How hard is it to land a remote job?

How hard is it to land a remote job?  Not impossible, but it’s getting harder, especially in law. WSJ reports the “remote work dream isn’t dead” but is “slipping away.”

Why is it so difficult? The total job market is shrinking, and the portion of remote jobs has dropped to around 8% from a high of 24% in 2019.

Sector split:

• Hardest hit: “[W]ork-from-home arrangements in accounting, law, consulting and financial services have mostly dried up” according to LinkedIn’s head of economics for the Americas.
• Most friendly: Tech, information and media are most open to remote work, BUT hiring in these areas is “very slow.”
• Where there’s most hope: “Startups and midsize companies are often more willing to let employees work remotely” because they want to effectively compete against bigger/blue chip companies and get good talent.

The competition:

• Remote listings make up 8-9% of total jobs but receive 40% of all applications on LinkedIn.
• JobHireAI, which analyzed 600,000 applications, found landing a remote job 4x harder than in-office or hybrid.

How do you pitch yourself? I have seen the strategies suggested in the article work for lawyers looking for remote jobs:

• Cite your track record. Show you have effectively worked remotely at similar jobs.
• Understand the manager’s reservations and address them. Ask questions in the interview to understand what they’re worried about. If it’s response time, for example, talk up your responsiveness and have references raise your record.
• Position yourself as a “headache reducer … who will deliver results with zero office drama,” ideally showing you have “performed a nearly identical job in the past.”

The “be careful of what you wish for” reality:

• Pay cuts. Prepare for a cost-of-living adjustment. “The days of collecting New York salaries at New Hampshire and New Mexico addresses are waning.”
• Proximity bias. Remote workers often face slower career progression than in-office folks. For more analysis on the trade-offs, see https://www.susantiensearch.com/in-office-vs-remote-hybrid-trends-tradeoffs/.