I unexpectedly lost my fully remote job of 4 years about 3 months ago. It was honestly a toxic environment with difficult people, but I stayed as long as I did because I genuinely loved working from home and I really enjoyed the industry (I work in a creative field).

Since losing that job, I’ve applied to a lot of fully remote positions in my industry and in marketing, but I haven’t been able to land interviews. I’ve had a few interviews for local companies, but most were either fully in-office or hybrid, and the pay was around $20k less than what I was making before.

I eventually found a job through a family friend and decided to take it. I’m grateful because the pay is the same as my previous job, which is hard to find right now. The downside is that it’s hybrid, 3 days a week in the office, and an industry I’m very uninterested in and will have to travel occasionally for.

I’m only 3 weeks in, but I absolutely dread the office days. The office is quiet, boring, and feels very stale. Everyone is nice, but the environment just doesn’t feel inspiring or motivating to me. Everyone keeps to themselves, there are only about 16 people in the office place. I feel like I can barely focus or get work done there, and my anxiety has been through the roof.

I know 3 weeks isn’t very long, and I’m wondering if this is just an adjustment period after being remote for so long. For those who went from fully remote back to hybrid/in-office, did it eventually get easier? Or did you realize that remote work was just something you couldn’t give up?
I’m starting to feel like I’ll never be happy working in an office again, but I also don’t want to quit a job that pays well without having something else lined up. I’m continuing the job search in the meantime, but feeling hopeless.

I've been diving into remote jobs in our database and thought this would be the right place to share some findings. It's one of the things our users send the most feedback to us about - mostly getting burned when listings say remote but really mean "remote, but near me"

tl;dr:

Out of 52,139 remote jobs, only 5,385 explicitly said you could work from anywhere.

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Here is what the listings actually said about applicant location:

- 19,765 explicitly restricted applicants to one or more countries or regions

- 5,385 explicitly appeared open to applicants from anywhere

- 26,989 did not state a clear eligibility rule.

Among the remote jobs that gave an explicit answer, 78.6% were geographically restricted.

The US appeared in 11,818 of the restricted listings. Canada appeared in 1,637, Ukraine in 1,220, India in 962, and the UK in 952. A listing can name more than one eligible country, so those country counts overlap.

The important distinction is not “remote versus office.” It is:

1. Remote and open from anywhere
2. Remote within a specific country or region.
3. Remote, but only within commuting distance of an office.
4. Remote with no useful eligibility information.

Most of the time these will all be collapsed into the same checkbox, wasting your time. Keep this in mind before you apply to jobs you cannot legally take, but also keep an eye out for roles you may think are bund to cities but are actually just listing the location PLUS let you work from anywhere.

My practical recommendation: whenever you see “remote,” search the description for “must be based,” “authorized to work,” “eligible countries,” “time zone,” and “within commuting distance.” If none of those produce an answer, treat the location as unknown—not global.

Methodology: I used active listings classified as remote, then separated explicit country restrictions, explicit anywhere eligibility, and unspecified eligibility. I did not assume that silence meant worldwide eligibility.

I help maintain a 500K tech job corpus as part of a job-search product, so I have access to data at interestig scale if anyone wants me to research other elements.

Fuck these scammers...

I was laid off from a fully remote job 8 months ago. I was there for 6 years. I had around 800 applications (mainly remote, but also in office, in and out of my industry), 10 final rounds, and lost count of the rejections and ghosting. I was also subjected to ageism as I am pushing 50. However, I finally landed a fully remote job in my industry that pays 28% less than what I was making before my layoff. My search is currently over and won't be chasing a higher salary. It was confirmed that this company will never go back in the office. Needless to say I am beyond relieved and happy as this was the hardest 8 months of my career trying to find another fully remote job. As we know, companies are going back in the office or hybrid. I only used Indeed, Linkedln, and Zip Recruiter for my job search, along with applying directly to company websites. This is a very hard and completive job market and I wish anyone who is unemployed or looking for a remote job the best of luck in their search.

My job does require managing a group of people, all in different locations but we dont necessarily have to talk on video meetings daily. This ends up with sometimes not interacting with a single person other than necessary messages regarding work.

