While remote work opportunities continue to decrease, hybrid work arrangements seem to be here to stay. Andrew McCaskill, Linkedin career expert joined TheStreet to discuss the state of remote and hybrid work as well as how to negotiate flexible work arrangements.
Full Video Transcript Below:
CONWAY GITTENS: Now, a recent study found that when it comes to six figure careers, right, job postings for remote work down 33%, hybrid postings down 40% So what does that say about remote work?
ANDREW MCCASKILL: What I will say is remote work and remote opportunities are down. Most people actually want a hybrid option, though, right? And so while there are fewer opportunities for remote work, we are seeing more people are starting to have the conversation about what is hybrid look like and how can I have a great career in a hybrid environment, the number one thing I would say is that don't know what's negotiable until you start negotiating. So while some opportunities may be fully in the office, some may be hybrid, there may be an opportunity to potentially negotiate for what it is that you want to do.
But I will say, though, if you're going to say I'm committed to having an all fully remote career, you need to also be really committed to the fact that the strategy for your career development may be different from somebody who's in the office every day, who's meeting up with people sort of serendipitously, who's building relationships in a much easier environment than someone who's working in at a company headquartered in Albuquerque and they're living in Seattle, right? So you have to think about why you want that remote work and what do you want from your career, and then match it up with a strategy. And you can't just let your career happen to you. You've got to really have a strong strategy.
CONWAY GITTENS: Are you kind of saying like, it's not that so much that remote work and hybrid work is going away, it's not that they're putting it in the posting. Once you get the job or you get the interview, you can negotiate whether that's what you want.
ANDREW MCCASKILL: I will say that remote work is down. Absolutely but what I will say about don't know what's negotiable until you start to negotiate is that you still have the option to ask or even think about long term. Do I say, OK, if I do a really great job at this hybrid, is there potential for me to be fully remote? Or if I do a great job at this in the office every day, is there potential for me to move to hybrid? But I think that what we're going to see is that hybrid is really here to stay remote for certain types of work is probably is probably going to continue to decline. But the opportunities are still there. You just got to go after them and sort of be really intentional about how you start to look for those jobs and talk about your skills in that.
CONWAY GITTENS: So do you have any tips on how to negotiate when the job posting doesn't necessarily say that it's going to be hybrid or remote?
ANDREW MCCASKILL: I think, number one, you should be negotiating. You should be building your skills to negotiate all the time. Right because you're going to always going to be things that you're negotiating at work. The thing about trying to negotiate for hybrid or remote work, most people are pretty clear about what it is. In the job postings. There are probably only a handful of cases where you can actually say, Ah, I could be really good at this. Here's why I could be really good at this. In a hybrid or in a remote environment. I think my skills are so good that it would be worthwhile for you to consider allowing me to do this in the way that I would like to do it. So I think that the number one thing is like, you got to be able to read the room, right? In terms of talking to that recruiter about what the options are. But you also can start to look at building your negotiation skills by taking a learning course or, you know, reading up on how to better negotiate, not just negotiating for benefits, but how do you negotiate for salary or a job change or allowing somebody to let you take, you know, a leap of faith type of stretch assignment? We should all be thinking about how we negotiate, whether it's talking about work balance or talking about compensation. We should all kind of start be building those skills because oftentimes you have not because you ask not.
