Even though it's never been easier to work remotely, finding a job when geography and proximity are removed from the equation can be difficult. I recently went through an unexpected job search when I had to walk away from a long-term contract, and I wanted to share my experience in the hope that maybe I could help someone else land a good job in less time.
Sites like indeed.com are too big to be useful when you can't search by city; to fill the void, a number of smaller sites have popped up catering to remote tech jobs. This includes software engineering obviously, but also design, copywriting, marketing, community management, product management, project management, data analytics, and even executive-level positions. These are the jobs you're looking for, at smaller companies that really embrace the remote/distributed environment, that will be more likely to notice your resume, and have interesting work you actually want to do.
The two best sites that I found, after about a month of looking around, were WeWorkRemotely and Jobspresso. Both of these sites had great jobs and an active Twitter feed that made following the openings easy. Just set up notifications for their accounts on Twitter and you'll get a push notification every time a new job goes up. Each site lets you search, although Jobspresso's filtering options and overall UI/UX are a lot better.
I had a rude awakening when I was passed over for a job I was very much qualified for and learned that the job got 300 applications, 60 of which got an initial reply, 30 of which got an interview. 300 applications! Can you imagine a mid-level management opening at an actual office getting 300 applications? Hell no. This is the reality of remote work; you're going to be up against a LOT of other people, so you need to make sure you're on your A-game when you start sending out applications.
First, your resume. Make sure it emphasizes your remote experience, if you have any. Working remotely is its own set of skills, and it's not for everyone. If you've proven that you can do the job outside of a traditional office, that's a HUGE asset. Keep your resume under one page. The tech industry emphasizes experience and skill above everything else, so if you have extraneous things like volunteer experience, internships, certifications, etc. leave them off unless the application specifically asks for it. Even leave your education off unless you have a post-graduate degree or you think you'll get extra mileage out of it.
Then make sure that your online presence is consistent, updated, and as visible as you want it to be. HR software like Greenhouse has space for LinkedIn, personal websites, Twitter, Facebook, etc. so if you provide that stuff, it's probably going to get looked at. If you don't want your potential employer to see your vacation photos or your rants against President Trump (*cough*), make sure your privacy settings are adjusted accordingly. Update your LinkedIn. If you have a personal website, make sure it looks good and reflects your current job search.
It's also important to make sure your resume looks good. It doesn't have to be crazy, but having something with a little color or an interesting font might set you apart from the other black and white, TNR stuff that comes across the HR person's desk. Illustrator is great for putting together a minimal, but visually compelling template that you can then export to .pdf and easily update later.
Cover letter: they say it's optional, but it's really not. If they aren't interested in reading them they won't, but having one is always a good thing. Keep a template ready to go so you can edit and export a good looking cover letter quickly and easily. Again, do the visual work in Illustrator and just update the text each time. I can bang out a very good looking, professional cover letter in 5 minutes, and when you're sending out 1-2 applications per day, it's important to not reinvent the wheel every time.
Also, don't sacrifice quality just because you're sending out an application every day. Fatigue and frustration are a very real thing during a job search, and if you let them, they'll drag down the quality of your applications. Don't stop attaching cover letters, don't stop sending follow-up emails, don't stop putting in 100%. You don't want to get diminishing returns on your efforts, so as tempting as it might be to be done with just the LinkedIn autofill, go the extra mile every time.
Hopefully this stuff helps. Monitor the remote work sites, have a good looking resume and cover letter, and resist the fatigue that will creep in. Good luck!