Here at The Go-To Guy we understand that finding a job in Potchefstroom can be tough, and we are constantly exploring ways to assist our readers and followers that are in the job market, with ways to find that dream job, and today we look at remote job sites that you could explore to find an opportunity.
Remote work is not for everyone, especially since a stable and fast internet is one of the key requirements, in addition to the requirement for computer for online and remote work, meetings and engagements with the teams that you may work with.
First some Warnings
Beware of scammers and fake job opportunities, as always there are scammers out there and you need to be vigilant in your search for that perfect remote opportunity, here are some guidelines:
While online companies can provide ample opportunities for remote work, it's critical to remain vigilant and watchful for potential scammers aiming to exploit unsuspecting job seekers.
Investigation and Validation:
Prior to accepting any job offered by online companies, it is crucial to conduct in-depth research on the potential employer and their organisation. Scrutinise their profile, reviews, and past job postings. Ensure the presence of valid contact details and a professional digital footprint. Utilise the platform's messaging system to engage with the client for verifying details and raising any concerns. If a situation seems dubious or overly favourable, trust your gut feeling and tread carefully.
Financial Transactions and Interactions:
Approach with caution clients who suggest payments outside of the platform's secure payment channels or ask for personal financial data. These platforms offer a trustworthy payment mechanism, and all transactions should be carried out exclusively through them. Refuse to share personal data, such as banking details or social security numbers, with clients. Moreover, keep a wary eye on clients who are overly aggressive, use incorrect grammar, or communicate unprofessionally.
Job Details and Warning Signs:
Carefully analyse the job description and stay vigilant for any warning signs. Fraudsters frequently use ambiguous job descriptions, promise inflated compensation, or assert that experience is not necessary. Authentic job postings typically include a detailed outline of project needs, clear deliverables, and fair remuneration. If a job posting seems indistinct or overly promising, approach with caution and carry out further research before proceeding.
Feedback and Ratings of Freelancers:
Look into the feedback and ratings left by freelancers who have previously worked with the client. The rating systems on these platforms allow users to share feedback based on their personal experiences. If a client has no ratings or has received negative feedback, it is advisable to be cautious before accepting their job proposal. Positive reviews and a solid reputation may indicate a reliable client.
Support Services:
If you come across any suspicious behaviour or suspect that you might have encountered a scammer on these platforms, get in touch with the platform's support services without delay. These services have specialised teams to examine and tackle fraudulent conduct. Report any questionable clients, job postings, or requests for payment outside of the platform. By reporting scams, you not only protect yourself but also contribute to safeguarding other freelancers from being victimised by fraudulent activities.
So here is the list of the companies we found that could be of value to explore:
Company: RemoteLeads
Website: https://remoteleads.io/
Description on Website: The Best Tech Freelance Projects and Remote JobsJoin 6,000+ web developers, designer and UX writers getting freelance projects and remote jobs delivered to their inbox
The Go-To Guy Opinion: Very much tech based and for specialised skills within this space
Company: Contra
Website: https://contra.com/pro
Description Website: Upgrade to a customised portfolio, get discovered by new clients, and optimise your freelance business.
The Go-To Guy Opinion: The site looks extremely professional. They are aimed at full time freelancers and created a range of options. The downfall for South Africans is that they currently support US-based bank + credit and global USDC crypto payouts, they do mention that other payment methods coming soon
Company: We Work Remotely
Website: https://weworkremotely.com/
Description on Website: We Work Remotely is the largest remote work community in the world. With over 4.5M visitors, WWR is the number one destination to find and list incredible remote jobs.
The Go-To Guy Opinion: As one of the original remote work sites there is an element of trust and legitimacy that there is potential to find remote work opportunities on this site. Our quick search showed a high tendency as would expected for technical orientated jobs, Wordpress/Shopify resources also came through which is an opportunity if you school yourself on these programs. They also have a mailing list that you can enter key jobs that needs to be sent to your inbox.
Company: Freelancer
Website: https://www.freelancer.com/
Description on Website: Twelve-time Webby award-winning Freelancer.com is the world’s largest freelancing and crowdsourcing marketplace by total number of users and projects posted. More than 58 million registered users have posted over 21 million projects and contests to date in over 2,000 areas as diverse as website development, logo design, marketing, copywriting, astrophysics, aerospace engineering and manufacturing.
The Go-To Guy Opinion: We saw a number of jobs that are remote and not necessarily technical orientated, as an example we saw a real estate admin assistant required. What leaves us a bit uncomfortable is the fact that you need to bid for a job, and although you do get some free bids we do not like it much when sites have any model that makes job seekers pay, yet it seems that they have successes in the market and therefore freelancers seems to be getting value for money
Company: Toptal
Website: https://www.toptal.com/
Description on Website: Toptal is an exclusive network of the top freelance software developers, designers, finance experts, product managers, and project managers in the world. Top companies hire Toptal freelancers for their most important projects.
The Go-To Guy Opinion: They seem to focus on high quality talent in five major areas, Developers, Designers, Finance, Project Management, Product Managers and they have a great reference customer portfolio. Looking at their job openings they seem to have a centre of gravity focus around eastern Europe.
Company: Remote Co
Website: https://remote.co/
Description on Website: All things remote work.
The Go-To Guy Opinion: They cover a wide range of jobs and we love the Frequent Asked Questions and Blog section that provides remote workers with a range of interesting information. Looking at the jobs it seems that they are very much US based and some of the more administrative jobs require phoning and engaging with clients, this may eliminate these jobs for South African based resources.
Company: People per Hour
Website: https://www.peopleperhour.com/
Description on Website: PeoplePerHour is the UK’s leading freelance marketplace. Founded in 2007 the site boasts over 3m freelancers across 180+ countries and has paid out in excess of £150m to freelancers since. Since its inception, PeoplePerHour has become an invaluable resource for small businesses in the UK and outside, allowing them hire expert talent as and when needed, 'on-demand' thereby staying lean and flexible while they grow.
The Go-To Guy Opinion: The site structure and offer reminds us very much of Fiverr, where remote workers and freelancers offer their services, as opposed to a site that offers jobs for freelancers and remote workers, thus its not a job site per say but rather one where you have to list your services and market yourself to secure business, the benefit is that it is not limited to highly technical positions only.
Company: Daily Remote
Website: https://dailyremote.com/
Description on Website: Browse and apply for the latest Remote Jobs at over 1000+ companies. Apply for a remote position as an Engineer, Frontend or Backend Developer, DevOps, Sales, Marketing, Support for Manager, Senior and Junior roles full-time, part-time, contract or freelance. Work from home or any place around the world.
The Go-To Guy Opinion: This is a curator of jobs remotely, thus companies advertise using this platform. We found that the jobs were not actively added daily as the last post was 22 days ago, which may therefore lead to lots of searching only to find the position is filled. Albeit that the jobs are remote our search across a few jobs found heavy tendency towards people needing to be based in the US.
Company: Fiverr
Website: https://www.fiverr.com/
Description on Website: Find the right freelance service, right away
The Go-To Guy Opinion: One of the early pioneers of offering freelancers and remote workers a platform for showcasing their services, marketing themselves and securing work Fiverr remains a robust platform for freelancers. They offer a range of categories that are quite broad. Newbies may find it difficult to market their services and break through all the competitive "clutter" as the platform is so popular.
Company: Remoters
Website: https://www.remoters.me/
Description on Website:We are an innovative organisation with a presence in Europe and Latin America. We offer the best remote #teams to provide business solutions to e-commerce and any sector of the technology market that requires incorporating remote talent.
The Go-To Guy Opinion: Remoters value proposition is that they offer companies remote teams to work on projects, they therefore request remote workers, which they call remoters to submit their CV and other details, it is thus difficult to determine the scope of positions that may be available. They are Latin American based and their LinkedIn pages are therefore not in English, we suspect therefore that they would have a high Latin American focus, yet this is only a view.
Company: Dynamite Jobs
Website: https://dynamitejobs.com/remote-jobs
Description on Website: Helping remote businesses and professionals grow in one place.
The Go-To Guy Opinion: The first site that we could find South African Jobs on the main page is a good indicator that there is value for our South African based remote job seekers.
Company: Outsourcely
Website: https://www.outsourcely.com/
Description on Website: For employers, Outsourcely is the world's easiest way to find reliable, vetted remote workers from 180+ countries. Hire directly. Pay zero commission fees. For remote workers, Outsourcely is the easiest way to find full time, reliable online work with employers that are looking to build long-term sustainable relationships (not short-term freelance projects) and pay zero fees.
The Go-To Guy Opinion: The site has a wide variety of jobs that seems to be perfect fits for remote workers, such as data analyst, whilst others would have to be based in the geographies of the positions as phone time is required, a few of the posts seems to be "spammy" by nature yet this is on the surface and may be legitimate. Overall it seems to offer value to remote workers to explore.
Company: Crossover
Website: https://www.crossover.com/
Description on Website: Are You The Best? It’s 2023. The top people in the world can now get Silicon Valley pay—from anywhere. Ready to prove you’ve got what it takes?
The Go-To Guy Opinion: The company seems focussed on hiring exceptional talent globally for remote opportunities, and defines in its process the requirement to complete and ass Cognitive Aptitude Test, Proficiency in English Tests and Real World Value test. There is a range of jobs available and albeit that there is a heavy technical tendency, there are other positions available as well. They are very popular in general with more than 5 million followers.
Company: Working Nomads
Website: https://www.workingnomads.com/jobs
Description on Website: WorkingNomads.com curates lists of the most interesting remote job offers in many professional career areas. We connect professionals who want to work remotely with innovative companies offering independent positions. Work remotely from anywhere, discover places and feel the freedom!
The Go-To Guy Opinion: A quick search on Africa jobs delivered a number of results, mostly technical we believe the curation engine seems good and it would be worthwhile to explore opportunities.
Company: Upwork
Website: https://www.upwork.com/
Description on Website: How work should work
The Go-To Guy Opinion: One of the more popular services with more than 2 million followers the service is aimed at freelancers, similar to Fiverr. As it is a global page, similar to the others, careful filtering and scrutiny is required.
For Local Job Boards and Services on The Go-To Guy
The Go-To Guy Online CV Service
We created a space specific for job seekers to place their CV online, you can access that CV registration here. We create this space for you to use in general job searches, interviews and employer engagement.
You can also upload documents, such as your CV, Certificates and Letters of Reference, and these can be downloaded by potential employers directly from your profile, so you never have to carry these documents or make hundreds of copies that cost money and seems to get lost in the different systems.
This is your space once you have registered your profile, which also means that you can simply copy the link of your personal profile and use this when looking for a job, you can email, WhatsApp, Text this link to any potential employer, and if they click on that link they will get to your own professional profile, increasing your chances to get the right exposure at potential employers, and also making it easier for employers to engage with you.
To access the Online CV Registration you can click here: Online CV Registration
The Go-To Guy Other Job Hunting Services
We truly want to assist as many people as possible to be able to find a job, to that end we created a number of spaces on The Go-To Guy as it relates to looking for and finding a job, these are as follows:
General Job Board: Here we post on a daily basis any jobs that become available in the market, you can access the Job board here > General Job Board
Domestic Job Board: Here we created a space where Au Pairs, and households looking for Domestic workers, can register and engage with each other, you can access the Job board here > Domestic Worker Job Board
Au Pair Job Board: Here we created a space where Au Pairs, and households looking for Au Pairs, can register and engage with each other, you can access the Job board here > Au Pair Worker Job Board
Student Job Board: Here we post on a regular basis any Student and Temporary worker jobs that become available in the market, you can access the Job board here > Student Job Board
Gardener Job Board: Here we post on a regular basis any Student and Temporary worker jobs that become available in the market, you can access the Job board here > Gardener Job Board
Self Employment Board: This space we created for users to add ideas and concepts to create self employment and we constantly look for ideas that we can add here > Self Employment Board
Employment Agencies: Here you can find the employment and recruitment agencies in Potchefstroom > Employment Agencies