When should you not apply for a remote job and why? Luis digs further into the GitLab remote work report 2021 to tell you about it.
Once we’re done with lockdowns from the pandemic, about one-third of remote workers plan to move, plan to travel, to do a lifestyle change. That’s the reason they want to have their remote work. It is important to know that the people hiring remote workers, they’re not hiring you because they want to help someone work remotely. Remote is something they offer because they believe in remote, because they believe that remote enables people to do their best work and also live their best lives. A job isn’t a sponsor for you to move to the place where you want to live or for you to travel. A job is something you should care about, even if it was not remote. Luis shares the real context behind the “why” of going remote in this video.
Watch this space every day for the latest news, tips and stories from the remote work world.
Luis:
Here is a reason to not apply to a remote job. Welcome. It’s Virtual Coffee Chat with Luis. I am Luis, and this is my coffee. In this case, an espresso. Hmm. That nice smell. And the taste. I love me some espresso.
So let’s talk about the situation when you should never apply for a remote job. So still going through GitLab’s State of Remote Work 2021 report.
And here’s an interesting figure about once we’re done with lockdowns from the pandemic, about one-third of remote workers plan to move, plan to travel, to do a lifestyle change. Even if it’s not to travel permanently, just to move their location. That’s the reason they want to have their remote work. Hmm. Is this good? No, it’s not. It’s not. Let me explain why it’s not.
From a hiring perspective, if I have a remote position open and you’re applying and your reason for applying for that position is because you can travel or you can move or you can do whatever that’s related to your personal life and your personal goals… Well, obviously I want people to achieve the life that they want to live, I want them to fulfill their personal goals, but I don’t want that to be the reason they join my business. I don’t. I want them to join my business because they care about what I’m doing in the world and the same goes for anyone who has a business, right?
If you’re applying for a job, if you are applying for a job, you need to apply to a job that you care about. You don’t apply to remote. Honestly, that’s going to scratch you off the list of any application. If they know that the reason you’re applying is so that you can work remotely. Working remotely is wonderful, but you should not apply… Here’s the rule, don’t apply for a work just because it’s remote. Don’t apply for a remote work if you wouldn’t apply for it if it wasn’t remote, right?
The thing that the people hiring remote workers, they’re not hiring you because they want to help someone work remotely. Remote is something they offer because they believe in remote, because they believe that remote enables people to do their best work and also live their best lives, but they’re not… A job isn’t a sponsor for you to move to the place where you want to live or for you to travel or whatever. A job is something you should care about. The people that you’re going to be working with, they count on you wanting to do their job for the job’s sake and not wanting to do the job just because you can do it from home. And guess what, you won’t be happy. You won’t feel fulfilled. It’s going to be… Well, when you started, when you start the work, it’s going to be all unicorns and rainbows because it’s so nice to work remotely, right? You can have work-life balance, you can focus, you can travel, et cetera, et cetera.
But you know, soon enough, you’re going to find yourself bored or not caring or feeling unfulfilled because at the end of the day, sure, some jobs you do to pay the bills. We’ve all been in those situations, doing a job that we’d rather not be doing because we have to. It’s just part of the human experience. But the place where you should strive to be is doing work that fulfills you because if you’re not, and if people that are trying to hire you suspect that the work won’t fulfill you, they’re not going to hire you either because at the end of the day, again, what’s the thing that I’m most… The people that I’m most enjoy working with are those people that care about their work. It’s not to say that they need to overwork or that work needs to be the main thing in their lives, but they should care about it.
So that’s it. Sorry if it’s controversial, but you should not apply for a job just because you want to work remotely and the job position happens to be remote. Apply for a job because you care for it. Again, the golden rule, do not apply for a remote job if you wouldn’t apply for it anyway if it wasn’t remote. That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.
For more of these tips, check the rest of the channel, Virtual Coffee Chat with Luis, and you can find more stuff about remote work, especially remote work news, but also many guides and how-to’s and et cetera, even for people traveling, for people who want to work from home, from their own home, for managers that are managing hybrid teams. There’s also different information at thinkremote.com. And you can see me again here tomorrow in morning coffee chat, Virtual Coffee Chat with Luis. And if you don’t want to miss an episode, press subscribe, press the little bell to get notified and yeah, like and comment. See you tomorrow.
