www.wsj.com Open in urlscan Pro
2600:9000:223c:9e00:3:4b0:de80:93a1  Public Scan

Form analysis
0 forms found in the DOM

Text Content

Skip to Main ContentSkip to SearchSkip to...
Select
 * Listen to Article
 * Conversation
 * What To Read Next

SubscribeSign In





https://www.wsj.com/articles/is-that-remote-job-opening-really-remote-check-the-fine-print-11656961532


DAISY KORPICS/THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, GETTY, ISTOCK
Managing Your Career


IS THAT REMOTE JOB OPENING REALLY REMOTE? CHECK THE FINE PRINT


A LOT OF POSITIONS ARE BILLED IN JOB POSTINGS AS REMOTE, BUT SOME COME WITH MORE
TIES TO THE OFFICE THAN SUGGESTED

DAISY KORPICS/THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, GETTY, ISTOCK
The Wall Street Journal
Continue reading your article with a WSJ membership.
Summer Sale
€2 per Month for 1 Year
View Membership Options

By
Lindsay Ellis
July 5, 2022 8:00 am ET

Share

Text

89 Responses

Your browser does not support the audio tag.
Listen to article
Length (7 minutes)
AD
Loading advertisement...
00:00 / 06:48
1x

This article is in your queue.
Open Queue


Job seekers are finding that roles advertised as remote sometimes aren’t that
way in reality. 

More than two years spent working largely from home have sold some professionals
on permanent remote work—or at least minimal time in offices. Nearly half of
1,700 workers polled in a June survey by the Society for Human Resource
Management said they would seek a remote position for their next job.  

For employers trying to staff up in a tight labor market, those demands are
tough to ignore. Near-record-low unemployment has given workers more leverage in
dictating how and where they work. Plenty of businesses are trying to entice
them with the promise of signing on from anywhere they want. 

Yet remote-job hunters are discovering that roles initially touted in postings
as remote aren’t always what they expected. Some jobs listed as remote require
the hire to come into an office at least part time or live nearby for occasional
in-person meetups. And some job seekers say they have been told in interviews
that the listing they applied for was simply wrong. 

For professionals set on truly remote work, it can mean a job search littered
with false starts.  

“They’re using it almost as clickbait, to draw people to look at the job
listing,” said Nicole Wellington, 34, of some postings. 

The lab research technician is looking for a research-analyst job she can do
from her Temple Hills, Md., home and eliminate her commute. Over six months of
searching, she said she had seen at least 20 listings labeled as remote but
ultimately required in-office work. In one instance, she found out during a
pre-interview screening call.

If she discovers an on-site work requirement, she said, she will withdraw her
application. “It does feel like catfishing, now, with jobs,” she said, referring
to the practice of creating a fake online persona to trick others.

The disconnect sometimes stems from shifting interpretations of remote work.
Some companies consider a position remote even if occasional office appearances
are required—and so list the job online with “remote” in the location or
job-type category. A job seeker, meanwhile, might define a remote role as one
located anywhere he or she likes. And a recruiter’s understanding of the job
requirements sometimes differs from what a company really wants. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

NEWSLETTER SIGN-UP

THE FUTURE OF EVERYTHING

A look at how innovation and technology are transforming the way we live, work
and play.

PREVIEW
SUBSCRIBE

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Companies also occasionally list a job as remote because they know many job
seekers want to work from anywhere, said James Hornick, a partner at the
Chicago-based recruiting company Hirewell. Companies later realize that isn’t
feasible, he said. 

Remote job listings made up 18.4% of paid job postings on LinkedIn in May,
attracting 53.5% of applications, up from 2.9% in January 2020, according to
LinkedIn data. A company spokeswoman said it is up to businesses to choose
either on-site, hybrid or remote in the location field of a listing, which job
seekers can use as filters in their search. For some positions, LinkedIn also
has an automated process that, if a location isn’t specified, pulls one based on
keywords in the job description, she said.



Madeleine Lovelace, a 32-year-old accountant in Kansas City, Mo., said she
applied to nearly two dozen jobs that weren’t as remote as the postings
indicated. One was for an accounting role at Iron Door Property Management, also
in Kansas City. The listing, from a recruiter, read: “Work Location: Remote.” 

Ms. Lovelace spent several hours preparing for an interview with the company,
during which she learned the role would require in-office work, scaling up to
five days a week over time, she said. She pulled out from consideration. 

“It’s disappointing to spend all that time trying to fill out applications and
get your resume out to people and then find out it’s not remote,” she said. 

Jennifer Harrower, IronDoor’s chief operating officer, said the company
initially posted the job as remote, but couldn’t find a suitable candidate.

It then decided to make the job hybrid to pursue local applicants, she said. Ms.
Harrower said the person who conducted interviews was unaware the job had been
advertised as remote. 

Ms. Harrower said the 35-employee company would prefer staff work from the
office. “It’s hard to manage a remote work crew,” she said. 

One LinkedIn job posting for the information-technology company Infosys is
listed as remote, but it says candidates must be willing to relocate to the
Nutley, N.J., area. An Infosys spokeswoman said the company does consider the
position remote, though candidates would have to live nearby to attend in-person
meetings when needed. 

SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS

How important is the ability to work remotely to you? Join the conversation
below.

A media-planner job at marketing agency Springbox was recently listed as remote
on LinkedIn. The posting’s fine print said candidates must live within commuting
distance of Springbox’s Austin, Texas, office. The company said in a statement
that the position would start remotely, but hires should be able to come in once
a return-to-office policy is enacted. The posting, which was changed after The
Wall Street Journal contacted the company, now lists the job as located in
Austin. 

“Sometimes we are limited by the capabilities of the online job posting platform
of how to classify or label a position—so we try to make sure we are as clear as
possible in our expectations for the position,” said Mason Adams, Springbox’s
managing director for performance marketing.

At Boise State University in Idaho, a listing for a student adviser says the
position may be fully remote—even out of state—or hybrid. Then it adds:
“Candidates must be able to work on-site as needed.”

Mark Wheeler, a Boise State dean who oversees the role, said his office intended
to make the job 100% remote, but the person who wrote the description included
the hybrid or in-person language in case applicants who lived nearby wanted to
work from campus. The office will change the unclear language, he said. 

“We’re new at leaning into this remote and hybrid work thing,” Mr. Wheeler
said. 

Some applicants are cutting to the chase when they get employers on the phone. 

Robert Robinson, of Jackson, S.C., is looking for operations-manager jobs on
LinkedIn. He doesn’t take a remote designation at face value. The 48-year-old
said he often asks first whether a job listed as remote actually is.



One telltale sign a remote job isn’t truly remote? When an employer says it is
still working out its return-to-office plan, he said. 

“That means no,” he said.

Write to Lindsay Ellis at lindsay.ellis@wsj.com

Copyright ©2022 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

Appeared in the July 6, 2022, print edition as 'Is That Position Really
Remote?.'


Show Conversation Hide Conversation (89)



Customer CenterSubscriber AgreementPrivacy NoticeCookie Notice© 2022 Dow Jones &
Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.







Copyright © 2022 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved