How to find legitimate remote jobs

What Is a Remote Job?

You must have heard about people that don’t go to work yet they make money from home. Maybe you have a neighbour that barely leaves home but he never seems to run short of money. Deep down in your heart, you believe your neighbour may be engaging in internet fraud but you are yet to prove that. Well, your suspicion may be right or wrong but you shouldn’t rule out the fact that your neighbour may be doing a legit job right there in his house.

Yes, there are many jobs you can stay in the comfort of your home to work on, get completed, send to the client or boss, and receive your payment by the end of the day. You don’t have to step out of your home to do this job or deliver it. And no, you don’t need any logistics company to deliver it for you either (at least, in most cases). The kind of work we are referring to here is known as remote jobs and the people that do them are said to work remotely.

So, remote work is a kind of job that people do outside of their office. It is the kind of job that does not conform to the traditional office setting, where you have to sit at your cubicle or table, complete a task, and walk into your boss’s office to submit it. If you have a remote job, you can do the job from any part of the world. The most important thing is that you do the work well and submit it at the right time.

In case you want to know the difference between the kind of work being referred to here and the case, where someone has an office at home (and receives clients in the home office), remote work is done online, that is, over the internet. You meet and interact with your bosses and clients through the internet. You also get recruited and sacked through the internet. Thanks to the internet, many people can now work in different countries of the world without travelling to them. You too can do this kind of work if you know how to find one. That is why this essay is put together to help you to discover how to find legit remote works.

Examples of Remote Jobs

You must have discovered what remote work is from the explanation given above. In case you’re learning about this working culture for the time, you should make out time to find out more about it so you will discover the kind of remote work you can key into. Of course, there is an area in every field that can be done remotely but you have to find out those related to your field.

Anyway, if you are wondering where to start, here are the commonest types of remote work you can find and apply for in any part of the world:

Consultant
Graphic Designer
Writer
Marketing Manager
Web Designer
Social Media Manager
Virtual Assistant
Customer Service Representative
Accountant
Copywriter
Recruiter
Data Analyst
Software Engineer
Tutor/Teacher/Instructor
Project Manager
Program Manager, and
Sales Representative

You can find other forms of remote jobs if you search harder but the ones listed above are the ones that are easily available. So, if you can, you should develop your skills in one or two of them and start searching for gigs. You will be happy you did.

Why Should You Get a Remote Job?

Before we continue discussing how you can find legit online jobs, let’s first find out why you should consider having a good remote job. Of course, you must have guessed that working from home means you don’t have to face the stress of jumping out of your bed early in the morning or facing the traffic during the day. If you have these thoughts, you’re right because they are some of the benefits of working remotely.

But let’s look at more reasons you should consider having a remote job.

First of all, you don’t need a lot of tools to get to work. Well, that depends on the kind of work you’re doing. In most cases, you only need your laptop, smartphone, source of power, and internet modem or router to get to work. Remote work only asks for your skills and knowledge, not expensive tools. So, if you can afford a laptop and access to the internet, you should start considering finding a remote job.

Secondly, you don’t need to rent an office space to work remotely. Remember that most remote workers work from home. Their bed can act as their first office. However, when they grow at the job, they set up a workstation in a corner of their room. What they need to equip this space depends on the kind of job they’re doing. But most times, a chair and a table can be your home office if you work remotely.

Thirdly, you can work from anywhere if you have a remote job. Yes, so long as you are going to beat the deadline, you’re free to take your work anywhere you want to. Remember, in most cases, your boss or client isn’t interested in whether you’re doing the job in your house or your friend’s. The major thing here is that you do the right thing and send the job when it’s done. However, you shouldn’t forget to maintain the integrity that comes with your job. That you’re allowed to work remotely doesn’t mean you should forget it’s a job and should be done as one. So, even if you want to work anywhere else other than at home, you shouldn’t let that interfere with the quality and integrity of your work.

You can work for several clients. Yes, your time is yours and you can decide to use it to take in several gigs. That is, since you’re working remotely, you don’t need to take permission from a client (if you’re freelancing) or your boss (if it’s a permanent job) to take up another gig. If you’re doing a regular 9-5 job, you can take up a remote job as a side hustle. However, you shouldn’t take up more gigs than you can handle so you don’t deliver substandard results or burnout along the line.

You can work at your own pace. If you work remotely, you can complete a task quickly or take your time to do it. You may decide to work in the morning or late at night. No one is going to check whether you’re sleeping on duty or watching movies while you have pending tasks. And no one is going to frown when you decide to have a chit-chat with a neighbour. As a remote worker, your time is yours. You only have to deliver a good quality job.

How to Find Out if an Online Job is Legit or Not

You don’t more evidence to know that you can actually find jobs in any part of the world and complete them without stepping out of your home. But, before you start rejoicing over this piece of information, you need to understand that it’s not everything that glitters is gold. Scammers use the opportunity provided by remote work to defraud unsuspecting job seekers. So, to avoid falling victim to such individuals, you need to discover how to detect legit online jobs so you can ignore scams when they show their ugly faces.

So, when searching for remote jobs, here are things you should look out for:

You Won’t Pay to Get a Job

If you find a job advert that asks you to pay a certain amount of money to begin or complete the recruitment process, please, avoid it. You may find those that may allow you to start the application process only to ask you to pay some money before you move to the next stage of the process. Well, each time you see such conditions attached to a job application process or meet them during the recruitment process, just know that you have met scammers.

