The internet is riddled with job sites where you can upload your profile and find online jobs. Upwork and Fiverr are just a few of the most popular options among remote workers around the world.
As good as these websites are for job hunters such as yourself, they do have their own set of drawbacks. Some websites have become so saturated with so many job applicants that it has made it hard to find a decent-paying job, let alone get started.
For some, the hardest pill to swallow is having to pay the commission fee that these websites get from your regular paychecks. If you’re one of those people who would want to find an alternative to these sites, Reddit is a great place to start a digital career.
But Reddit isn’t easy to navigate for those new to the platform. So, here we guide you exactly how to use the platform, as well as, where to find remote jobs on Reddit.
Table of Contents
What Is Reddit?
Reddit is a social media site where you can post and discuss various things, very much like Facebook. The difference between the two sites is that Reddit is specifically categorized by area of interest or topic, not necessarily by your social connections.
This makes it much easier to find a specific forum dedicated to things that interest you. These specific forums within Reddit are called subreddits. And people who use Reddit are called Redditors. To make it very clear, they are very similar to how “threads” worked in old-school forums.
With the huge popularity of Reddit amongst enthusiasts from around the world, you can find a subreddit on almost any topic you can think of. As you might have guessed by now, this includes places where you can find remote jobs.
Where to Find Remote Jobs on Reddit
Needless to say, there are millions of people on Reddit with varying interests and niches. So, it should come as no surprise that there might be thousands of subreddits where you can find online work opportunities.
Some subreddits are dedicated to specific professions, while some are limited to a certain country. Listed below is a shortlist of the best places to find remote jobs on Reddit that we found useful for us and the remote worker community.
I) General Remote Work Subreddits
– r/slavelabour. This subreddit is a good place to start for almost any career where you can provide your services online. As the name of the subreddit implies, you can’t expect to get a good salary from jobs that you get here but it is a good place to start building your portfolio. Thus, making it ideal for students, career shifters, and new remote workers.
Similar subreddits: r/beermoney, r/DoneDirtCheap
– r/forhire. This subreddit is for the more experienced remote workers or those with more time on their hands. A lot of the jobs postings on this subreddit require some kind of specialization or expertise in your respective fields. But this doesn’t mean that it’s off-limits to students and beginners. There are still some online jobs here where dedication, time and talent will be more important than actual experience.
Similar subreddits: r/Jobs4Bitcoins
– r/freelance_forhire. This is another subreddit dedicated to freelancers and employers looking to hire freelancers. Its community is smaller than the two other subreddits mentioned, but you can regularly find job postings on this sub as well.
Similar subreddits: r/Hiring_Freelancers/, r/WorkOnline_OG
– r/remotework. While not strictly a job posting subreddit, people in this community share similar remote work lifestyles. So, they can give you leads on where to find remote jobs. You can also check the link to their wiki page for a list of their recommended remote work platforms.
Similar subreddits: r/digitalnomad, r/WorkOnline, r/telecommuting, r/remotejobs, r/overemployed
– r/remoteworkjunkie. This is one of those subreddits where a bot automatically posts job openings on a fixed schedule. There aren’t many real people here discussing remote jobs, but it’s okay to check it once in a while for a chance remote work opportunity.
Similar subreddits: r/joblead, r/echojobs
II) Specialized Remote Work Subreddits
– r/HireaWriter. This a subreddit dedicated to employers looking for writers and writers looking for projects. The advantage of using this subreddit is that they have a rule where no pay rates below 5¢ per word or $15 per hour is acceptable. This is a good place to find a writing job as long as you have a strong portfolio.
Similar subreddits: r/writinggigs
– r/freelanceWriters. This is not a subreddit where you can freely post for hire or hiring job posts. But they do have an extensive wiki that shows where you can find remote work as a freelance writer for hire. They also have a solid community that can help answer any questions you might have on your journey to become a successful freelance writer.
– r/gameDevClassifieds. If you’re looking to get into the game industry, then this is the subreddit for you. You can work with people around the world whether you’re an animator, a video game music composer, a programmer, or whatever game-related specialty you have.
Similar subreddits: r/gameDevJobs
– r/HungryArtists. For anything related to art and design work, this is the subreddit to be. It’s not strictly remote work per se, but they do have a steady stream of job postings where work-from-home options are available.
Similar subreddits: r/DesignJobs, r/artcommissions, r/hireanartist, r/commissions
– r/BigDataJobs. This isn’t a strictly remote work subreddit but due to the nature of the job, you can find work-from-home job opportunities there. This is an excellent subreddit for software engineers, data analysts, and data scientists.
