In each case, there are certain steps you can take to achieve your career dreams and land the perfect online job. After freelancing full-time for some time now, I’ve learned a few things about how to land the perfect online job. In this post we’ll be looking at what is the perfect online job, characteristics of the perfect online job, and highlighting five (5) simple steps to help you land the perfect online job, but first

What is the Perfect Online Job?

The perfect online job is that online job that is perfect for you, that perfectly aligns with your personality, preferences, and financial goals. To find the perfect online job for you, you’ll first have to find you. In other words, you should clearly articulate your

PersonalityPreferences (values), andFinancial goals

Any online job that aligns with any of these three (3) elements is a good job for you, and with any two (2); great job. However, any that combines these three (3) is the perfect online job for you. The latter should be your goal. But is it easy to come by? Not necessarily. Difficulty levels vary, but at the end of this post, you will learn proven steps to make it easier to land that perfect online job. Following are

Some Key Characteristics of the Perfect Online Job

Apart from intersecting with your personality, core values, and financial goals, the perfect online job comes with

Flexibility (in terms of location, work mix, work load, working hours, deadlines)Higher income potential (multiple clients, more work)Less commute (or zero commute), andA lot of responsibilities (You’re 100% responsible for your success or lack of it)

Following are

5 Simple Steps to Land the Perfect Online Job

  1. Do Your Research If you’re a highly successful and sought after freelancer or expert in your field, you probably have a client attraction system in place that automatically brings you loads of referrals and quality clients who fit your personality, core values and financial goals. If on the other hand, you’re newly unemployed due to COVID-19, pivoting to remote work, starting a side hustle, or looking to get new freelance clients and earn more, then you will have to do your homework by doing your research. Your research can start with a simple Google search, but do not stop there. Ask your colleagues, friends, family, or other successful remote workers. You can also identify and curate a list of niche job boards in your industry or area of expertise, experience or interest. Your job will be much easier if you know exactly where to find the best remote jobs. These specialized job boards will help you avoid low paying, high demanding content mills that run contrary to your personality, core values and financial goals.
  2. Document Your Findings In the course of your research, you may learn that most companies do not advertise all job openings, especially those who hire freelancers regularly. They have an established talent pool like the one offered by Dormzi, or perhaps they have a referrals list to pick from. You may also learn that there are thousands of other applicants applying to advertised remote jobs, and that the competition can be high, just days after a job ad goes live. Again, you may learn that some companies that advertise jobs aren’t worth your time or talents. Somewhere in your research, you may also learn that certain companies are better to work with, judging by their job description, working conditions and pay grade, as well as testimonials or recommendations on GlassDoor, for instance. Document the key things you’ve learned after doing your homework and research on jobs and companies in your niche of interest or area of expertise and experience.
  3. Develop a Strategy The next logical step to help you land that perfect online job is to develop a definite strategy based on the results of your research. This is very important and can make a huge difference between landing an online job (if any) and landing the perfect online job. Your strategy could involve only responding to online job ads within one week after they’re posted. You could even decide to do due diligence on a company before ever taking the time to respond to their job ad by looking up their reviews, revenue, average salary, etc. Another powerful strategy to land the perfect online job is to not wait for job ads or to circumvent the application process. This can involve cold pitching, where you curate a list of viable companies that can afford your rates (using AngelList, CrunchBase, LinkedIn, etc). Next is to identify key contact persons in such companies and extract their email addresses using email finders, email permutators or by following their established naming conventions (e.g {first [email protected]}). Then you can send them a cold pitch, introducing yourself and how your services can benefit their business.  4. Apply There are two major ways to land the perfect online job. The first is by having a client attraction system in place, that automatically gets you clients. This can be achieved by referrals, blogging, SEO, etc. The second approach is by applying for the job. Speaking of job applications, there are also two major approaches. First, directly responding to job ads following the advertisers instructions to a T. This approach is what every other applicant uses, and can increase competition. The second and my more preferred method is to not apply like everyone else. This helps you jump the queue and avoid the noise from the competition. First, read up the job description and approach the company directly. Assuming they want a freelance writer to write at least two articles a week. Send them (the decision makers) a cold email with ten blog post topic suggestions, and state why they should hire you. This approach may be time intensive, but very effective. It has worked wonders for me. You can even use the same topic lists if you’re targeting companies in the same niche.
  4. Follow-Up Not enough can be said about the power of following up in helping you land that perfect online job. Many applicants will respond to a job ad, but only a few bother to follow up. This is one of the major differences between overbooked freelancers and starving freelancers. If you’re convinced you meet the requirements for a job and have put in a solid application, you should follow up on your application if you haven’t heard back from the advertisers after a while. Two weeks to one month is a good time to follow up. How many times should you send follow up emails without seeming like a spammer? This is a tricky question. However, four times is a good amount. You can use the 3-7-7-3 formula. Send follow up emails three days after the first, then seven days later, and another seven days, and three days thereafter. If you still don’t hear back after this much follow ups, it is usually wise to let it go and move on to other prospects. In many cases, you will find that your recipients were busy or missed your previous emails. Conclusion It is very possible to land the perfect online job. However, it may require work, practice, and patience with maybe a bit of luck. Remember to: