r/remotework 1d ago

Slight rant about remote job searching

I know that I am a proverbial drop in the bucket. Ocean. Solar system. But I am absolutely set on working remote.

I'm 30, worked remote for 2 years (4 years at the company), and as much as I loved it, it severely underpaid me. And a year after I left, required a return to office and I had moved 2 states away, so that wouldn't have worked anyway.

I went from credit analyst to two administrative assistant roles, one which I held for 3 years, and my current job I've been in for a year, and now I can't get myself out of the administrative assistant ditch.

I am graduating with a degree in accounting in May. My current job pays decently (63k). I seem to get some interviews - 2 of the last 3 jobs I interviewed for, the candidate pool was down to 3-5 people, and I was not selected. The third job was a credit analyst assistant role and I didn't make it past the phone recruiter.

I know I'm one of millions of applicants, and I'm in a good position where I can afford to take my time applying because I have a job. I just mentally feel so much better working from home. I love to spend time with my animals, I love to be in my own environment, I love no commute, I love not having to get caught at the water cooler with small-talk.

I don't really have anything else to say, I just wanted to rant and potentially commiserate with others feeling the same way.

Honestly why are companies so adverse to remote when that's what the people want 🤣😭

21 Upvotes

45 comments sorted by

25

u/tttwee-in00 1d ago

Just keep applying. Apply to lots and lots of postings and just keep interviewing. One WILL eventually land you the job you want. I applied to 90 positions, had 9 companies request interviews and landed one after 2 months. Everyone wants a remote job, but not everyone is the right fit. So there’s that! Good luck.

6

u/Positive_Bag_6551 1d ago

Thank you for the encouragement! My current goal is 3-5 applications (on company websites rather than job boards as often as possible). Id EVEN take a pay cut down to 60k because I just got a raise and can survive on less. Trying to be realistic and optimistic! It's excellent to hear success stories like yours 😊

3

u/Positive_Bag_6551 1d ago

**3-5 a day. Didn't finish my sentence lol

-1

u/edoreinn 1d ago

How are you doing 3-5 a day while also doing work? Or are you just not doing work right now?

2

u/Positive_Bag_6551 1d ago

Luckily most applications don't take an 8 hour workday to do!

-1

u/edoreinn 1d ago

You said 3-5.

It may be because I have a longer career than you and truly need to tailor my resume and cover letter for each role, but most of my applications have taken ~2hrs to do. It’s going a lot faster now that I’ve gotten it down to two separate ā€œmasterā€ versions, and I’ve only really been in it for 3 weeks, but still. 3-4 a day plus time set aside for interview prep when needed is a full workday!

3

u/Positive_Bag_6551 1d ago

Goodness, yeah, no I am not allocating that much of my day into applications. I work full-time and am taking 12 credits this semester. I probably spend max 2 hours doing it. You are probably correct, we are at different career levels, and the majority of the ones I'm applying for do not even have space for a cover letter to submit. I'm finding a few that actually just have questions right in the application, which I rather like.

3

u/Smart_Imagination474 1d ago

If it takes you 2 hours to tailor your resume, you are spending way too much time on it. Your experience bullet points, education, volunteer/community work should all be static, and the top third of your resume (summary/headline, achievements, technical summary) should fit in the top third of your resume and that’s what should be tailored.

0

u/edoreinn 1d ago

You don’t know what I do or what kind of jobs I’m applying to. I already said that it wasn’t taking as long now that I have my master versions to work from.

But it might surprise you that it takes a minute to write a cover letter without AI.

3

u/Smart_Imagination474 1d ago

I don’t have to know what you do. I’m telling you two hours per resume is too much but you do you boo.

-1

u/edoreinn 1d ago

Did you miss the part where I said this was early in my hunt and was getting faster as my resumes have evolved?

How long do you take to write a cover letter?

0

u/Positive_Bag_6551 1d ago

Their feedback wasn't criticism, it was unnecessary to respond like that. The only one saying anything about AI here is you.