– r/CodingJobs. This is another one of those subreddits where a bot posts coding-related work leads automatically. It’s worth a look to see if there are any remote work opportunities available for you.
– r/NetworkingJobs. This is the place to look for computer networking related positions. You can find both remote and on-site job opportunities here.
III) Country-Specific Remote Work Subreddits
a) Philippines
– r/phclassifieds. As the name implies, this subreddit is a classified ads subreddit where people can buy and sell goods and services, as well as, the occasional job posts. This is primarily a Filipino subreddit, so you can expect that most remote work opportunities you’ll find here will be based in the Philippines or are from employers who are more than willing to hire Filipinos.
Similar subreddits: r/classifiedsph, r/onlineservicesPH
– r/buhaydigital. This isn’t a subreddit where you can find jobs since it’s against the rules to post hiring and asking-for-a-job types of posts there. However, the community is very active and can help point you in the right direction.
– r/beermoneyph. This is the Philippine version of the r/beermoney subreddit where people can earn small change for doing small tasks.
b) USA
– r/usajobs. Despite the name, this subreddit is dedicated to USA federal government job opportunities rather than broadly USA job openings. It’s not exclusive to remote work, nor is it exclusively about hiring posts. But you can still find a few good leads here.
– r/SFBayJobs. While the name implies that the job posting might be limited to a specific area, there has been an increase of remote work opportunities available in these kinds of subreddits.
Similar subreddits: r/atljobs, r/chicagojobs, r/houstonjobs
How to Find Remote Jobs on Reddit: 8 Step Guide
Just knowing where to find remote jobs on Reddit doesn’t mean you can easily land the job. You have to know a bit more about the platform and the etiquette (or Reddiquette as Redditors call it) to connect with potential employers and increase your chances of being hired.
Here’s a step-by-step guide you can follow from start to finish. Good luck!
Step 1: Identify the Nature of the Job You’re Looking For
Because there is an extremely wide range of subreddits, you first have to figure out what your objectives are in looking for a job on Reddit.
Here are a few guide questions to help you on your journey
- Are you looking for looking for a long term job or a side hustle?
- What is your target pay rate and how low are you willing to go?
- What is your current job experience?
- Which industry of freelancing do you want to focus on?
Step 2: Join a Subreddit That Is in Line With Your Objectives
Once you’ve identified your career goals and objectives, it’s time to join a subreddit group to start looking for a job you might be interested in.
If you haven’t made a Reddit account yet, make sure to sign up. Making a Reddit account is a very straightforward procedure that takes seconds to accomplish. Joining a subreddit is even faster. All you need to do is to click on the “Join” button at the upper right portion of the screen.
Step 3: Read and Follow the Respective Rules of Each Subreddit
Since each subreddit is likely moderated by a different set of people, there are no universal procedures and rules for all subreddits. Most of them will have a different set of rules and code of conduct that they will enforce within their groups.
Going against a subreddit’s rules can get your posts and comments deleted, and in some cases, you can get banned from posting on that particular subreddit.
This may sound a bit daunting, but don’t let that get to you. Most subreddits have reasonable moderators. Most of them will at least be accommodating enough to answer your questions as long as you made an effort to read their subreddit rules.
Whatever subreddit group you join, you will always be able to find their list of rules on the right side of your screen if you’re on a laptop browser or under the “about” tab if you’re on mobile.
Where to Find the Rules on Reddit
Rules on Reddit Mobile App
Aside from avoiding getting banned, it’s best to review their rules carefully as they might have special requirements for you to be able to post or bid for job openings.
Some of the most popular subreddits for job hunting may include one or more of the following requirements:
- Karma requirement. Karma is the total net positive amount of upvotes on your Reddit account. It’s an indicator that of how active you are and how well-received your comments and posts are by subreddit communities. Some subreddits will require you to have a minimum amount of karma to be able to post on their subreddit. If you are ever blocked from posting because of karma, read their rules carefully if they specify the amount of karma needed. If it’s not specified, it’s recommended to ask one of the moderators of the subreddit.
- Using a bid tag. Let’s take r/slavelabour, one of the largest subreddit communities for looking for online jobs, as an example. Here, they will require you to include a $bid before your post. This shows that you have the intent to apply for the job. For more details on how this works, it’s best that you read the specific guidelines of each subreddit group
Step 4: Looking for a Job
Finding the right job for you will take some effort and patience. The quality of the job posts you’ll find will largely depend on the subreddit and how moderators police their subreddit.
