Even if you want to change jobs to a remote work position without experience,
“Will I be hired even without experience?”
“How many companies do I actually need to apply to before I get an offer?”
I think some people feel anxious about these things.
I also started my job search with remote work as my top priority.
However, I had no practical experience as an engineer, and I didn’t have a portfolio or any certifications.
Recruitment agents suggested that I first work in an office to gain experience before aiming for remote work.
Even so, because I wanted to change my working environment, I continued to look for jobs without changing my desired conditions.
As a result, in about two months after I started applying, I applied to 58 companies and passed the document screening for 8 of them.
Ultimately, I was able to receive job offers from two companies.
It has now been about four years since I switched to a remote-centered work style.
In this article, I will introduce the process of how I changed to a remote work job without experience, as well as the following points.
Since this is my own experience, it doesn’t mean everyone can change jobs the same way.
Even so, for those thinking about changing to remote work without experience, I hope this serves as a reference to visualize the actual job search process.
What I wanted to change in my job search was the working environment, not the job content itself
I was working at a large company, but I had to take a leave of absence due to an adjustment disorder.
After about a year and a half of leave, I returned to work, and a few months later, I was able to leave the workplace that triggered my adjustment disorder and transfer to a different department.
However, there were different burdens in the new department.
My commute from home to work was about two hours one way.
In addition to commuting on crowded trains, I also felt stressed by face-to-face interactions with new people.
I thought that if the environment changed, it might be easier to work, but that wasn’t the case in reality.
“Can I continue working in this environment for another year?”
When I thought about that, I realized it would be difficult to keep working as I was.
So, instead of continuing to try to change the environment at my current company, I decided to change jobs and change the place where I work itself.
What I was looking for was not a specific job or company.
I want to eliminate the burden of commuting
I want to go out as little as possible and reduce opportunities for direct interaction with people
I want to work in an environment where I can work calmly alone at home
Because I had these hopes, I decided to look for a new job with the premise of remote work.
At the time, I didn’t know if remote work was a working style that suited me until I actually tried it.
Even so, I wanted to first change the environment that I felt was a burden.
That thought was the trigger for starting my job search.
I wanted to work remotely more than I wanted to be an engineer
When I started my job search, I didn’t have a strong desire to “become an engineer.”
My top priority was being able to work remotely.
When I looked for job openings, occupations that allowed remote work included engineers, web designers, consultants, and sales.
However, I felt that consultants and sales roles involved many opportunities to interact with people, which was different from the working style I was looking for at the time.
I also considered web designer as a candidate, but I thought it would require a portfolio to show my achievements, and I felt it was a high hurdle for me at the time.
Among those, I found job openings for beginners as an engineer.
I didn’t have a strong interest in programming from the start, but I decided to aim to become an engineer to realize my hope of working remotely.
Before starting my job search, I set aside a preparation period of about a month and a half.
I studied programming a little and prepared my application documents.
However, I had no deliverables to show in interviews, such as a portfolio that turned what I learned into a form, or programs I made myself.
I also hadn’t acquired any certifications.
Looking back now, I don’t think it was enough preparation to aim for being an engineer without experience.
Even so, I thought it would be better to actually apply for jobs than to keep spending time on preparation.
For me, becoming an engineer itself was not the goal; the goal was to find an environment where I could work without strain.
I was told it was difficult by a recruitment agent, so I looked for jobs myself
In my job search, I used a recruitment agent.
However, I was told that it was difficult to change to a remote work job without experience.
The method proposed by the agent was to first gain practical experience as an engineer at a company where I would go to the office, and then change to a company that allowed remote work later.
If I wanted to aim to be an engineer without experience, that might have been a realistic way to proceed.
However, I couldn’t accept that proposal.
At the time, I also had anxiety about not being able to work again due to stress.
Not knowing how long I could continue working in my current environment, I didn’t have the leeway to first change to a company where I had to go to the office and think about the next step after gaining experience.
