How to Find Remote Jobs - Career Rehab with Career Coach Kanika Tolver

Sneak peek:

Kanika:     00:00:06    Volkswagen  

Kristin:     00:00:27    Volkswagen.  

Introduction: Welcome to Badass Digital Nomads, where we're pushing the boundaries of remote work and travel, all while staying grounded with a little bit of old school philosophy, self-development, and business advice from our guests.  

Kristin:   You know, critics of remote work say that you need meetings and face-to-face interaction in order to get things done. But we all know that communication and community are two of the most important factors for success in a location independent lifestyle. So every time you listen to an episode of this or any podcast that you find value in, I challenge you to share the wealth. Take a moment to think of one person in your professional or personal network who might benefit from listening in. Then share it with them and tell them why. Doing this will help you absorb and apply the info that most resonated with you from the episode, putting it into practice in your own life while delivering value to someone you care about. And with that, let's get on with today's show.  

Kristin:    00:01:45    Hey guys, welcome back to another episode of Badass Digital Nomads here onDigital Nomad TV. I'm your host, Kristin Wilson. And today I am joined by Kanika Tover, who's in Washington DC, and we're going to be talking about how you can find remote jobs. Kanika is a writer, a speaker, a career coach, and she's also the author of Career Rehab, which is a book that is being printed by Entrepreneur Press and will be out in January of 2020. I first came across Kanika's Work online because I saw that she was writing so many great insightful tips about how you can change careers, figure out which job would be right for you, and prepare your resume and yourself to find remote jobs. And as you guys know here on Digital Nomad TV, that is what we're all about. We want to help people transition from a conventional, traditional lifestyle that they don't like anymore, to a location independent job so that they can work from home, work remotely, work, and live wherever they want, and just have more sovereignty and control over their day-to-Day life. So welcome Kanika. It's great to have you here. Thank you. Um, a Saturday. So usually we're here on, on Tuesdays, but today is a special episode. So we're here on a Saturday morning. We have people joining us live, and if you're listening to this later or watching the replay, you might just be on YouTube or on Apple Podcasts. So, um, yeah, so we are live right now, so welcome Kanika.  

Podcast Interview:

Kanika:    00:03:24    Thank you. Thank you for having me.  

Kristin:    00:03:26    So just to get started, let's, can you tell us a little bit about your background and how you stumbled into this remote work industry? Because I find that that is the way that a lot of us who've been here for a few years and have experience with remote work, a lot of us came across it almost by accident because no one's out there telling you like, you should work remotely. It's just something that we were like, you know, something's not right in our life. We were looking for solutions and answers and we ended up, um, working for ourselves or working remotely. So tell us how you first came across this and what your background is and how you transitioned into what you're doing today.  

Kanika:    00:04:10    Oh, sure. So, um, I am a technology professional. I have like over 12, 13 years of, of information technology experience. So I've been in the IT industry since I graduated from college. So, um, probably around 2015 I took some personal time off 'cause I was working a traditional nine to five and I was just feeling burnt out. I was feeling like I was just, you know, in a daily grind working a nine to five, going to work, you know, Monday through Friday and I was feeling burnt out. So I actually, um, took some time off and one day I just said, you know, if I took another job again, it definitely would have to be remote. So I strategically started to research. At the time I started actually career coaching too, because I started writing people's resumes and helping them find jobs. But then I also was kind of redefining my personal brand as well. And I just stumbled across, um, I created a remote job search strategy. I said, you know, if I took another job after I took this time off, is that I am going to either work 50% or to a hundred percent remote. And that's just how I just started to do a lot of research and I found out in my industry in it, there was a lot of opportunities that existed.  

Kristin:    00:05:29    Interesting. So people always ask if they have to have an IT background or a technical background to be remote workers. And I say no, <laugh>, because I'm not, you know, I'm not technically savvy at all, I don't think. Um, so what type of people are you helping to find remote jobs? Do people need to have technical skills to be able to join in on this remote work revolution? Or can anyone do it?  

Kanika:    00:05:55    No, I don't think it's, it's specific to it. I think that you can have, um, you know, people that are medical, um, assistants or, you know, medical and coding, billing and coding. I've seen those type of positions out there. Um, I've seen people be virtual administrative assistants. I've seen people do work where they are specifically just going in once a week and they work from home four days a week. I've seen people that work even in the federal government, I know at several different agencies like the IRS, a lot of them work remote for, you know, three to four days a week. So I think it's being very specific about, you know, the keyword search that you're using. A lot of companies are saving office space and it's saving them cost on having to have physical offices for people. So I think even in a customer service, even if you look at Amazon, Amazon has a lot of remote opportunities for people that are customer service representatives that are like, you know, constantly conversating with customers on a day-to-day basis. I think that it just universally, it's becoming very popular for all industries.  

Kristin:    00:07:02    I actually really wanna talk about, um, which companies have the most remote jobs in just a minute. But first let's talk a little bit about why people are so out <laugh> because this seems to be a trend and we've heard a lot about work-life balance over the past few decades and Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, um, I actually just said a couple days ago I was talking about how, um, I burnt out personally at 21 years old Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> before I even got out of business school. Like I was burning out physically in the hospital. Um, wow. I I actually had a seizure, like a grand mal seizure was diagnosed with epilepsy and I haven't had one ever since. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> because I was forced to get out of the situation that I was in, which was sleeping three or four hours a night working multiple jobs, studying, doing all this stuff. And I just said to myself, if I'm burning out at 21, then what's gonna happen in my thirties and forties when everyone else is burning out? Like I'll probably die or something. Right. So why are people so stressed? Why do they hate their jobs so much and why are they burning out? Like what do you think the underlying issues are and how does remote work address those?  

