A Comprehensive Guide In Preparing For An Online Job

You have set your mind to make money through online means, that’s why you wish nothing more than to become the ultimate online worker that you can ever be. You are also aware that in any battle you wish to entangle yourself with, you need to make a ton of preparations.

For these reasons, you ask yourself, how do I prepare myself for my web-earning journey, what are those things that I have to be ready for? Lucky for you, the answers are just a few scrolls away. They’re easy to read and easy to grasp, though the execution part might be a bit tricky.

What you’ll learn here:

• The importance of publishing a portfolio
• How to make your resume
• Preparing for a virtual interview
• Knowing the possible interview questions

If you already have the basic skills needed for typical online jobs, then what you should start working on are the following:

Build a strong portfolio first, it gives you the ultimate advantage.

Most online job-hunters are so excited about crafting their main documents like their resume and cover letter. Of course, this is a very crucial element whenever one decides to embark on looking for online jobs, or any kind of jobs for that matter.

But will your resume give you an edge over other applicants? A resume is just a piece of a document, important… but not really something that can make you a huge advantage.

To make the most out of your job-hunting sprees, one vital task that you need to accomplish first should be a strong, irresistible portfolio, one that can eliminate the hesitations of your prospective employers. First impressions last, that’s why it is super-important that you make your “showing-off moment” as impressive as possible.

So how are you going to make your portfolio? Since our aim is to make a very strong one, “making” should not be the right term but rather, it should be “building.” Why? Because good portfolios are not done in a flash. It takes time to shape, mold, and bring very close to perfection.

In doing such a procedure, you should ask yourself “What kind of online job do I really want?” or “What are the kinds of work from home tasks that really suit my skills?”

By having solid answers to such questions, you should have a fairly clear direction on how to build your portfolio. Now, let’s classify the most basic skills that online companies look for online applicants and how should you respond in building your portfolio for each.

For writing-related, and graphics-related jobs

If you want to be noticed for your skills in working with computer graphics, or with photos and images, making a portfolio in Pinterest would be Instagram

Most freelance writing companies really require you to pass a certain grammar assessment test. In addition to that, they might ask you for some writing samples that you have published already somewhere on the internet. To get ready for that, you should start publishing some of your writings, even before you start applying as a writer. This can really give you an edge especially for those who are also starting out like you.

Even in those “blog for payment” platforms like Medium and Hubpages, you can easily sign up and start publishing, provided that you pass the standards they’re asking.

But in case you don’t want to undergo the hassles of the evaluation process, you can just choose other platforms like the publishing section of LinkedIn, or those crypto-blogging sites like Steemit and Read.Cash. In there, you can just post your heart out without anyone telling you how wrong or incompetent you are.

The only downside to that would be there would be not much for growth as criticism is not really at high levels there. But such platforms are really worth the try for a beginner. Yours truly have been blogging in such sites for months already, and aside from the learning you can attain on the process, you could also be paid with little amounts of crypto-points along the way.

Here is my blog page for Read.Cash in which I am currently earning up to $15 dollars a day. Not really a big amount, but one that can help you with your daily expenses, in some little ways.

When the time comes for you to apply for major freelance writing jobs, you can then use the writing portfolio you built on those sites. It would also be a nice move to utilize free platforms like WordPress and Blogspot. But if you want to earn while building your writing portfolio, crypto-blogging platforms would be a very good place to start.

Read this to learn more about crypto-blogging.

If your niche is about graphics design or photography, building your portfolio on Pinterest or Instagram would be the most ideal platforms. Such sites are designed for graphics and images so your chances of getting noticed would be much higher, provided of course that you have the skills to truly deliver. Or you could still use those blogging platforms mentioned above since they don’t only accept articles but original images as well.

For voice-related, or video related jobs

If you apply for Customer-Service or Virtual Assistant-related jobs, having good communication skills will be surely required from you. All online companies that hire such jobs will surely facilitate a phone or teleconference interview to determine if you have the right conversational skills.

But even before you undergo such a process, it would be good to make some recordings of your own voice, and upload them to your online portfolio.

A Facebook page or LinkedIn page that showcases your speaking skills would be very ideal for this. You can upload a video of you talking, or just a sound file in which you can be clearly heard – both options would be fine. But most of the time though, seeing your face as you talk would be a huge plus, so videoing yourself should be something that you should practice occasionally if you want to land voice-related online jobs.

If you’re into video-editing or multimedia jobs, uploading your videos on Youtube should be your best and only option. It is free and is super-easy to do, you should exploit it as well. Even if you’re just into sound-editing, Youtube is still a good choice. The recommended strategy for these is by uploading a “before and after” kind of video or sound clip.

By showing to your prospect employee or your potential clients that you really have the skill they require even before the interview process, you can have a great advantage over the competing online-job hunters.

Make your resume, and craft it to perfection.

We all know what a resume is. What most of us don’t know, is how to make it an impressive one. Most people don’t realize this, but simple resumes actually make the best resumes. So how do you do it? The key to dealing with this question is avoiding putting anything that doesn’t add value to the document.

In making your resume for an online job, you may choose to avoid putting the following:

Your picture – If it’s the skills that truly matter, what’s your face doing on your resume? Although there are companies that do require a picture on their applicants’ data sheets, don’t put one unless you are asked to do so.

Your objectives – The fact that you submit your resume to apply for a certain job makes your objectives obvious already. Putting your objectives might be a cool thing to do in old-fashioned resumes, but with online jobs which is a thing for modernists, you may just ditch the idea.

