to Apply for Jobs

There are hundreds of remote job platforms today. You need to choose the right platform that can help you land a role that fits your interests and skills. Most of you might look for remote jobs within your home country which allows you to work from anywhere in the world. When you look at some of the top remote job platforms, they are populated with remote jobs from companies looking for candidates from the USA, Canada, UK or Europe. You need to filter and choose the right remote jobs from the lists.

So, how you should select and utilize remote job platforms effectively?

Explore Remote Jobs Curation Sites

• Kerja-Remote: Our very own remote job curation platform that only publishes Malaysia and Worldwide-based remote jobs. We curate only legit jobs directly from reputable remote companies around the world.
• We Work Remotely: One of the most popular platforms for remote job seekers. We Work Remotely features opportunities primarily focused on candidates from the USA, Canada and the UK.
• Remote OK: Offers a wide array of remote job opportunities and other highly valuable insights for digital nomads.
• Remote.co: Developed by Flexjobs to offer all the resources needed by both remote job seekers and employers. You can find some remote job opportunities from top remote companies in the world at Remote.co.

General Job Platforms with Remote Filters

• Indeed: You can find tons of location-based remote jobs with “Remote” filter. However, it is hard to find worldwide remote jobs on Indeed as they are more focused on showing location-based remote job opportunities.
• LinkedIn: If you know how to filter “Remote” jobs on LinkedIn, you can find hundreds of legit and impressive remote job opportunities both locally and globally.
• Jobstreet: This Malaysia job site started to publish local remote jobs that allow candidates to work from anywhere in Malaysia. However, the numbers are too low,
• Glassdoor: We were also surprised when we did our research and found that Glassdoor is beyond company reviews. You can perform a job search specifically for remote roles now.

 Engage Industry-Specific Platforms

• Behance: If you’re a designer or creative professional, you can explore Behance for remote job opportunities. There are various companies open to remote collaborations.
• Wellfound: Formerly known as AngelList. You can find remote startup jobs on this platform and 90% of them are tech jobs.

Leverage Freelance and Gig Platforms

• Upwork: A platform that connects freelancers with projects. You can create a profile and showcase your skills and experience on Upwork. You have a chance of getting a freelance project as well as a high possibility of landing a remote freelance job.
• ProBlogger Jobs: If you’re looking for remote writing jobs, ProBlogger Jobs is something you should not miss out on. You can find both remote and freelance writing jobs on this platform and the best part is that most of the jobs allow you to work from anywhere you want.
• BloggingPro Jobs: Another remote blogging and content writing job platform. The job board is updated daily with almost 90% writing jobs that can be done from anywhere in the world.

Choosing the right platform involves understanding the industry, skills, and the nature of remote work you’re actively looking for. You can strategically utilize these platforms and get in front of potential employers. Consistency is the key to landing the remote job that you’re seeking.

Conclusion

We know that you’re desperately looking to secure a remote job for the benefits it offers. However, searching for remote job opportunities without experience can be adventurous with challenges. With the rapid growth of technology today, you can easily identify the skills you need to get the remote job that you want. There are no more excuses. It’s all about taking action (step by step) improving yourself and moving forward till you land your dream remote job.

Remember, every professional remote worker was once a beginner. Your lack of traditional experience doesn’t define your potential but rather paves the way for a journey of learning and continuous development. The pathways to remote opportunities are vast and varied in the digital world today. You just need to align your strategies with the insights and practical steps outlined in this blog post. You’re not a job seeker; you’re the architect of your remote career.

In the world of remote working, your unique experiences, dedicated learning and strategic application of knowledge will stand as a testament to your capabilities. We are sure that the journey you will go through the digital landscapes of remote work will be enriched with learning, growth and success. We hope this blog post has given you the right direction to move on and grab the remote job that you’ve always desired. All the best fellow remote job seekers!