Please, note that what is described here is different from what some remote job publishing platforms do. That is, you may discover that you have to pay subscription fees when you join some online sites that publish good remote jobs before you’re able to find full details about the jobs they publish. Even though I know that some of those platforms are scams, I don’t think you should assume that paying monthly or yearly subscription fees makes a platform a scam. However, before you join an online platform that publishes remote jobs, please do a little research about it.

You Don’t Get the Job without an Interview

If a company sends a job appointment letter or a congratulatory message to your email when you didn’t apply for the role, it’s a red flag you should avoid. Yes, you apply for remote jobs online and complete all the recruitment processes online too, but the job is never offered to you on a platter of gold. You must pass through the kind of rigorous, burdensome, and tiring recruitment processes you find in the usual in-person recruitments. You may even have to write exams, pass through two or three interviews, complete more screenings, and so on before you get a remote job. This is to let you know that even if you’re good at what you do, you shouldn’t expect job appointment letters to drop into your email inbox when you didn’t apply for them.

You have to understand something else here. You should know that the same way a lot of people apply for jobs in your locality is also how so many people apply for remote works through the internet. That is, remote works are as competitive (if not more competitive) as the regular jobs you do physically. Always remember that people from different parts of the world access and apply for those remote jobs you’re applying for. So, ask yourself why a company will throw a job at you when you didn’t apply for it or attend its interview since millions of people are out there looking for the same job. Well, if you answer this question honestly, you will discover you’re about to be scammed.

You Won’t Be Paid If You Don’t Complete Tasks

I’ve seen where people say they got a massive upfront payment after they got a remote job. Well, I am not in a position to challenge that but I won’t want you to believe it. Sometimes, you will find scammers asking you for your banking details shortly after you joined its imaginary remote work team. If you supply such information, you may expose yourself to fraud. This is why you shouldn’t believe that you will get an upfront payment immediately after you got a remote job. However, if you do some underground checks and discover the company truly pays some amount of money as incentive to its remote workers, then go ahead and submit your banking details. But just apply caution while doing that.

Your Secured Personal Information Is Never Asked For

You are going to submit your certificates and other information that is related to your job when you get a legit remote job. The same way you create a physical file in your normal place of work is how you will create one when you begin to work remotely for a company. However, that a work is done remotely does not mean you’re going to provide every information about yourself. In other words, if you suspect the company is probing into the part of your life that may expose you to fraud or threaten your safety, you should abandon that job immediately.

You Are Not Going to Receive an Exotic Pay

I’ve seen some online job advertisements that promise payments that sound like something out of the moon. This is not to say that remote workers are not well paid but to remind you that your pay can never be so astronomical that you will begin to wonder if it’s for real. Well, as the saying goes, if it’s too good to be real, then it’s not real.

In case you want to know, remote workers are paid fairly (sometimes, not too fairly). In fact, some employers adopt this policy because it saves money for their organizations. So, if you find an advertisement that promises to pay you hundreds of thousands of dollars for doing a job that a few thousand dollars can take care of, please, flee. Don’t be tempted to accept it.

Read Reviews

One of the best ways to know if a remote job is legit is to read reviews and feedback about them. This way, you will be able to know what people who have worked there or are still working there are saying about the job. You can search for the company’s reviews at websites such as Top Reviews Site, Trust Pilot, Sitejabber etc.

How to Find a Legit Home Job

Here are some steps you should take to land a legit remote work that will pay you fairly well:

Open an account with a website or an online platform that publishes remote jobs. Please, search for and read reviews about any platform you want to join. But I recommend sites like We Work Remotely, Extra Cash Each Month, Upwork, Flexjobs, Remote Ok, and the like. At least, they publish legit online jobs on their job boards.
Join social media platforms like LinkedIn and Twitter. You have better chances of finding remote jobs there than in others, like Facebook and Instagram. But, you have to stay active on those sites to attract recruiters or employers to yourself.
When you find an opening you want to apply for, spend a little time researching the organization or advertiser. You should find out if the organization is truly existing. Most organisations that allow their workers to work from home have an online presence. They have websites, social media accounts, official email addresses (not Gmail or Yahoo Mails, please), and so on. You must be able to find something about the organization on the internet.
Sometimes, the online jobs you’re going to get will want you to work anonymously. That is, you work behind the scene without being seen at the fore (as a ghost). If you find such a gig, you may not find out much about your employer. However, you should be alert to avoid falling prey to fraud.
Don’t try to cut corners. You should be willing to pass through the interview or test stage of recruitment. This should apply in all cases, included when you are planning to work as a freelancer for an individual or as an employee of an organization. If you were contacted by a scammer and you attempt to cut corners, you may expose yourself to heartbreak.
Reach out to prospects. You don’t have to wait for recruiters to publish openings before you shoot your shot. If you find a company that offers the kind of job you will love to do, send it an email and hope for a favourable response. If it comes, good. If it doesn’t, life goes on and the shooting continues. But never been intimidated by rejections.
Develop yourself. Remember I said earlier that remote jobs are competitive. Since remote jobs can be done by qualified individuals from any part of the world, a lot of people will apply for a particular opening. So, to stand a chance of being considered for any job, you have to be exceptionally good at what you do. So start working on yourself and keep acquiring more favourable skills for the job.
Look for the Sister Company. There are some legit online job companies that they owned several other companies. If they are legitimate companies, then anything related them are most likely to be genuine. You can search for these sister companies at All Sister Sites.

Let’s Wrap It Up

Working from home has become trendy, especially after the pandemic. Currently, you can work in any part of the world from the comfort of your home. That is the beauty of remote jobs. However, you have to be cautious to avoid falling into the hands of scammers, who pretend to be remote work recruiters. You can find different ways of avoiding being their victims if you read this article to learn how to find legit online jobs.