In the first place, I thought, if I can’t work remotely, there is no point in changing jobs.
So, instead of relying only on the recruitment agent, I decided to look for jobs myself.
I mainly used Mynavi Tenshoku and doda.
When looking for jobs, I searched with the condition “full remote allowed,” and if it was a remote-work-capable, engineer-related job, I considered applying.
There were almost no job openings introduced by the recruitment agent that met my wishes.
Therefore, most of the jobs I actually applied to were ones I found myself on job sites.
I wanted to be a beginner and also wanted full remote work.
Considering the conditions, I knew that the jobs I could apply to would be limited.
Even so, I had no intention of loosening my desired conditions from the start.
I decided to first look for jobs myself and actively apply to companies I could apply to.
The difficulty of changing jobs without experience, learned from applying to 58 companies
I applied to 58 companies, and 8 passed the document screening. The pass rate was about 14%. For me, who was looking for a full-remote job without experience, I feel it was a harsh result.
Even before I started applying, I thought it would be difficult to find a full-remote job without experience.
Therefore, I tried not to be too fixated on the results of each company, and applied whenever I found a job that met my conditions.
There were times when I felt down after receiving rejection notices.
Even so, considering the conditions I wanted, I accepted that a certain amount of rejection was unavoidable and looked for the next job.
For application documents, I adjusted my self-promotion for each company
When creating application documents, I had a recruitment agent edit the basic documents.
On top of that, I rewrote my self-promotion for each company.
I checked the job description, the type of person sought, and the company’s policies written in the job posting, and was conscious of conveying my experience and strengths to match them.
Also, in my resume, I briefly mentioned my programming learning experience.
This was because I thought that since I had no practical experience, I should convey at least a little of what I was working on.
In fact, in interviews, I was sometimes asked about the content I wrote in my self-promotion.
I feel that adjusting the content to match the company was also useful in explaining myself during interviews.
Even if they welcomed beginners, it didn’t mean I would be hired easily
Even if a job posting says « no experience necessary, » I sometimes felt that the selection process assumed I already had a certain level of basic knowledge.
Of course, that wasn’t the case for every company.
However, in my experience, it was difficult to assume that I would be hired with almost no knowledge just because of the phrase « no experience necessary. »
In interviews, I was asked why I wanted to be an engineer, whether I had any resistance to learning programming for the first time, and whether I was actually studying it.
What was particularly difficult to answer was the question of whether I had any code or a portfolio I had created myself.
Since I hadn’t prepared any deliverables to show, even though I could convey that I was actually studying, I couldn’t show anything tangible.
Also, there were times when I was asked to read and think about the code presented to me, and then explain the implementation details in about 10 minutes.I realized that even for jobs aimed at beginners, technical understanding might be checked during the interview.
Even so, I was able to receive a job offer while continuing to apply.
I don’t know what the recruiters evaluated in the interviews.
However, I was conscious of answering questions concisely.
Receiving a job offer while continuing to apply was a major result for me.
Job hunting as a beginner hoping for full remote work was not easy, but I was able to find a new job while maintaining my desired conditions.
I received job offers from two companies and chose the one that allowed for flexible work.
Both of the two companies that offered me jobs were companies where I could aim to become an engineer from scratch, but there were differences in how they worked.
One company had a system to support qualification acquisition, but it required obtaining specified qualifications within one year of joining.
The other company had an attitude of valuing results, and I felt it was an environment where I could work relatively flexibly as long as it didn’t hinder the project.
Since I wanted to continue working comfortably in an environment that suited me at my new job, I prioritized the flexibility of the work style.
Therefore, I chose the latter company.
I was anxious about my annual income decreasing. Still, I prioritized the environment.
It’s not that I had no anxiety about changing jobs.
I knew my annual income would decrease due to the job change, so I was hesitant about the income aspect.
