The Six Things You Need Ready Before You Apply for a Single Remote Job
Most people apply first and prepare later, which is why the first fifty applications go nowhere. Six items, most of them free, most of them doable in a weekend.
There is a version of job hunting where you send one hundred applications and hear nothing. It usually happens because the applying started before the preparing.
Here is the full list. Nothing else is required to start.
1. A CV a machine can read
Most applications are read by software before a human sees them. That software struggles with columns, tables, text boxes, headers, footers and graphics. So: one column, plain headings, standard font, saved as PDF unless they ask for Word.
Name the file properly. Chidi_Okafor_Customer_Support_CV.pdf, not CV_final_v7.pdf.
2. A LinkedIn profile that matches the CV
Recruiters check. If your CV says four years and LinkedIn says two, you look careless. Same job titles, same dates, same spelling of the company names.
Set the profile to public. A private profile means a recruiter searching for your skill cannot find you at all.
3. A professional email address
Firstname.lastname at gmail. Nothing else. This sounds trivial and it is not — it is the first thing a hiring manager sees.
4. Proof of work
Two or three examples of something you actually produced. A spreadsheet you built, a report you wrote, a design, a script, a support process you documented. Remove anything confidential, put them in one free Google Drive folder or Notion page, and get a shareable link.
If you have never produced anything shareable, build one small thing this weekend. That is genuinely enough to start.
5. A payment method that works internationally
Payoneer, Wise or Grey. Open the account before you need it, because verification can take days and you do not want that delay sitting between you and your first payment.
6. A quiet corner and a working camera
Not an office. A corner with a plain wall behind you, a window or lamp in front of you rather than behind you, and headphones with a microphone. Interviewers notice sound quality more than anything else on the call.
The order matters
Do them in this order: CV, LinkedIn, email, proof of work, payments, setup. Each one takes an evening. By the end of a week you are ready, and every application after that is worth sending.
Not sure whether your CV clears the machine? Our free ten-point scan checks it in under a minute and tells you exactly what is failing. Run the free CV scan.