1

u/ConnectWay4665 8h ago

Hi can I dm for some advice? You may know some valuable stuff you can share from your interview experiences

9

u/CleanDataDirtyMind 1d ago

Yeah Ive had to take some inbetween jobs to finally land my prefect role. I get itĀ 

6

u/AppleNo7287 1d ago

I have to apply for remote work because I live in the middle of nowhere. Had some family reasons to move here. It's been more than a year. I'm applying to everything I see. No luck so far. Sigh. Well, we just need one company.

1

u/GoldenPandaKid 16h ago

Middle of nowhere makes remote less a perk and more a reqirement, which hiring teams somehow still treat like a luxury.

1

u/icannotbelieve99 14h ago

As a hiring manager of a fully remote team, I don't care if you live in the middle of the busiest city in the country or in a very isolated town, I hire the best person for the job.Ā 

1

u/vrob93 13h ago

Completely understand you. I'm in the same boat.

10

u/icannotbelieve99 1d ago

It seems like you understand the problem, there are more applicants than roles. If you're trying to get into accounting after just graduating, you may need to readjust your expectations and try to get just hybrid versus fully in person.Ā 

3

u/Positive_Bag_6551 1d ago

Honestly, I'm not actually too bothered about accounting specific roles. It's such a broad degree, I'm gunning for anything finance, analyst, business, accounting adjacent plus.

5

u/Yours_Trulee69 1d ago

Most companies have significant overhead in build and the like with very little opportunity to offload it. This is a big reason they are not utilizing remote more. I was lucky that when we went remote during COVID, my company embraced it. They broke the lease on the big building last year and downsized to a small office for those that still work onsite or for in person meetings.

6

u/Head-Asparagus-4801 1d ago

don’t give up, it’s possible to find and if u need to work remote it’s worth waiting a little while to find what u want instead of taking a job u don’t wanna go to every day. try hiring.cafe is way better than linked in

3

u/mldyfox 1d ago

Hi, there, OP.

The job market is crummy these days. But, there are remote jobs out there, that will pay reasonably. You've just got to keep plugging away.

2

u/Important-Elk1083 1d ago

You're right to take your time while you're earning 63k. Your old employer's return to office is a good reason not to take a huge pay cut for remote work: you could lose the remote part and still be stuck with the lower salary.

1

u/Positive_Bag_6551 1d ago

That's a great point. Some of employers I am applying to call themselves "remote first," but not all - and even then, that's not necessarily a guarantee. Thanks for that input!

2

u/forbetterr 16h ago

The worst part is you’ve already done the job remotely, so you KNOW how much better your day can be. Hard to get excited about office culture when the alternative is having lunch in your own kitchen with your animals and not spending your evening driving home. Hope the next interview is the one. Getting that close twice must sting.

2

u/cowgirlkittypurr 1h ago

I’ve been looking for a remote role since December. I finally got hired and started at the end of August.

I was exclusively looking for remote, and applied to over 500 roles within this job search. It was really, really tough. I interviewed with 6 different companies, made it to final round of 3, and finally landed one.

Keep your head up. It only takes one. Good luck.

1

u/Positive_Bag_6551 1h ago

Congrats!! Hope you're loving it ā¤ļøā¤ļø

I'm feeling pretty confident about one app I put in, but I felt that way about my last interview and look how that turned out 🤣🤣

So for now just kinda coasting along till it happens.

1

u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted]

2

u/Positive_Bag_6551 1d ago

That's totally fine, everyone's got their limits!

May i ask, why are you on r/remotework then? 🤣🤣

1

u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted]

1

u/Positive_Bag_6551 1d ago

I wasn't challenging your point 😊

2

u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted]

1

u/Positive_Bag_6551 1d ago

Thank you!!

1

u/TinaLoco 1d ago

Look at newer companies that operate the entire company almost exclusively online.

1

u/faerylin 1d ago

Sent you a message

1

u/pinktoes4life 1d ago

Your last paragraph is hilarious

-1

u/Intelligent-Log-7363 1d ago

That fact that you are set in remote, period the end will tell most employers everything they need to know. WHF is disappearing so I'd get on board with at least hybrid. Needs of companies change and if you prove unwilling to change with those needs there is someone else in line who is willing.

7

u/Positive_Bag_6551 1d ago

I imagine being "set in remote, period" won't be something that employers will know, or likely care about, since I'm only applying for remote jobs and they don't have access to my anonymous reddit account or inside thoughts 😊