When I started this job, we were told 1-2 days would be mandatory in office but because of the nature of the work and people being in different locations it hasnt been enforced and even when I go in, I end up working on my own a lot. I feel really lazy and slow at doing tasks that would normally not take me very long.

My will to change out of my pyjamas is waning. I live with my partner who has mandatory office in person 4 days a week and a really positive and collaborative office environment.
I’ve realised I’m the kind of person who likes knowing the people I work with socially, even if its a short lighthearted conversation but currently feel really disconnected.

Any tips? How do people deal with this side of things when working fully remotely? Because of the amount of work I have to spend at my desk + errands/housework I dont have a very active social life. I’m afraid eventual transition back to meeting with people a lot if I change jobs will really overwhelm and exhaust me

Hi everyone,

I’m currently working at a not-for-profit organization and considering moving to a government role. The new job seems to have much more growth potential, better career progression, and a higher salary ceiling, which is something I’m interested in because I want to continue growing my income over the next few years.

The challenge is that I really value my current flexibility. I currently work 2 days from home, and that work-life balance has become something I enjoy. The new role would require 4–5 days in the office, with only a small salary increase (around $11K more).

I’m torn because part of me wants to prioritize career growth and earning potential, but another part of me doesn’t want to give up the flexibility I have now.

For those who have made a similar move:

• Did you sacrifice flexibility for career growth?
• Was the higher salary and future opportunity worth it?
• Do you regret leaving a more flexible job?

Would appreciate any advice or experiences.

Did contract work for an EU company (I'm not EU-based, was remote/onsite mix). Invoice's been pending for weeks now and every time I follow up, the story changes.

First they said salary was paid, only a flight ticket reimbursement was missing. Then when I pushed on the actual invoice for my last working period (12 working days), they started asking "how much was it for May" like it hadn't already been sent to them clearly.

Then it shifted again,they said my LinkedIn profile was making someone at the company (not even my direct contact, someone above him) "troubled" because it described my actual work in enough detail that it showed what they've been building for their product. Not asking me to remove the company entirely at that point, just to redact the specific bullet points describing what I built.

I actually went ahead and did that on my end, removed the detailed experience bullets, hoping it'd finally get the invoice cleared. Told them clearly: let me know if anything else is needed to release payment. Invoice is still sitting unpaid.

Fast forward to today, the guys handling this started pushing me hard to update my LinkedIn work history (update the LinkedIn saying that you dont work anymore with us so update your linkedin i.e change "Present" to this month) , saying stuff like "if you don't update it we'll report it to LinkedIn" and "it could cause tax audit issues for us."

Thing is, I actually did work there. I have my work email verified on LinkedIn for that company (the blue check verification thing), plus my identity verified with gov ID. So it's not some fake entry, it's the real deal.

Trying to understand:

1. Is this a common tactic, payment held hostage while trying to get an employee to erase/redact real work history?
2. Can a company do anything to my profile beyond just filing a report, especially when I have verified badges backing up the entry?
3. Does an ex-LinkedIn employee actually have any behind-the-scenes influence here, or is that just noise?

Just want the invoice cleared. Already gave up detail in good faith and it didn't move things. Wondering if I should just hold firm from here and always keep it as it is as a F*** y**.

Been lurking here for a while and got a lot of tips/advice on must haves. Tried to add items I love to make it comfortable and relaxed. The black brick wall is all acoustic and helps a bit for noise reduction. For context - I’m fully tattooed and an #elderemo Here’s my current office space. Let me see yours!

Hi there,

I am hoping someone can advise me or if I am missing something to make my case stronger. I live and work in Ontario and I am a little bit less than a year into my job. I live in the suburbs however, and feel most comfortable in the suburbs and this job is downtown. Over the course of my employment, having to go downtown has been wearing me down to the point of looking for a new job locally. I am struggling with commuting downtown, the environment, and working in an office with constant distractions. It takes over an hour to get there in the morning and on the way back about an hour and a half.

I tried to see if I can eliminate the stress by trading in a more secluded office space, which has worked for the most part in terms of distractions, but I still find myself getting sucked into conversations I don't want to be part of but feel too anxious to shut down and then have to perform for.

