Matching your personality traits and types for your ideal remote job or career – Packaging your skills and finding a remote job that suits you
Having a remote job is a dream for many. Thanks to COVID-19 the coronavirus global pandemic, we’ve had to shift to remote much quicker than expected. You may be wondering if you have the personality type for a remote job. The good news is that there is remote work out there for you no matter what personality traits you have!
But how do you know which type of remote job is right for you? When you’re just starting out it can be daunting to figure out what path to take to lead you to the right remote job. And it makes sense to make sure your new remote position is one that’s well-suited to what you’re good at. There are several jobs in which you can translate your skills from offline to online. But first, we decided to take a look at how your remote career maps to your personality type as a starting point to look at the type of remote career that’s right for you.
Mapping a remote career to your personality type
We’re all a little bit different. Knowing your strengths is key to excelling in your remote work.
There are many online resources that can help you build and manage a remote-ready skillset.
We’ve provided a list of courses, broken down by entry level, mid level, and highly skilled, and by area of expertise: marketing, finance, programming, and so on.
Once you’ve found the career that’s right for you, take a look at the Courses on LiveWorkAnywhere to dig deeper into your next remote career.
Have you thought about what skills match your personality type?
Not sure what your strengths are yet? A lot of people don’t think they’re good at anything, when in reality, they’re just not aware of what their strongest qualities are. Taking a quick personality test can give you an idea of what kind of tasks and skills suit you best. You can then identify the personality traits for your ideal online career and see if they match up with your personality type.
This Hubspot blog details seven different career aptitude tests for recent graduates and seasoned professionals alike. General personality tests like this one from 16personalities.com can be helpful, too. No one test is a perfect representation of you. These are just tools to give you an idea of yourself and your strengths and get you started on your path to a remote career.
Personality types and the remote careers that match
The most common personality and career aptitude test, the Meyers-Briggs test, breaks personality types down by four distinct categories.
- Introverted vs. extroverted
- Thinking vs. feeling
- Judging vs. perceiving
- Sensing vs. intuition
Here are some examples of remote jobs that pair well with these broad personality categories.
- Introverted: Software developer, proofreader, photographer.
- Extroverted: Screenwriter, Editor, Copywriter.
- Thinking: Sales representative, project manager, public relations.
- Feeling: Social media manager, translator.
- Judging: Managing editor, statistician.
- Perceiving: Film editor, journalist, archivist.
- Sensing: Management consultant, sales manager.
- Intuition: Budget analyst, database administrator.
Of course these aren’t laws! If you find you don’t have the personality type for the remote job you want, that doesn’t mean a career in that field is beyond your reach. Experience with remote work can help you get a feel for how your personality type best fits with your desired career. For example, an introverted person can still work in an extroverted field like copywriting or editing.
How to get started
If you’ve never worked remotely before, then you’ll want to brush up on some of the essential skills. Here are some resources to help you kickstart your remote career, no matter which industry you choose.
This is an all-encompassing career management course designed to get your remote career off the ground. You’ll learn how to ace remote interviews, the warning signs of sketchy job positions and how to master the technology required for remote work.
Introduction to Personal Branding
This might be especially pertinent to anyone looking to land a freelance position. Selling yourself and your services to online clients requires a masterful grasp of your “brand”. Learn to start leveraging yourself like a company.
Introduction to Time Management
Time management is an essential resume skill for those looking to land remote work. Since you won’t be punching a time card, you’ll need to motivate yourself to get everything done on time.
Also, look at LiveWorkAnywhere courses for general remote work skills courses around productivity, time management, managing remote teams, communication, and skill-specific courses for entry level, mid level, and highly skilled remote jobs.
Remote work traits employers look for
- Independent – Independence is essential. You won’t have a supervisor keeping tabs on you all day.
- Self-starter – Remote work calls for a lot of initiative.
- Responsive – Keeping track of remote workers can be tricky, and employers want to know they can trust you to be available.
- Introvert – Introverts handle down time well and are less inclined to feel lonely working by themselves.
- Extrovert – Extroverts tend to be great communicators, and can keep their remote coworkers informed.
- Focused – There are a lot of distractions in the world of remote work. Employers want employees who can stay focused.
- Self-disciplined – Remote workers have to serve as their own supervisors sometimes, keeping themselves on task. Not sure you’re self-disciplined and structured enough to thrive in a remote environment? Don’t worry, you can create this skill set by working hard and establishing a daily routine.
- Team player – All-remote teams need extraordinary communication and cooperation to function properly.
- Resourceful problem solver – Remote positions call for adaptable employees. There will be times where you will have to get creative to work around technology failings and other issues.
- Experience working remotely – While you won’t have this starting out, employers look to see how well you adapt to remote work. One of the most obvious ways is by having worked remotely in the past, and if you haven’t, proving you have the chops to do so by being communicative, resourceful, and a self-starter.
Are you ready to make the move to remote work? Most employers will be drawn to applicants with previous remote experience. If you’ve never worked a remote job before, then now’s the time to put a remote-ready plan in place.