Your personal referrals – This is also one of those elements from old-fashioned resumes. It’s a good thing to have people who will vouch for your work ethics, your credibility as a person, and what you truly are as an employee. But with online companies, however, they don’t typically find those lists of persons helpful.

Your lower education information – In most if not all cases, your college degree or after “high-school attainments” are what’s truly necessary for online job-hunting. In crafting your resume, you have to include your college achievements only and nothing else. (If you’re just a high-school graduate though, this doesn’t mean you can’t work on an online job as there are countless job offerings for you.)

Your non-relevant special skills and talents – Singing, dancing, acting, contortioning: these are all cool talents. But regardless of how good you are at these things, avoid including them. All online businesses are only interested in what you can deliver to them for the benefit of their company. Any skills that are irrelevant to the job you’re applying for must be disregarded.

While most companies may just require you to upload a word document or pdf file or your resume, some of them might just ask for a link or your resume. Again, LinkedIn should be good for this. Or you could just upload your CV file to your Google Drive account.

By sharing a link to that document of yours, your prospect employee could easily view your profile, even if you haven’t uploaded anything to them.

In addition to your resume, you must also make an impressive cover letter. Not all online companies require this, but in cases where you are required to, you have to be knowledgeable about how to make it an impressive one.

In looking for online jobs in freelancing portals, some of them highlight the inclusion of a cover letter. Even if you just wish to pitch article ideas on some websites, you will most likely be required to give one.

A good cover letter must have the following traits: briefness and simplicity. The more you say, the more errors you make. This is true even in making cover letters. Make sure that you don’t make it longer than it should be. Just describe what is it that interests you, and what it is that you can do. It’s just as simple as that.

When you’re already done with submitting your resume and cover letter, the next things you need to deal with might be the following:

Brace yourself for a virtual interview, it could make or break your efforts.

Let’s assume you have built your portfolio already, and you have crafted it so perfectly that it appears to be as shiny as a newly-painted or newly waxed sports car. But are you up to the very act of proving that your skills are really what made it so? It will be the next important thing, one that can really make or break your job-hunting endeavors.

Again, this is a phase that’s not required by all online companies. But if you are applying as an online teacher, virtual assistant, or for other “voice-driven jobs,” you must be prepared for a phone call or video call in which you will be interviewed by an HR personnel.

Get your equipment ready, it’s the other half of your skills.

Your camera, headset, and lighting equipment must be set to do their parts well. Make sure that they’re plugged properly and that they don’t have faulty wiring. As for the lighting equipment, you don’t need to really purchase them or provide any special device for them. Any standard lighting will do.

As long as natural light from an overhead bulb or a lampshade, or even sunlight is properly angled, that should be good enough. The trick is to make sure that your face, as well as your facial expressions, are clearly visible, in addition of course to your clear voice and confident answers to whatever questions they might throw at you.

Many online companies are so ruthless with their applicants’ equipment that they are known to easily dismiss or ignore someone who might be very skillful, but don’t have the ideal equipment for the tasks that they may require.

As you embark on your online job journey, investing in your equipment is really of high importance. You really have to spend some serious amount on it before you start considering hunting for a work-from-home job.

If you don’t have enough resources yet to buy some expensive equipment, don’t be give up just yet, you could start working online with just your phone. Read about some of the great jobs that you can do with your smartphone here.

Know the possible questions during an online job interview

While being on a virtual interview, you have to expect the following:

You will be asked about your home office setup

When working on an online job, you will need to have a small area in your house where you will perform your job. If you are applying for that voice-driven job that I mentioned earlier, your future employer would certainly want to make sure if that home office of yours is conducive enough for daily dealings: if it’s not too noisy, if it’s not too distracting, etc.

Another thing is that they will ask and test, is your internet speed, and your computer’s capabilities. They will have special software to do this, but they may also have additional questions about it.

They might also ask you about your power backup equipment in case something goes wrong with your power connections. Thankfully, you don’t need to purchase expensive equipment for this, UPS boxes or power banks might just suffice.

Read about the typical home office setup of an online worker here.

You might be asked about your home setting

Questions within this category might sound a bit awkward, but you could be asked about things like: How many people live there with you? How many kids do you have? Are you living with your parents? Where does your wife/husband work? – stuff like this.

Although such questions have nothing to do with the actual job itself, some companies really want to know if the place where you’ll be working won’t give you problems in the long run as you keep working for them.

You will be asked about your previous work experiences

Whenever you apply, they will assume that it’s not your first rodeo, which means they will have this idea that you have already worked for other similar companies that might be their arch-rival in the kind of business they’re having.

They will have this idea that you could either be an asset for their growth, or an agent for their destruction. Of course, they will hope that you fall into the category of the former.

If you have worked for their competitors before, they will most likely ask why you left, why you’re now choosing a different employer, and other similar questions. In case this happens, you have to be very careful in giving your answers – they can either make or break your new career prospect.

If you are in that scenario, be very clear and reasonable with your points. Avoid talking about reasons that might make them think that you’re a job hopper, or that you easily get bored, or that you have a great tendency for insubordination. To make it short, avoid anything that would make them think you’re an employee that’s not worth having.

Before you crank your engines and scour through the web so may start applying, please bear in mind that the things I mentioned here don’t give you the guarantee that you will be hired in any online job you desire.

Your failure or success in this endeavor is dependent on a variety of factors – some of which can’t be really figured out and be written on any blog post.

All in all, it just mainly depends on you and how courageous you are in your online job-hunting journey.

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