The Essential Skills Needed for Remote Jobs

Thanks to the rapid development of technology, the number of jobs now being offered remotely is increasing. But what skills you need to secure one of these exciting opportunities? We take a look at the 5 essential skills needed for remote jobs.

1. Organisation

Perhaps more so than any other type of job, working remotely requires a huge amount of organisation. Working remotely means that you’ll be working alone, away from team leaders and managers.

Being organised is essential . If you are applying for a remote job, you need to give actual examples of where your organisational skills have been used in a positive and effective way.

2. Motivation

Working remotely requires heaps and heaps of motivation!  When you don’t have the surroundings of the traditional office environment and colleagues at your side, it can be tough to maintain the motivation to work consistently throughout the day.

When applying for a remote job, it is important therefore that you show them you are motivated and have the staying power to do an awesome job day-in-day-out. To do this, you need to highlight:

• Why you are particularly interested in this company, its products and/or its services. You need to show you are really passionate about them
• Why you are passionate about the industry in general. Give examples of professional organisations you may be involved in, conferences you’ve been to and blogs/websites you read to stay on top of the latest industry news
• How you are a motivated person anyway. Give examples of when you have worked autonomously previously

3. Flexibility

When you decide that you want to work remotely, you are literally opening up a world of opportunities. Why?

• You are not required to sit in a particular office at a particular location
• You can work for any business, anywhere in the world

However, this means that you require one particular trait. Flexibility. If you are working for a business in the West Coast of America for example, they are probably going to want you to be available for at least part of their normal 9-5 working day. This means that in your application and any subsequent interviews you should highlight that you are flexible enough to ensure this is the case.

4. Self-Reliant

Being both self-reliant and proactive is essential if you are going to be a success as a remote worker. Because you will spend most if not all of your time working on your own, you won’t have workmates sitting nearby that you can ask for help with certain issues.

That is why employers, when looking for remote employees are eager to hire workers who are self sufficient, self reliant and independently minded. In your application and interview, try and highlight times when you have tackled issues head on yourself instead of simply passing them on to the nearest manager. Showing this sort of proactiveness will really mark you out as a good candidate.

Tech Savvy

Finally, as a remote worker you are going to have to be tech savvy. Why? Because most of your work will almost certainly be done over the internet. Employers are not going to consider anyone for remote working if they do not have good, solid IT skills.

As well as being proficient in such standard packages as Microsoft Office, highlight any skills in particular niche software packages for your industry as well as remote working essentials such as Skype and Google Hangouts.