I found a niche that I don’t particularly love, but I’m good at it and don’t hate it, and it’s typically hybrid or fully remote. I do make it clear that anything more than 1-2 days in office after training is over is a deal breaker, but I’m also only applying for positions listed as remote or hybrid.
I do encourage people to figure out what kinds of roles are commonly remote friendly and then build up skills in those areas, because I’ve found that the more specialized you are, the easier it is to get remote positions. It’s a lot harder to find entry level work that’s fully remote, because you aren’t a known quantity yet. If you have 3, 5, 10 years of solid work, then it’s much easier to get something remote. If you’re in a niche skill set that’s harder to hire for on top of that, then it’s even easier.
Personally, I’ve found accounting and billing to be very remote friendly, once you get your first role in that industry. It is very helpful to be trained in person for a few months, but usually it’s 30-90 days in an office at most, and then hybrid or fully remote after that. I think it’s an easier role to have remote because there are usually very clear metrics and deadlines, so it’s easier to know if someone isn’t doing their work. On top of that, a lot of the work is asynchronous and coming from different parties and time zones and typically very email and digital document based, so it’s conducive to being remote. My job actually doesn’t want me to do anything on paper, because that’s harder to keep track of. Digital documents leave a clearer trail when you’re working at a company across many offices and time zones.
So for people who want remote jobs, figure out what kind of work makes sense to be remote, and go from there. Early childhood education doesn’t make sense to be remote for the most part. Programming often does. Architecture doesn’t tend to be fully remote, because there’s still need for paper plans and physical models and face to face meetings. Some kinds of accounting make sense to be remote (but not all! Tax tends to be at least partially in person, because you still get paper documents and have to submit paper forms.)
Also figure out what kind of remote work you like and want. Some people think remote means no talking to anyone, but many jobs have a lot of meetings, client calls, etc. I like a few meetings on occasion, but I did years of client facing work and I don’t want to do that. I do largely internal facing work now, with no more than 4 meetings in a week, and often less than 1 meeting. Some of my remote worker friends have constant meetings, more than when they were in office. Some of my in-office worker friends can go days without talking to another person.
Some remote work is flexible, but some of it is not! A lot of people also seem to think that remote means flexible schedules, which is not inherently true, and varies by both company and industry. I have to keep core hours but I can flex a decent amount, because a lot of my work is dependent on people in different time zones sending me information. It wouldn’t make sense for me to be at a rigid 8-5 schedule when most of the people I need answers from aren’t clocking in until noon my time. So it doesn’t make sense to me to sit around twiddling my thumbs for the first 4+ hours of my day. (I don’t clock in at noon either, but depending on the day, it’s usually between 8:30 and 10 local time, and my end time adjusts accordingly.) I also get to flex more because I’ve shown myself to be a high achiever and very dependable. My (ex) coworker was not given the same flexibility because she was heavily struggling with the workload and her performance. She was required to be in office most days and had strict hours to follow, so she could be more closely supervised.
And, as someone who loves remote work and can’t ever imagine being fully in office again, for many reasons, I also don’t think everyone is cut out for remote work! If you don’t have a strong social network outside of work, it can feel very isolating. You need to have a lot more discipline in many ways, because it’s much easier to want to spend your day just doing a load of laundry and then cleaning this one thing and then petting your dog and then starting prep for dinner and suddenly half your work hours have disappeared with nothing to show for it. I also currently have a space where my “office” is in my living room, so I can always see my work lurking. It makes it harder to turn off the work at the end of the day. It can be very easy to get sucked into working extra hours without realizing. Your coworkers aren’t getting up and going home around you, the janitors aren’t making rounds, the lights are turning off automatically. I’ve definitely gotten very focused and ended up working until 9 or 10pm without realizing. And, my work has a policy that we never shut down our computers, just restart them, so my computer does sometimes make noises or my monitors turn on during the weekend and I’m very strongly reminded of work and all the things waiting for me to finish them and maybe I should just log in for a few hours real quick on Saturday since I don’t need to get out of my PJs for it, and that can quickly lead to burn out.
I had to be very careful about making routines about starting and ending my day, I have a rule where I have to fully change out of my sleeping clothes into new clothes every day, even if I’m going from sweats to different sweats. It can be easy to become a bit of a sloppy cave troll, at least for me, if I’m not diligent about requiring myself to fully get dressed every day, to go outside for a walk every day, and to socialize at least a few times a week. I live alone and work alone and also have a history of depression, so it can be easy to kind of slide downhill slowly without noticing. If you go into an office every day, or even a few days a week, someone would likely point out that you haven’t showered in a week and are wearing the same PJs for the second week straight. I also have to be more diligent about planning out mealtimes because it’s so easy to skip lunch and even dinner without realizing it.
Anyway, I’m sure I’m preaching to the choir here! Good luck to all those looking for remote work.