Kanika:    00:08:23    Um, that's a great question. Uh, I think that people are allowing the job and allowing school and allowing all these different responsibilities of life to just overwhelm them. And I think that as a being in high school or being in college, no one has really taught us the life skills about how to prioritize what's most important. Um, me being in my thirties and having a baby, baby boomer parent, I think that the traditional mindset is that we have been told that we have to work a nine to five job, go there Monday through Friday, be on time, you know, stay late, get there early. And a lot of these things have made us, made us feel like we have had these, all of these extra added pressures from other generational mindsets with the start of technology. It just seems like it's a, it's a great opportunity for us to take advantage of the different technologies and the, and the different opportunities that didn't exist in previous generations. Uh, I think that our generation is more so saying, Hey, I wanna work on my terms. I wanna do work that's passionate and I wanna do something that makes me happy every day when I wake up. And people look at us crazy because they think that we have this unrealistic mindset that we should just be happy that we have a job. And I think that we should take career control and we should stop allowing all of these outside distractions of what people think we should be. And we should define that for ourselves.  

Kristin:    00:09:57    Wow. That is so compelling. Um, you are right. I mean, you just touched on so many things that I have been thinking about and contemplating and researching for years because as a kid I never knew what I wanted to do when I grew up. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. And I always joke about failing those career inventory tests, you know, like personality tests. Yeah. They would come back with an error. Like I had two diverse of answers and the tests and were like, sorry Kristin, we can't match you with a job. And then all my other classmates were like, oh my gosh, yay. I'm gonna be a firefighter. I'm gonna be a doctor <laugh>. I was like, oh my God, this is so depressing. I was like 12 years old. So that's really stayed with me and it's kind of come full circle, you know? 'cause I told my parents back then, I'm just gonna invent my own job and these days you can, you can. And it's like nobody, this was unintentional, I think, but nobody from our parents generations or from the educational system for sure Right. Was ever telling us that. They were like, you can be whatever you want, as long as it's on this list of jobs.  

Kanika:    00:11:08    Exactly. Exactly. And  

Kristin:    00:11:10    They weren't prepared for the this, um, technological revolution. Like there were definitely some people in tech who saw the writing on the wall and they were writing books about it. But it's like, that was 20, 30 years ago and that all got kind of lost. It was like, because of corporate culture, which is so notoriously slow to change and because of the kind of systems that are in place in society, like we were never given that option. And so like one at a time people started like waking up to like, well, you know, I have these tools, why don't I just work from here? Or why don't I work from home? Or why don't I work for myself or, or whatever. So, and it's not to say that it's not difficult working from home, but I think this is something I complain about a lot with my friends as well, that we learned so much in school.  

Kristin:    00:12:04    We were locked up in school for like anywhere from 18 to 25 years and sometimes more. And we never learned life skills. We never learned how to fill out a tax return. Exactly. We never learned what is on the paycheck stub. You know what I mean? Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. It's like things are lacking and now it's up to us. It's up to everybody listening and watching. And you and I, it's up to all of us, like look out for ourselves, do our research and do what is really going to give us fulfillment. Because we know it's not the old way. If it was the old way, then billions of people around the world wouldn't be sick and unhappy and stressed Yeah. In our meditation.  

Kanika:    00:12:42    So yeah. And I think that commuting is another thing. Some of the things that add stress to people's lives and why people wanna work remote is that the average person probably commutes 60 to 90 minutes each way to work. Um, and you know, commuting wears people out. It causes people to have stress levels as they're on the road. It causes them to get home late. They can't go to the gym, they can't be home to in time to cook dinner for their families. I think, you know, being able to work remote, you have an opportunity to get things done at the house, to be at home with your children more and to be able to like pick your kid up from the, from from the, um, bus stop and things like that. And our parents just, um, I think they just, I just think that the opportunities didn't exist and they just sucked it up and they just said, this is what it is. This is what it takes to put food on the table and, and to, you know, pay the bills. And, um, everyone's goal in life in the past was to have retirement. And I think my generation and younger, they wanna have travel and live retirement today. They're not waiting until they retire from a job after 30 years. They're saying, I can have the money, the career freedom, I can travel, but then I can also be happy doing something every day that I, that I love to do.  

Kristin:    00:14:02    That's such a crazy synchronicity because one of the last articles that I posted that I wrote on Medium, I don't know if you saw this one, but I'll share, I'll share it with you now, is this article called How to Reclaim What, how to Reclaim <laugh> Years of Your Life by Becoming a Digital Nomad. Yep. Staggering, staggering amount of time you can save by working remotely. And I go through this calculation. This was a, a thought that I had, I think when I was in the shower and I came, I, yeah, I was in the shower, I was in, I must have been in Bulgaria 'cause I had just come back from snowboarding. Oh. And I came outta the shower and I went on my Apple notes and I, and I wrote, I wrote out all the notes for this article and then I wrote it the same day. Like I was so fired up about this idea that I wrote. I literally took a shower, put the notes, got dressed, and then sat down and wrote the article within like an hour and like total potential time savings. Wow.  

