Chapter13: HowtoFindandGetHiredforaRemoteJob 148 Seeif the following four essential traits fit you. 1. You’re tech savvy Becausemuchofyourtimewillbespentonline,makesurethatyourcomputer system is up to par. Employers with remote staff rely heavily on the latest toolsandsoftwaretogetthejobdone,suchasvideoconferencingapps.Some companieswillpaytogetyousetupwiththegearyouneed,butothersdon’t. And,inanycase,bepreparedtogainexperiencewithnewtools. At FlexProfessionals, LLC, co-founder Sheila Murphy explains on Remote.com that “for remote positions in our company, employees must have excellent communicationsskillsandacomfortlevelwithlearning[…]andusingtechnol- ogy. Welookforandevaluatethesetraitsthroughouttheinterviewprocess.” Youdon’thavetobeatechwizard,butatleasthavesomefamiliaritywithtools andbeopentoongoinglearning. 2. You’re an efficient communicator Even when you’re working remotely, you’ll still need to actively communicate withyourteam.You’lllikelycommunicateviadirectmessagingapps,email,and texts, so being able to get your points across clearly and quickly is essential. CobyChapple,aproductdesigneratGitHub,says: Theimportanceofthiscannotbeoverstated.Whenyou’reremote,a majority of the way you interface with the world will be through the written word, so it’s critical that you can articulate complex concepts andsubtleties. Giant walls of text aren’t fun either, so it’s important to keep things concise. Automattic Happiness Engineer Andrew Spittle shares with us: Text is our predominant communication mode and we look for strongwritingskillsinapplicants.Onthesupportsidethat’skeysince text is not just how we communicate with customers but also with