You won’t always be able to find job that will fit all of your criteria, and those that do may not longer be available.
Additionally, it can be a bit cumbersome to search through Reddit posts because of how they’re naturally organized. Subreddit posts are arranged by recency and popularity, not by specific job industry.
You will have to be on the look out and regularly visit each of the subreddits you’re interested in or you might miss out on relevant job postings for you.
It’s recommended to regularly check them and arrange the posts by “New” and by “Rising” so that you don’t miss out on prospective jobs.
Step 5: Applying for a Job
Now comes hard part, applying for a job. Depending on the subreddit that you visit, this can usually be done through the following methods:
1. Creating a post offering your services. Popular subreddits, such as r/slavelabour, allow job hunters to create posts where they can explain what they can offer clients and how much they want to get paid for their services. This is your opportunity to show the potential clients your online job portfolio.
Write a compelling post highlighting your strengths and directly addressing the needs of your potential clients. You may want to check this article on how to write a resume as it gives a lot of good insights on how to create a customized writeup that will catch the eye of your prospective clients.
2. Applying on a job posting. This can be done through commenting on a job posting by an potential employer. Each subreddit will have different SOPs on how this should be done. Some will require you to add a specific command line or text in your comment, such as $bid, while some will have just need you to reply in the comments section. Check the rules of each subreddit if you’re unsure how to proceed.
3. Sending a private message to the job poster. If the subreddit allows PMs, you can directly message the job poster and begin your negotiations from there.
Step 6: Getting Hired and Protecting Yourself
Reddit online applications work a bit differently from popular job sites such as Upwork and Fiverr. There is no built-in universal system within Reddit that protects you from getting scammed.
This doesn’t mean that Reddit job postings cannot be trusted, it just means that you have to be more diligent in how you look for jobs and deal with potential clients.
Here are a few tips to help you protect yourself from getting taken advantage of by actors in bad faith.
1. Check out the karma and number of upvotes of the potential client and their post. This is the most basic and easiest way to check the credibility of a potential client. Look into their history and how many upvotes or downvotes they have.
Doing this isn’t by any means a definitive way of judging character, but it does give you something to work on to better assess the character of the client.
2. Do research on your client. Some potential clients will have their own established companies and organizations. The most credible employers will provide you with all of the details of the job, including the scope of work and the payment terms. Some of them will even have their own official website, Facebook page, and other notable digital assets. Be sure to check all of these out.
3. Secure the terms and conditions of your work agreements with your client. Before you accept a job offer or task, iron out all of the important details, of which the following have the highest priority: the scope of work, turnaround schedule of deliverables, and payment terms.
Based on how negotiations are and how clear each of these points are with your client, you will have an idea of how well you’ll be able to work with them.
4. Protect yourself through a formal written agreement. Once you’ve come to an agreement with your client, put everything into writing. The most formal way would be to secure a contract, especially if it’s a remote job with an employer from the same country as you.
If this is not possible, secure a formal letter from your client acknowledging all of your agreements with your client.
Check out our guide on how to protect yourself from not being paid by clients for more tips.
Step 7: Get Paid
To vastly improve the chances of having a smooth time getting paid, make sure that your payment terms with your client are very clear, including the payment schedule, specific milestones you need to achieve before getting paid, and where the payment should be sent.
To help facilitate all of this, we recommend you create your own invoice for your own tracking and formalize everything with your client. Check out our guide on how to invoice your clients for a more detailed breakdown.
Step 8: Set Yourself Up for the Future
Each client you get is an addition to your online work portfolio. Make sure to always put for best foot forward and leave a good lasting impression on your clients.
This will improve the chances of them hiring you once again for long-term work or at least getting a referral for future gigs with other clients.
If you’re unfortunate to come across an unreasonable or bad client, cut clean but don’t burn bridges. Don’t let your emotions get the better of you and destroy your own reputation. Thank them for the opportunity to work with them and then move forward and look for a new client
Such is the life of a freelancer.
Once you’ve built a sizeable clientele or portfolio, it will be easier for you to find more clients, and find ones who would potentially pay you more.
To help set yourself up for the future, you can always expand your network outside of Reddit. You can find job opportunities everywhere online, from LinkedIn to Facebook Groups.
Remember: Don’t get stuck on one platform. This is important if you want to make remote work a stable, successful career.
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