Kanika:    00:15:04    Up  

Kristin:    00:15:05    To That's amazing. 1,750 hours to 2,650 hours per year, which are wasted in the current like model that people are living in. And like no wonder Yep. People are frustrated because they don't have enough time. 'cause they're wasting one or 2000 a year doing  

Kanika:    00:15:25    That. Exactly. Exactly. Like I think it's important to take ownership of that. We can't, um, think that companies and organizations are going to actually just Mm-hmm. You know, offer remote. We have to find those opportunities. And I think too often we complain about the job isn't doing this and the job isn't doing that. But what are you doing to take ownership of your career to say that I'm not going to put that responsibility in their hands, it's my life. I have to find a better opportunity.  

Kristin:    00:15:56    It Yeah, exactly. It's like depending on the government for things. And I feel fortunate that my parents told me when I was very young that like, this is how the government works and Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. But they said, you know, you're responsible for your life. You're responsible for your income. The government and social services are there as a backup plan for if things go really wrong. But Right. Just assume that you're gonna have to live your whole life without getting help from them. And in this case, we need to decide that we're going to live life without waiting for a company or a manager or an executive to tell us like, okay, now you can work from home. Now you can have more freedom.  

Kanika:    00:16:38    Yeah. So I always tell people to negotiate that, you know, I think that it's so important that you are clear that you're going, I at this point in my career, I'm not taking any job that doesn't offer remote. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. It's just not happening. Whether it's, you know, if it's 50% remote, 80% remote, or a hundred percent remote, there has to be some type of remote opportunity there. And I'm not going, going into the job offer with promises. I need to know for sure that your current organization actually does this now. You know, versus waiting to say, oh, now you can work remote. You know, no. Like, I need to know going into this that you offer this and this is going to happen for me.  

Kristin:    00:17:21    I actually wrote an article called How to Convince Your Boss to Let You Work Remotely, but that was last year. And my mindset on that has changed. I think that people should not waste their time trying to convince their agreed company to go remote. Just go right where the culture already accepts that.  

Kanika:    00:17:38    Exactly. I hundred percent agree with you because I've been in situations where I've took in job, took jobs, and then they have said, oh yeah, you know, we, we, we promote work-life balance, so we promote, you know, telework and, and remote opportunities, but then when you get on the job, they try to pull back from that commitment. They say that in the interview to get you to accept the job, but you're not really sure whether it's actually gonna be something that they're gonna actually allow you to do. So I'll tell anyone to make sure that you clearly know that this is something that the current culture does is an exist and there's a telework policy in place. That's another thing that a lot of people don't talk about, is making sure that you as an employee, you're signing a telework policy, agreeing that between you and that employer, that you are agreeing that you can work from home because they can easily take it back without that ag, that agreement being in place.  

Kristin:    00:18:36    And let me just add that most companies do not have a remote work policy or a telework policy in place. They are not prepared. And so if they don't have it, do not take a job at that company. And on another note, I just wanna tell anyone who's listening right now that corporations and companies right now, they still, I don't even know if it's right now, but they still hold the appearance that they are the ones that are in charge. But we are going to see that rapidly change change in the next couple years. And so if you are hearing this right now, just start having the mindset that you are in charge. Because I don't think that companies have really fully appreciated the severity of the situation for them. Yes. They're not going to get any government handouts anymore for job creation because the jobs aren't in a physical place anymore. Right. They're everywhere  

Kanika:    00:19:36    Right  

Kristin:    00:19:37    Now governments are offering people financial incentives to move there to work online. Exactly.  

Kanika:    00:19:44    So  

Kristin:    00:19:45    Don't hold that guys. Like Yeah, yeah. You are the ones who hold the keys. We are the ones at the negotiating table that have the power and that have the edge. Companies are going to have to adapt to what we want and what we say from now on. And if they don't know that yet, they will know in Oh, about like a year or so  

Kanika:    00:20:05    <laugh>. Yeah. I think definitely within the next two to three years you're gonna co constantly see an increase in remote opportunities. Um, I think that as the, as the workforce gets younger, it's gonna be a higher demand of people wanting to demand their work life balance. People, I don't even think work life balance is even a realistic concept. You know, I think either you're gonna overdose on work or you're gonna overdose on having a life of happiness and or somewhere in the middle or somewhere in the middle, you're gonna find that balance. But I think you're right. I think as the workforce gets, I was on a panel at my old college and a lot of the people on the panel were younger than me and they graduated in like 20 12, 20 14, probably close to 70% of the people on that panel work remote. I graduated from college in 2005. So think about it, they're, they're younger. They've been in the industry only a couple of years and they already saying, this is, I wanna work from Miami, I wanna work from California, I wanna be on the plane working, and I'm still producing Great work that way.  

