Students should learn to work remotely
Going through one or multiple internships are traditionally a must-have before graduation. Graduate opportunties are becoming increasingly competitive, requiring interviewees to showcase relevant industry experience, extra-curricular involvement in societies, entrepreneurial endeavours, and a “secret sauce” to differentiate yourself from everyone.
Work experience at an investment bank, tick. Law Society, tick. Ran your own e-commerce store, tick. The bar set today is much higher, and a conventional resume won’t cut it.
The world is moving faster, and the way we work is changing rapidly. That means to stay relevant, students need to understand how companies operate and think in the future. This won’t be taught in textbooks as information will become increasingly outdated. Even in traditional roles like law, science and accounting, established organisations are turning to startups to learn how to iterate their products and work with an entrepreneurial mindset
When students confine themselves to a career path set by parents or peers, they’ll miss the boat on redefining what success looks like for the new generation. Remote work, cross-border communication and operating outside of the traditional 9–5 will help young workers path a way towards employment, more effectively than the traditional summer internship. Here’s why:
🎢 Understanding working trends
Ten years ago, it was almost impossible to work from home. If your colleagues wanted to get in touch when you were out of the office, they couldn’t rely on text, email or instant messaging. They would need to page an alternative phone number (or fax) and communicate that way. The definition of “remote” work was also different back then.
Today, it’s common practice to use live video technology to host conference meetings, instant message through internal or external tools, and collaborate online.
Office spaces have also evolved, where employees can opt to gather in person, meet at coworking spaces, a nice cafe, or fly budget airlines to pitch at a client’s office.
The expectations are also different. Individuals now have the ability and freedom to work without being confined to an office setting or desk. They should have instant access to what they need to do their work. No longer are companies reliant on bulletin boards or printing out physical contracts — workers can turn to WhatsApp, HelloSign, Skype and Slack as their main tools.
The result is that technology allows work to be more integrated into personal lifestyle whether you’re writing an email on the bus ride home, taking a conference call before dinner, or selling to a client from the other side of the world, the fact is — times have changed. And it will continue to change as technology experimentation becomes widely adopted, and older industries get phased out.
🥁 Learning how to use and search for digital tools
Whether you’re creating, collaborating or executing, new technologies are sprouting each day to make your work life easier and more efficient.
Lead generation? Hubspot can manage your pipeline.
Conference call with the global team? Host a Zoom call.
Understanding the fundamentals of using the right technology stack, and having the appetite to search for more efficient products is important for students to stay relevant in the real world.
One of the biggest challenges in higher education is that conventional learning management systems, like Blackboard, are constantly being replaced by faster, more intuitive products. And universities are having trouble keeping up. Unless students decide to pursue a career path as a teacher, these tools become useless upon graduation.
As online coursework and distance learning becomes more accessible, students should take initiative to experiment with alternative options rather than settle with what’s required in syllabus. It’s what startups do.
We constantly search on ProductHunt, referrals or use startup accelerator perks to find the newest digital tools out there to make running a company easier. Take this mindset to any company, be it large or small, and I can guarantee it will be well-received.
🛠 Redefining ownership
Trust is what creates a solid employee-employer relationship. But when working remotely, trust takes on an even greater purpose.
Without physically being in the office to bounce ideas off one another, ask for feedback, or collaborate on a whiteboard, companies take a significant risk when hiring remote staff members. And as a remote worker, you need to work 10x to gain trust from your colleagues and management.
Tools such as Wunderlist and Trello are great for sharing to-do lists. This helps demonstrates time management, focus and organisational skills. Cultivating transparency within the team helps the company prioritise and know exactly what to execute that week. It also allows you to keep track on what’s happening in real-time. Rather than sharing the end product in a final presentation, you can now iterate based on feedback from your team or client, ensuring that you’re not building what’s unnecessary.
Working remotely also helps you become better team player. Slack and Skype allow to you connect with the team on-the-go. You can share information privately or in dedicated topic forums, which can help build deeper collaboration and split personal and professional discussions. Doing this will build an individual’s reputation as an active, thoughtful and dedicated team member.
🌏 Operating with different geographies and timezones
One of the most interesting and challenging aspects of remote working is operating with team members in other time zones.
Naturally, if you’re several hours ahead of one another, you may prioritise asynchronous communication when another team member is awake. However, if you’re working on a 12-hour difference, then you need to use tools for everyone communicating at their own pace. This could be via email, Trello, Github, and others. I’ll write about all the tools we use at NewCampus in a future post.
When you’re not working in the same time zone as your team, you don’t have set work hours and you don’t have a manager to report to, so one thing that becomes extremely critical is clear communication. Constantly sharing what’s going on with your life, be it travel plans or schedule changes, where you’re heading over for lunch or dinner, and anything you want to share with the team is good practice to communicate efficiently with one another.
This might seem intrusive, but when you’re solving big problems you all care about, this matters deeply. As a core team member with expectations of delivering something, you want to ensure that there is no bottle neck in someone’s process (especially if it’s you).
Operating in different time zones also makes it more valuable when you see each other in person. Particularly when you can share personal stories and your background. Not only are you learning about each others’ working styles, but enriching yourself about other cultures.
👾 Building a digital presence
Having a scattered digital profile is like having a resume with typos and different fonts.
There is an art to building a personal brand around yourself as an individual, and more and more companies are prioritising graduate students who have a strong LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter (at the very least) presence. Building your own story online allows you to establish a relationship and identity, whilst still maintaining a personal level of trust and interaction through social media.
Whilst this isn’t explicitly called out, my friends in recruitment have told me many times that they’ve rejected a candidate because their Facebook is full of photos being piss drunk. You’d be surprised how many people don’t know how to make their photos private.
Apart from having standardised profile photos and a short description of themselves, students are able to set themselves apart by determining an area of expertise, writing/publishing unique content, and networking, networking networking.
Working remotely accelerates this process.
When working online, you’re forced to differentiate yourself from the competition, whether it’s being featured at events, guest blogging on Quora, or having a well-curated Instagram feed. It’s also not enough to choose generic fields like “marketing” or “sales”. Instead, find your own niche and become a subject matter expert around this area. Whilst your audience might be slightly smaller, you’ll likely become more relevant and credible in this space.
👩🏼🚀 Who we are
NewCampus is a lifelong learning school for people excited by change. We’re a gym membership for learning experiences, with daily classes hosted at a network of accessible colearning spaces. Members learn together, from global entrepreneurs and experts, about emerging business, technology and cultural trends, and consistently building the skills they need to thrive in the changing world.
We are a team of 10 passionate individuals from Australia, the United States, Singapore, China, India and the Philippines. 🌍
