3 Free Ways to Learn Digital Skills for Remote Jobs

This post comes from partner site FlexJobs.

Welcome to our “Work From Home Q&A” series. You ask a question about remote work, and a guest expert answers it. You can learn how to ask a question of your own below.

This week’s question comes from Suzy:

“It seems like everyone is on the Zoom video calls these days. The embarrassing thing is that I’m not super tech-savvy, which makes me nervous in starting to look for remote work. Do companies with remote work available provide skills training?”

Free remote-job skills training

For better or worse, most companies hiring for remote jobs will require each professional to come with a basic understanding of remote communication and collaboration. The good news is that many free training options are available online.

Also, doing training online will help you get more comfortable working with technology in an independent and private way, where the stakes are much lower as you go through trial and error with new programs.

Here are a few of the online training programs — all free — that the FlexJobs Career Coaching team often refers clients to:

1. LinkedIn’s opportunity resource for job seekers and new remote workers: LinkedIn and Microsoft are partnering to provide a free e-learning platform to guide people into careers in top fields, with completely free training.
2. Grow with Google: Remote skills training for job seekers
3. Tutorials on commonly used remote collaboration tools:
   • Zoom
   • Skype
   • G Suite (Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Chat, Meet, etc.)
   • Slack
   • Dropbox
   • Microsoft OneDrive
   • Bluejeans
   • GoToMeeting: How to schedule a meeting; how to start and run a meeting

About me

I am a career development manager and coach at FlexJobs, where I help people find flexible work, including remote, part-time and freelance jobs. Before joining FlexJobs in 2010, I was a career adviser for college students and alumni. I have a master of science in human resources management and am a certified advanced resume writer.

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You also can find all past answers from this series on the “Work From Home Q&A” webpage.