Kristin:    00:21:14    That's right. If everything has shifted, it's no longer how many hours you're putting in on the clock. And if you look like you're working, which we know is bullshit because the studies have come back that people in offices work from two to four hours of real work per day. Right. Even showing up for eight, 10 or 12 hours. So of course there's exceptions, but <laugh> um, people, uh, are so much more productive when they have less distractions. Yeah. And it's all about what you do. What is your output? Not about how hard you work and how much time you  

Kanika:    00:21:49    Get or, or it's not about a manager being able to physically see you at a desk. Yeah. Or at a cubicle. Um, you know, if someone can get the same productivity done at home and they don't have to commute or they not feeling well that day, why not let them work from home? I don't, you know, I don't like management styles that actually micromanage employees and feel like that that person's gonna be way more productive because they're, you can see them at their desk, they're probably going to be a lot more tired because they've commuted in. They probably are going to be just draining themselves to death Monday through Friday trying to get physically to an office. I, I think for me, like, you know, being able to go to the gym in the morning, have my cup of coffee, sit down, eat my breakfast, I'm way more productive because I've got my workout in, I've been able to eat a sensible meal. I'm not rushing, I'm not flustered, I'm not upset. And I can actually sit down at the computer and I can do that report or do that deliverable and do it with a level of quality, not feeling like I'm rushing to give you something by 10:00 AM when it took me to, you know, it took me such a long time to get to work.  

Kristin:    00:23:00    Exactly. I actually this week, saw an article that was finally showing scientific studies about how detrimental the commute is to people's productivity and that, um, yeah. It's just basically getting them in the worst mindset before they enter the office. Yeah. And it's just ludicrous. Like, it's crazy that it's taken so many decades for the global like mindset to shift that people are now like, okay, I believe you, that you're working from home. I mean, it's a Saturday. I already went to the gym at 6:00 AM <laugh> <laugh> came back, walked the dog, had breakfast, and now we're having this podcast like, when you work from home, it doesn't matter which days per week you work, which hours per day you work, you're not just gonna be lazy. It's like whatever your personality is, it's still gonna be that when you, when you work from home. So maybe it's not for everybody. Maybe some people really thrive on going into the office and seeing familiar things.  

Kanika:    00:24:02    Yeah. I mean, I, I I, I would agree. I think sometimes we over promote working from home and I think it's an individual decision. I don't think that, you know, everyone should feel like they should work, wanna work from home. There are some people that love interacting with people every day at work and they wanna be there. I think for me, I'm more of like a 80 20. So I would like to work from home 80% of the time and 20% of the time just do that once a week or twice a week. Touch base physically in the office just to let people know that, you know, I still exist. I'm still, you know, a great employee. I'm still, um, you know, doing team building exercises with my team. I think that also working from home requires a lot of focus. People that are, um, some people get distracted at home.  

Kristin:    00:24:54    Yeah. So that's a good point because every summer for my, for my other company, which is poker refugees, helping online poker players move to different countries. I would spend every summer in Vegas and I think it was last summer or the, the year before I was out there and I, I remember I was at the Cosmopolitan, has anybody been to the Secret pizza in the Cosmopolitan? Shout out to that place. They have really good pizza <laugh>. But I was sitting there and somehow like some drunk guy sitting next to me starts talking to me and he's telling me how he got his whole trip paid for by playing these games. Wow. Where you can like, play games online and then you get to free stuff in Las Vegas and that. He had so many points and I was like, wow, like how long did it take you to get all those points? And he said, well, I just do it while I'm at work all day. So yeah. <laugh> like eight hours a day. I was like, oh my God. He's like, you could do it too <laugh>. No.  

Kanika:    00:25:56    And  

Kristin:    00:25:57    I was laughing to myself 'cause I own my own business and I was like, you are the problem employee. You are the reason that, you know, people aren't getting shit done at work. They're just playing games, winning points to go to Las Vegas. I was like, or you could, you know, maybe just have a regular life or a life that you like on a day-to-day basis that you're not trying to escape from. And then use your own money to go to Vegas whenever you want because you work online. So, but what can people do to, like, let's say that they have a traditional job, but they want to get a remote job somewhere, whether it's part-time or full-time. What are the kinds of things that fully distributed companies are looking for in remote employees and what are some skills that, that people can work on now and portray through their resumes and through their job applications to be attractive to remote employers?  

Kanika:    00:26:54    I think the first thing that people are looking for from remote employees, they're, they're looking for self-starters. People that can easily get going and don't need a lot of, um, direction. Uh, they're looking for people that can communicate effectively through, through conference calls, through web web meetings, through online meetings. They're looking for people that can write well through email. Um, I think they're looking for people that can also be able to be flexible. I think working remote requires you to have the flexibility to be able to sometimes work in the evening, sometimes work at work, you know, late afternoon, sometimes dial in earlier. I think flexibility, because you're at home, there are under the assumption that you are a lot more flexible because you're in the, you know, you're in your home, you're in your pajamas, you're, you know, at, at your house or should be at your house, <laugh>.  

Kanika:    00:27:46    Um, I think some of the skills that you can work on is making sure that you can be able to, to work remotely with teams. Because a lot of times we think team building and working well with others requires to be in person. But if you, if you can effectively communicate with other team members, um, online, then you are a rockstar because that takes a lot of coordination, a lot of collaboration, a lot of back and forth of peer, peer reviews and deliverables. And I think the last thing that they're probably looking for is they're looking for probably someone that can work independently alone a lot. 'cause sometimes you have independent tasks where you're not working with other team members, you're, you have to meet your deadlines individually and then collectively gather things from other people. Right. So, um, those are some of the, you know, characteristics or skills.  