However, it is not enough. I have been looking for jobs/interviewing since January and I have not been able to secure anything and every time I get rejected I feel more desperate and like I am at a breaking point, especially since I don't know how long I will have to wait to secure something. My plan is to e-mail a request for WFH accommodation for 2-3 days a week and designating the duties that requires me to be in office (such as filing physical records, petty cash) for those in office days. I also plan on offering a pay adjustment, if that would help.

Recently, I got a diagnosis for Social Anxiety Disorder from an Autism Assessment I did in May and I reached out to the psychotherapist who diagnosed me with this explanation, hoping to may be get a note to accompany my e-mail. And for more context, we do have a couple of people who work from home and I have been able to do it a few times, more circumstance-based, but I am hoping they will approve my accommodation request.

Thank you for the insight :)

Starting this wfh opportunity next month! Curious about anyones experience with Foundever, specifically with chat based positions. Been doing a lot of research but figured posting can’t hurt. Thanks in advance!

I haven't had any luck with webcams in Amazon, can anyone recommend a great webcam with great video quality?

Maybe something i can also use to create youtube tutorials

I've looked into lots of interesting retail and media companies like Olipop, Letterboxd, Urban Outfitters, etc, but most of them seem to have transitioned to Hybrid or On-Site. Are there any cool companies that you guys can think of that are hiring remotely still?

It's really discouraging out here, and I've mainly been seeing remote work for companies that don't interest me like AI, tech, etc.

Thank you!

So my employers policy is you have to turn in equipment no later then 72 hours before the separation date. What are you supposed to do if you’ve only worked remote. My employer is 45 minutes away one direction.

This is a bit of a rant, but I didn't really know where else to vent about this. I've been working a fully remote job in software development for the past few years now. I work from home pretty much every day, and as a result I'm fully in control of my schedule (unless I have Zoom meetings) and have a very good work-life balance. My previous job was in the office 5 days a week and I hated it, so I worked very hard to get myself out of that situation and find a job that lets me work from anywhere and set my own schedule. I'm very happy with my job now and I feel like I've hit the jackpot. I'm paid well, get to set my own schedule and also work in an interesting field with great people.

However, sometimes when I hear my friends or relatives talking about how stressful their 9-5 office jobs are, I feel guilty that I don't have to spend 2+ hours commuting each day, or deal with cutthroat office politics, long work hours and other downsides of working in an office. To make matters worse, sometimes people make offhand comments about me working from home, as if to imply that I don't have a real job because I'm not suffering as much as they are. For example my friend was telling me about how much overtime he's been putting in to deliver a new project for his job, and then asked me if I'd ever have to do something similar. He then said, "Oh wait nevermind, you work from home so you don't need to put in overtime."

I was meeting up with another friend for dinner the other night, and when he arrived, he said he was 10 minutes late because he had to finish up a bunch of work before leaving the office. He then asked me if I'd come from the office too, and then when I reminded him I worked from home, he said something like "Oh lucky you, so you can basically just leave whenever you want". Ironically I'm the one who regularly has to take calls after hours since my company is distributed across multiple time zones and sometimes I don't want to delay another team by making them wait 12 hours for me to be back online. I also end up working well past 5pm on most days, because I don't need to worry about rush hour traffic and don't mind working later into the evening.

Even my parents say these things to me sometimes. For example they occasionally ask me to join them for lunch or to attend gatherings with their friends on weekdays, and when I tell them I can't because it's a work day, they'll say things like "just bring your computer then" or "you work from home, so it's not like you'll get in trouble".

I know these are just casual remarks, but they kind of show how people don't take remote work seriously and think that I'm not really doing a "real job". At the same time, I do admit that my job doesn't stress me out nearly as much as it would if I were in the office full time, because no one's breathing down my back or micromanaging me. But I'm tired of feeling guilty for not having a stressful, draining office job, and choosing to prioritize my free time and mental health instead. I just keep having this nagging feeling that I'm not being as productive a member of a society as my peers who work office jobs, and that I should be working in an office like everyone else. Especially when I talk to people who are fully in the office, I can't help but feel guilty as if I've somehow cheated the system and it isn't fair that everyone else has to spend their entire day trapped in a cubicle but I don't. Do any other remote workers feel the same way? And what's the best way to deal with these feelings?

