Why is it so hard to find a fully remote job?
Open job listings overwhelmingly demand on-site or heavy hybrid schedules, making fully remote positions feel like inaccessible unicorns. This lack of options forces professionals to stay in their current roles, since leaving often requires accepting lower compensation, less paid time off, or surrendering whatever work-from-home flexibility they currently have.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1Staying in a stressful or disliked job purely to retain hybrid/remote flexibility and better PTO.Did this help you?
- 2Immediately discarding job descriptions that require 5 days in the office.Did this help you?
- 3Refusing to consider any roles that aren't fully remote.Did this help you?
- 4Staying in a current local or hybrid jobDid this help you?
- 5Accepting roles that require occasional office visitsDid this help you?
- 6Relying on local opportunities for pay increases insteadDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“the second i hear 5 days in office i'm out, mentally i'm already gone and i haven't even finished reading the job description yet”source ↗
“Not in public anymore but looking for new roles in industry due to RTO and possible relocation. Everything seems to be on site and hybrid out there.”source ↗
“In my position public kind of stinks, but the listings I see for senior accountant roles are either pretty much entirely on site, the PTO is less, the compensation is less, or a combination of all of them. So I stay for the higher comp, more pto, and at least i can wfh a few days a week”source ↗
“Yeah I’m in this boat, all the jobs that I see that I’m qualified for are fully office or “hybrid” (4 days in office) haha.”source ↗
“I’ve been working for nonprofits remotely for 9 years (15 years total in nonprofits) and I was recently laid off. It is remarkably challenging.”source ↗
“Even when I am getting interviewed, 90% ask about my ability to do hybrid work.”source ↗
“The last time I looked for this type of unicorn role a few years ago, the barrier to entry seemed inaccsesible.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 7How to find a remote HR job when LinkedIn isn't working
- 6Why is it impossible to find freelance work anymore?
- 24Why are job boards full of impossible roles and ghost listings?
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- 3How to find a career with seasonal downtime
- 2How to hire and set up a remote overseas assistant