Kanika:    00:28:38    I think someone that has good computer skills, someone that can easily pick up on online technologies like Zoom, like Google, Google Hangouts, like all of the online web conferencing tools, I think that's another good thing. Or, or use Slack. You know, slack is a tool where you communicate with your team, um, through, through online chats and through online channels. So those are a few things that I think, you know, someone is looking for. I think being able to have your personality shine every day through the computer and people can actually feel you, um, without seeing you is an amazing skillset because just because I don't see Kristin every day in the office, I should be able to feel her vibes, her personality, her likes, her dislikes, her mood. So I think that's another important thing is remaining being able to remain professional even though you don't physically see your teammates in your leadership.  

Kristin:    00:29:37    That's right. Actually, I was gonna ask you about which remote tools you recommend. So just to recap those, some of the like communication being the most important thing, I think when you work remotely, whether you're working in, uh, on a team for a remote company or whether you are a freelancer or an online business owner and you're communicating with your clients, customers, suppliers, just maintaining that communication proactively so that people know what's going on and um, you know, things can get lost in translation sometimes over yeahing services. So, um, there's different ways to, um, just be more open on, on sites like Zoom, well, tools like Zoom and Slack and Google Hangouts. And of course if you're working for a company, you're probably still going to have some regular meetings or some system to check in with everybody on the team. So I would just add to of course, use those tools. Yeah. Um, likely and not let it cut into your productivity and deport.  

Kanika:    00:30:41    Yeah. Yeah. A couple other tools I would like to add to the list is that, that people should know is they should know, of course Slack. Um, they need to know how to use Skype. Um, they need to know how to use, um, Google apps and Google Drive. These are tools that you are for document. Um, these are cloud-based tools that you can use to actually create documents and save documents like Google Docs and Google Sheets and Google Slides. Um, tools like Dropbox where you're also saving files on, I think any cloud-based tools that where documents are gonna reside in a repository is very important to know as well. And of course, you know, being able to know all of the different, uh, office 365 and all the traditional email tools are very important as well.  

Kristin:    00:31:33    The cool thing about remote work that I think a lot of people don't realize is that they already have a lot of the tools and experience through their, their current jobs. Exactly. So a lot of Exactly. People are already familiar with what they need to know. It's just a mindset shift. Exactly. Traditional nine to five to remote. So yeah, if you guys don't feel like you're tech savvy, um, but the same skills that apply in your day job would probably apply in a remote job. And you already have in your toolbox the skills to use these apps and um, these cloud, um, software tools and things like that that you probably already use at your company. So <crosstalk>  

Kanika:    00:32:11    Yeah, and that's a very good point. That's a very good point. I think that people think that they can't adapt. And I think you're right. It's a mindset shift. It's an attitude. It's a, it's also a, a thing where you have to say like, you know, whether I'm at work or whether I'm at home, I'm gonna get my deliverable done. I'm not gonna make the idea of being in a corporate environment feel like that it forces me to do work. 'cause some people have the mindset that when they're at home that they're not going to be as disciplined. And maybe that's an individual discipline problem. 'cause I don't have that problem. I don't care whether I'm Type A. So I mean, I'm a type A personality person, so whether I'm at home or whether I'm at work, if that report is due at noon, it's due at noon, it doesn't matter.  

Kristin:    00:32:57    I I agree completely. Like I've never had a regular job. I mean, I say regular job. I've never had a traditional conventional job since I was a teenager. Oh wow.  

Kanika:    00:33:08    Good for you.  

Kristin:    00:33:09    Yeah. I've either worked like for myself in real estate where it's like sink or swim, you know, you're on commission so you don't get the job done, then you just don't make any money. Right.  

Kanika:    00:33:19    <laugh>, um,  

Kristin:    00:33:20    From that to my, to my online business and then now with my, um, media company or whatever this is that I'm doing <laugh> now my platform for helping people become digital nomads. I actually just this week launched my first program, which is called the Digital Nomad Challenge, which is giving people like a 30 day jumpstart to transitioning from um, a traditional job to a location independent one. So I guess if you're listening to that, I'll post a link for that. Um, if  

Kanika:    00:33:51    You're, oh, congratulations.  

Kristin:    00:33:52    Thank you. So, because I think that is one of the biggest hurdles, like I wanna ask you a couple questions regarding regarding how people can get started. So first I would ask if you have, before we move on, if you have any tips for which specific job sites should people go to for remote jobs? Or should they be contacting companies directly? Like how do they start that process of like, okay, I wanna work remotely, my company's not down with that, so where should I go to find legitimate remote, remote jobs that aren't like scam, make money online things? Yeah.  

Kanika:    00:34:30    Um, so I, I think that at one time I tried like flex jobs and some of those other websites that require like a monthly subscription to get this like exclusive database of remote jobs. And I didn't have much success with that. So what I did was I cut that subscription, um, service off and I actually just started to research what are the key words that companies are using. And I went back to like Indeed and LinkedIn and the bigger databases. And I would say for anyone watching this is to write down these key work from home terms when you're searching for a job. So you have telecommute, you have some companies use the word virtual, some companies use work from home and some companies use remote. And then you wanna actually add the job title that you have. So me, I'm a project manager, so I would put in remote project manager, I would go on Indeed and then leave the location blank.  

