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How to Quit Your Office Job and Start a Remote Career

There’s few people who haven’t sat in their office and at least once thought about quitting for something more exciting. Traveling, the sun, working from wherever the wind takes you. Anything rather than the usual 9 – 5! The decision can be big and scary, but more and more people are making the jump into a remote life. If you’re thinking about doing the same, don’t fret. By taking some time to go through the whole process, you may find it easier than you thought.

Freeing Yourself From The Office

Before quitting your office job, it’s worth doing some research into whether the remote life is really for you. There are loads of great things about working remotely, but also some snags that you may not have thought about. Loneliness and struggling to separate work from home life are just a couple examples of obstacles that you may come up against.  So, before you go about quitting make sure you’re prepared for what remote life might throw at you! Having a job lined up before you quit is also a smart idea. (Don’t do like what Mike did!)

a woman sitting in a field with a laptop

Unlike interviewing for jobs in a physical office, you’ll probably be doing all your interviews over the phone/internet. This is much more flexible in terms of arranging interviews. It’s quite a bit easier to job hunt for remote jobs whilst already working than it is for one in a physical office.

Before making the transition fully, why not just try some part-time freelancing to see if remote is a good fit for you? If you have enough time, there are plenty of smaller jobs that you could try out in your free time. This will help you learn how to operate in a fully remote environment. Maybe you’ll find out that it’s not for you. Maybe you’ll find that it’s a perfect fit. It’s a great way of getting a taste for the remote world before you quit your normal job. It’s also a great experience to put on your CV when looking for a full-time remote job.

Launching Your Remote Career

Quitting your job is just one half of the process here. Getting your remote career off to a successful start needs some preparation and time as well. First off you probably need to change your CV a bit and tailor it towards showcasing your remote skills. So much importance is placed on different skill sets when working with employees in different locations. For example, emphasizing your soft skills should help you on your way to finding the remote job of your dreams. While a lot of people will talk about their technical expertise and knowledge in software, only having these on your CV won’t help too much in your search. You’ll be working independently, so problem-solving, communication skills and independent learning are important to show. 

a group of men sitting at a long table with laptops

Because you won’t be physically in the office, you will mainly have to rely on your communication and soft skills. It’s worth getting them into practice and improving them. Try also to learn and keep up to date with tools like Asana, Slack, Trello or Basecamp. These apps help people working from around the world to cooperate together, so it’s worth learning them and putting them on your CV!

Getting to Know the Remote Market

Before starting your remote job search, take a look at some of the major companies that are hiring remotely. Not all of them are fully remote and may actually require you to spend some days in an office. Big companies like Github or Buffer hire fully remotely if you need to be outside of the office the whole time.

a man and woman sitting at a table with laptops

A lot of startups can offer partly remote jobs if you only need to have some flexibility, and often embrace diversity in their workforce. If you’ve always worked in a physical location, you might not know some of the best places to even look for remote work. There are however some great websites where you can search for that perfect job. Jobspresso, Remote.co, and Remotive are some of the biggest ones out there when you’re on the hunt for a new job.

Putting It All Together

Making the leap from an office job can be both exciting and incredibly scary! If you’ve been thinking about it for a while though, then why not take the plunge? With a bit of research and planning, you can make a success out of freeing yourself from the office. Prepare well, do your research and think about what is really suitable for you. Just make sure to weigh up the pros and cons as well. 

Once you make the decision, look for external resources to prepare for the recruitment process like the Remote Career Advisory, where you can receive tailored advice from a Career Coach, polish your CV and Cover Letter, prepare for an interview and more.

a woman wearing a hat

Use the code COWORKAHOLIC at check-out to receive 15% off on any Remote-How program.

The post How to Quit Your Office Job and Start a Remote Career was first published by Coworkaholic.

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