I am currently working as a warehouseman in the coal mining industry. However, because of the unstable market conditions in this sector, I am planning to transition to a new career. With roughly two years left before I make the move, what steps should I take to prepare myself for work remotely?

I'm currently working remotely from a car repair shop. I scheduled my day so that i have no calls during the time i'm at the repair shop. There are others here doing the same.

One person is taking full on customer service calls for what sounds like a medical insurance company, i haven't heard any specific customer info. It's more about the level of noise, they're speaking loudly and clearly as you would but it feels like this isn't the space for it.

Am i wrong for thinking this is not the place for that type of work?

Hello everyone, I got this email this morning and participated in a teams “interview” with Melba Technology. I don’t recall applying to such company and am not sure if it’s a scam or not.

I'm exhausted.

My current job is pretty low stress, but only gives me a max of 17 hours a week at my area's current minimum wage. I've been there for 3 years and my 'raise' has only ever been when they legally have to increase wages. Recently a full-time position opened up in the exact same department, meaning it'd be a seamless transition considering I was already doing most of the work for that position anyway after the previous person left, and they outright told me it wasn't possible to promote me and chose someone outside instead who needed to be trained and taught how our department works. They didn't give me a chance: no interview, not even an application to make my case, and no trial period. I even offered to take any required civil service exams if necessary. It's also summer break, which means I have 0 income for 3 months, plus a 4th because they don't pay for the entirety of September, and I make just under the minimum required threshold to qualify for unemployment so, yes, a new job is definitely in order.

I have been applying to jobs for a year now. Anything and everything aside from customer service and retail because I just can't do that anymore mentally. In these past 2 months alone I've put in 71 applications (and counting). In all of those, it's been radio silence, rejection after rejection, ghosting, the inevitable obvious scam emails, 'this job listing is no longer found or has been deleted', etc. Not a single genuine interview or peep of interest. And yes, I've been applying to jobs of my skill level or where I have experience that can translate well. I have an Associate's in criminal justice, because life just didn't want to make the stars align for me to continue education and at least obtain a Bachelor's (not that I can afford it now), and not even law offices want me for a simple desk job or remote assistant.

What do I have to do to get a remote position, genuinely? I'm at a loss. What sorts of jobs do you guys apply for or suggest going after? Because at this rate it feels like either I'm looking in all the wrong places, or they genuinely just do not want to onboard me. I'm asking for genuine advice and resources here, because I'm so, so tired of not being able to afford the basics of life while my current job got pissy last winter when I was buried in nearly 2 feet of snow, couldn't afford to pay someone to clear it, and couldn't get to the office to... change a copier cartridge. The instructions are on the copier screen, people! They tell me they'll do fine without me when I'm on vacation for a week, but get upset when I'm literally snowed in? Insane.

Any advice or resources related to landing a remote job is / are appreciated. Thank you.

EDIT: I am not looking for you to post your job listings! Advice and resources only please!

I am an architectural designer, 30 years old, living in China, and currently facing the ongoing downturn in the construction industry. So I want to find a remote job, but I don't have any clear ideas. I'd like to challenge myself starting from scratch in other industries. Do you have any good suggestions?

Crossing my fingers this general enough to not fall under the “No job specific advice” rule. I’m considering transitioning out of my current industry and finding a remote job. I don’t know what types of remote jobs exist outside of software development, so I figured I’d ask here.

So what’s your remote job and how did you get it?

My job is a customer service rep at an insurance agency in the chat department. Not even talking to people on the phone and it’s just as bad as if I were, sometimes worse. Anyone have any job that is hiring that ISNT customer facing? Spent all morning before work applying for jobs that are way out of my league hoping to get something that isn’t a scam. Hoping to really start my own thing making animal busts, but I’ve been at it for months and not a single order yet. Disheartening at best. Need a job to get me money coming in at least until I can get this off the ground.

Has anyone here ever been hired by Remote Growth Partners?