Kanika:    00:35:36    So I, I don't wanna specifically narrow myself down just to the Washington DC area because there are companies that are looking to hire people remotely at anywhere. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. So then I would go and I would filter down and I would use a different, um, work from home. Work from home or remote keyword with another job title. So I would use, some days I would use, I would say Monday I'm gonna look for all remote project management jobs. Then I'm gonna do work from home and put project manager on Tuesday. And then on Wednesday I'm gonna look for virtual. And then on Thursday I'm using another keyword because I am developing a strategy where I'm gonna apply to jobs specifically on each day using a different, uh, work from home keyword or remote keyword. Um, next thing I would say is rebrand your resume to make it look like that you um, have the ability to work from home.  

Kanika:    00:36:34    Because a lot of opportunities are asking people, have you ever worked from home before? Because they don't wanna just hire somebody that's never like, so if you've been working from home a couple days a week, that's great to mention when you're looking for jobs 'cause you are letting people know that I have already been successful at working from home like two days a week or three days a week because some companies already offer part-time, remote opportunities. It's just like every company doesn't offer a hundred percent remote. Um, I use Indeed, LinkedIn. Uh, I also sometimes work directly with recruiters that focus on remote opportunities as well.  

Kristin:    00:37:13    That is very interesting because there are so many <inaudible> remote <inaudible> out there. And actually, uh, one of my family members is an employee at Indeed. So I've really dug in there to see what they're doing and they're Indeed's the biggest job board I think in the world, but shockingly they don't have any remote filters. So what you would have to do is exactly what Kanika said is to search the keywords of different variations of remote plus the job. But there are quality jobs on there, so don't discount that job board. If you're looking for remote jobs, you actually could be able to find really good opportunities there because a lot of the remote job seekers are, could be on other sites as well, like flex jobs, which those can be a little bit overwhelming because there's so many jobs on those sites. But, um, there are some other ones coming up as well. Like we work remotely, but  

Kanika:    00:38:08    <crosstalk> Yeah, we work, yeah, we work remotely is good. I think for me, sometimes I feel like you, I wanna go to the largest database. I wanna go to Google Jobs, I wanna go to Indeed, I wanna go to LinkedIn. And I also wanna specify that in my LinkedIn profile that I'm actively looking for remote opportunities. Another tip is to make sure that your LinkedIn profile, um, you know, somewhat in the professional summary or up in the top of your profile that you specify that you're interested in, in remote opportunities. Because as recruiters are looking for different people, sometimes they're looking for the person that's shouting out loud, Hey, me over here I wanna work remotely. And they are, because some people don't wanna work remotely and some people, um, you know, just may not have the skillset or maybe don't have the mindset to wanna do that.  

Kanika:    00:38:55    So, um, I think that that is also important. Another thing that I would say is very important is to create job alerts. Mm-Hmm, with the word, with the key words. So just like we talked about remote, you can create job alerts that are automatically be emailed to you for remote, for telecommute, for work, from home jobs and or you can specifically look for jobs in your local area. Um, in the DC market there are a lot of opportunities where you may have a client that's in DC but you work from home but you only go to that client for meetings.  

Kristin:    00:39:27    Right. But  

Kanika:    00:39:29    But, but yeah,  

Kristin:    00:39:31    Actually Google just released that they're making it easier for people to find remote jobs online and they're testing out markets just in the US and I believe in the Netherlands coming up next. So that is probably, I think we can assume with Google that's going to be rolled out worldwide or in a large swath of countries eventually. So That's awesome. It is. Yeah. It's just gonna keep getting easier to find remote jobs online. But I do agree as well that LinkedIn is an underrated place to find remote jobs. Actually, um, when I was researching my book, so both of us were talking earlier before the show that we both have books coming out, um, which we'll talk about in a minute. Um, mine is Digital Nomad 1 0 1, the Ultimate Guide to the Location Independent Lifestyle. And what I found in my research is that only 6% of remote hires are made on LinkedIn, but it attracts the most recruiters and many people posting jobs there. Yeah. So it's a really underutilized re resource for job seekers. Yeah. So there's less competition and less kind of applicants or people vying for remote jobs on LinkedIn, but there's a lot more opportunities than there are qualified candidates. So Right. If, if you can find a job that you like and then reverse engineer your resume to fit that job and especially the keywords  

Kanika:    00:40:54    That's so important.  

Kristin:    00:40:56    Yeah. Yeah. See which keywords and there's actually tools for that now as well. Um, you wanna make sure that you're a good match for that job. So don't just like apply for every single job that's remote. If people are listening, like, and I'm sure, uh, Kanika is very intentional about how she was submitting her her resume and cover lever letter for each job. 'cause you wanna make sure that you are align  

Kanika:    00:41:20    <crosstalk>, you're tailoring it and aligning it with the job description. So that's a very good important point is that you wanna make sure that, you know, I always do a, a side by side view. I pull up my resume, I pull up the vacancy announcement, the job posting, and I do a reference check and I just say, okay, they're asking for this. Do I have this in my resume? They're asking for this tool, this skillset. Do I have this in my resume? They're asking for task and deliverables. I wanna make sure that they know that I can remotely deliver everything or good percentage of the things that they're asking for in the job posting. So that's important to like make your resume look like you are able to be successful at doing exactly what they're asking in the vacancy announcement. One thing I did post on Glassdoor, um, article is also interviewing, doing interviews for remote opportunities. A lot of times you'll never really go to the place, the actual job interview. I've done remote interviews a hundred percent over the phone, a hundred percent over video. And then they have emailed me, excuse me, they have mailed me my laptop to my front door. I never stepped foot in the office in a suit or in any type of professional attire to physically interview with the panel. So I think it's important for you to also understand that you may interview and you may not actually meet the interview panel.  

Kristin:    00:42:52    I'm actually pulling up your Glassdoor article right now, <laugh>, but that is a good point. And, um, you need to be able to communicate who you are basically remotely because you're gonna be working with these people remotely. So it makes sense that you wouldn't come in for an interview in, in person, that you would be doing it remotely. And so you wanna make sure that you present yourself accordingly. <laugh> Yeah. In the way that people interact with you.  

Kanika:    00:43:18    Right. You still wanna go in the, in the video interview and the phone interview and you wanna do well just as, just as much as you would do. Well face-to-face.  

Kristin:    00:43:28    Well, we just have a couple minutes left, so I wanna touch on two more things before I let you go. Alright. Um, what about people who want to work remotely? They want to change careers, but they don't know yet what they wanna do. Do you have any advice for them? Like if they're thinking, should I have a remote job? Should I work for myself? How can people start to explore that?  

Kanika:    00:43:51    That's a very good question. So I, I am writing this book called Career Rehab and basically it's about the idea of gutting out all the things that you don't like about your career right now and replacing it with the good things. Because it's like when you got out a house and you wanna resell it, you're going to renovate it, you're gonna make it better, you're gonna make, you know, it's, you are gonna make it marketable and able to sell. It's the same way with us as professionals. We have to learn how to gut out the things that we don't like about what's going on within our, our professional life right now and replace it with all the good stuff. So the one, the first thing you would do is you want to, uh, figure out what are you passionate about, what you know, if you're doing a career change, get a journal.  

Kanika:    00:44:35    I go to Ross or Marshall's or TJ Maxx and I get a journal and I just really sit down and I started to redevelop a career blueprint. I wanted to like be very creative with my mindset shift. And I wanted to identify all the things that I'm good at and all the things that I like. Then I wanna identify what skill gaps do I have, what skills that I don't have in this new career that I need to learn. So I'm maximizing, using LinkedIn learning, using Udemy. I'm using YouTube, using all these different online sources to get up to speed with that new skillset, right? Because if I'm doing a career change, there's a knowledge gap, most likely there's somewhat a knowledge gap. Number three, I am revamping my resume because I am now applying those new technologies, those new skill sets that I'm learning in these online courses and then reading these books.  

Kanika:    00:45:28    And I am figuring out what have I've already done in my existing job that's transferable and I'm updating that I'm le I'm leveraging that. Those things that I thought that were small, I'm making 'em sound big. The things that I really wanna do that I liked about my current job, I'm mashing them up with where I'm going in the future. And number four, the last thing is you wanna be able to go out there and market yourself and sell yourself online. So that's revamping your LinkedIn profile with your new updated resume that's making, you know, updated profile for your job board sites like Indeed and you know, like ZipRecruiter and Flex jobs and, and you're basically starting to connect with other like-minded professionals. If you, if I see your profile and I say, wow, Kristin, I was like, you are an entrepreneur. You are, you are working for yourself. I wanna connect with people like you and I wanna, I wanna transfer knowledge and information from you because if I know that you're doing something I'm trying to do, I need to build a network of new people with new mindsets with, with they've, they've already obtained these goals that I'm trying to reach. So I'll also think it's important to expand your network as well.  

Kristin:    00:46:42    That's a, those are all great tips and I just was thinking that there was, I found a tool that could, when you're talking about updating your LinkedIn profile and things like that, to really show what you want your new focus to be in. I'll put in the show notes because I don't remember what it's called, but there is an actual piece of software now and you can get like a free trial to this tool that can match up your resume with keywords and jobs that you're looking for. So in the job descriptions of jobs that you're Yeah, awesome. Interested in. So you guys can look at that. And I actually did that in my research just to test it out. And I was like, okay, if I was gonna apply for this marketing job, what would I do? And so I did like a, I don't, I've never even used a resume <laugh> in my career, but I had one from like grad school. So I, I made one and submitted it and it was like a 23% match. And I was like, oh no. Like if I was gonna get this job, I would, I would just be completely skipped over if I wanted this job. So I really, I mean  

Kanika:    00:47:46    The great, the great thing about LinkedIn is they do that. If you build your profile, profile out with your skills, when you actually apply for a job through LinkedIn, it will tell you you have three out of the 10 skills that they're asking for. Two out of the 10 skills. So you'll be able to measure already if the whoever's receiving the applications, they'll be able to already weed you out because LinkedIn has already created the algorithm to say that this is a top rated client, this is a top rated applicant versus a lower rated applicant. So another thing is we have to pay attention to the tools and what they already do for us, and we have to adjust our profiles in our resumes according to that.  