Even so, I wanted to avoid the situation where the work environment became a burden as it had before, making it difficult to continue working.
For me, being able to continue working in an environment that suited me was more important than maintaining my annual income.
Of course, income is directly linked to life, so it’s not a problem that can be easily dismissed.
Even so, at the time, I thought I would prioritize an environment where I could work without strain, even if my annual income dropped somewhat.
Before joining, I also confirmed the working conditions.
I decided to join after confirming not only whether remote work was possible, but also points of concern regarding the actual work style.
After joining, it was easier to work than I had imagined.
Even after I actually started working, my pre-employment hope of being able to work mainly remotely was fulfilled.
Furthermore, there were points that I felt were better than I had imagined.
What I was particularly grateful for was that no messages or meetings were scheduled after regular hours.
After work is finished, I can step away from work and spend my own time.
This point was a big difference for me.
I have been continuing to work mainly remotely for about four years now.
Of course, the ease of working differs depending on the company and the job content, and remote work doesn’t necessarily suit everyone.
However, in my case, rather than choosing a new job based only on job content and annual income, I feel that prioritizing the environment in which I wanted to work was good in the end.
Thoughts on looking back at my job hunting
Looking back at my job hunting, adjusting my self-promotion for each company is one of the things I’m glad I did.
I checked the job description, the ideal candidate profile, and the company policy written in the job posting, and thought about which parts of my experience and strengths I should convey.
In interviews, I was sometimes asked about the content I wrote in my self-promotion.
It’s not just about writing it in the document, but I felt it was also important to be able to explain it concretely when asked in an interview.
However, I don’t know if the effort I put into my self-promotion was the decisive reason I received a job offer.
It is just one of the things I am glad I did during my job hunting.
I wish I had shaped my learning outcomes, such as a portfolio.
Conversely, what I feel I should have prepared is the programs or portfolio I created myself.
At the time, I had only studied programming a little, and I had no deliverables to show in the interview.
If I had prepared deliverables, I think it would have been easier to convey what I had learned and what I could do in the interview.
Also, I might have been able to describe the languages, tools, and content I had worked on in more detail in my application documents.
On the other hand, I was hesitant about spending too much time on preparation and delaying the start of my job hunting.
At the time, I was feeling anxious about continuing to work in my current environment.
There was an option to apply after studying more, but for me, I think it was good that I started job hunting at that timing.
Looking back, applying only after perfecting your preparation is not the only correct answer.
Based on your own situation and the reasons you want to rush your job change, I felt it was necessary to think about how much preparation to do before taking action.
Clarify what you want to achieve through a job change.
What I want to convey most when looking back at my job hunting is to clarify what you want to achieve through a job change.
In my case, what I wanted to achieve most through a job change was to work remotely.
As a result of continuing to look for jobs with that hope as the axis, I was able to meet a company close to the environment that suited me.
Of course, not everyone can change jobs to a remote work position just by continuing to apply in the same way.
The results will change depending on the job market, experience, and desired conditions.
Also, remote work is not necessarily easy for everyone.
The important thing is not to be fixated on the work style of remote work itself, but to think about what you want to change through a job change.
For example, the following hopes can be considered.
I want to reduce the burden of commuting.
I want to reduce stress in human relationships.
I want to increase my income.
I want to change my working hours and place of work to something that suits me.
Depending on what you prioritize, the jobs and companies you choose will also change.
However, even if you try to think about a work style that suits you, I think there are times when many hopes and dissatisfactions come to mind, and you don’t know where to start organizing.
In such cases, rather than looking for jobs immediately, one method is to first write down what you feel is a burden in your current work style and the conditions you want to value in your future work style.
For me as well, thinking about what kind of environment I wanted to work in, rather than choosing a new job based only on job content and annual income, became the axis for choosing a new job.
There is no need to rush into a job change.
First, please start by organizing the conditions you cannot compromise on and the things you would like to improve if possible.