Kristin:    00:48:26    Uh, also ZipRecruiter and some other sites are doing that as well where they're like pre-filtering candidates to make it easier on the companies to hire. Yep. Right. People who are qualified. So Yep. So if you guys are looking for actual remote jobs, then you're gonna want to follow those tips. And then also you brought up a really good point about leveraging your existing skillset and your passion, but without ignoring or overlooking any skill gaps. So I just wanna highlight that for anyone who's listening, because to become a, a remote worker or to start an online business or to kind of transition out of the nine to five to a location independent lifestyle, you don't have to completely reinvent yourself. Yeah. You can look at assess what's missing in my day job. Like what are the skills that I like doing? What are the skills that I hate doing? What are the skills that people pay me for? And like, what are the things that I do that I would love to not do them like <laugh> Right.  

Kristin:    00:49:30    Delegate out of your job. And this is like the epitome of lifestyle design. Like this is what we're allowed to do that we didn't know we could do before. Yeah. Is we can actually create our own job. Whether it's ends up being a salary job or a job that you do yourself as a contractor or a freelancer or an online business owner. It's like, take what you're interested in that comes naturally to you. Take the skills that people already wanna give you money for, and then try to combine those and then see what other types of jobs or opportunities are out there and what you're missing from your repertoire. But don't let that hold you back. Right. Because you probably already have Yep. Skills and experience that you, you  

Kanika:    00:50:16    Just don't sometimes don't realize you have it. Yeah,  

Kristin:    00:50:18    Exactly. So you don't have to be like, I wanna work remotely, so I'm going to learn how to be a programmer. It doesn't have to be, you know, if you're like a writer and then all of a sudden you become a programmer. Like it doesn't have to be such a severe shift.  

Kanika:    00:50:32    Exactly.  

Kristin:    00:50:33    And then also give yourself a break. Like maybe you don't choose your most perfect job that you're gonna have for the rest of your life. Or maybe you get a remote job and six months into it you're like, yeah, I don't like this one. You can just change your mind because that's what we're all doing these days. Yeah. Uh, Kanika works in it product management for the government, for the US government. She's also a coach. Uh, she's also a writer, she's also a speaker. I, I am doing a lot of things as well. I mean, I have a podcast, I do YouTube videos, I write every single day. Like I have a book, I write blogs, I do relocations project management, I do talks and workshops. Like you can kind of be a jack of all trades now and it's not a negative thing. Or you can pick one thing and then shift if you don't like it. Like you're allowed to change your mind without feeling guilty.  

Kanika:    00:51:27    Yep. I agree.  

Kristin:    00:51:29    Oh, well thank you so much for coming on Kanika on a Saturday. Um, where can people connect with you if they want to follow your work, get more tips and maybe some coaching and pre-order your book?  

Kanika:    00:51:43    Um, yes. Thanks for having me on the show again. I appreciate it. I think this was a really, really great conversation. Um, you can find me on Twitter at kika tover. You can find me on Instagram @kanikatolver and you can also find me on LinkedIn at kanikatolver. Um, I also have a website if you want to come and connect with me and read up on other articles or other podcast shows that I've been on or just wanna reach out about coaching@kanikatolver.com. Um, my book will be on pre-order on Amazon, um, probably, I wanna say maybe around August. Um, so the name of the book is gonna be Career Rehab and I really am excited about this book. I think this book will help any of you guys that wanna become unstuck in your career. I think, you know, these are, this is gonna create a lot of momentum about taking ownership over your career and finding career happiness and finding out that you have it already inside of you to do. Don't allow anyone or any job, or any family member or anyone in, you know, anyone in your life to dictate your career happiness. It's already there. It's just that you have to like, you know, sow that seed and just, you know, allow it to grow.  

Kristin:    00:52:58    Thank you so much. And if anybody out there needs permission to change their lives and to work remotely and become digital nomads, then just come back every week and I'll give you <laugh>, I'll give you that permission. My guests will give you that permission. Yep. And if you guys want to follow along here and learn more about how, how many bad asses are out there, movers and shakers in the remote work industry, how things are changing and how you could take advantage of this unprecedented time in the history of the planet and human history by working remotely and doing what you wanna do from anywhere in the world. Then come back every Monday on YouTube on traveling with Kristin. We have a new travel video and every Tuesday at 12:00 PM so both days, 12:00 PM every Tuesday on Digital Nomad TV. We have a live interview with an entrepreneur or somebody in the remote workspace.  

Kristin:    00:53:58    And you can also, of course, subscribe to this podcast and we will be here every week giving you guys tips on how you can work remotely, travel the world, live life on your own terms, and have freedom in 2019 and beyond. So thank you guys for tuning in. We have some people in the live chat. We have Nuia, we have DW51. He says Great interview Sam McDonald giving us a thumbs up. So can't wait to see you guys again. We'll be back on Monday at 12:00 PM and then Tuesday at 12:00 PM So make sure to tune in and thank you Tanika. I will. Thank you. You online. All right, see ya. Bye everyone. Bye.  

Kristin:    00:54:51    Thanks for listening. Remember to leave a review and share this episode with someone in your network. And if you want more tips and advice on working remotely, make sure to sign up for my insider list at travelingwithKristin.com/subscribe, where you can find links to download free resources like My Digital Nomads Starter guide. Of course, also subscribe to youtube.com/digitalnomad so you don't miss any of our weekly videos, Digital Nomad News or Live Streams. See you there.