Loraine is the founder of Beyond the Savannah. The certified accountant quit her well paying job in the corporate world to blossom in the online space. Speaking to Lynn Ngugi in a recent interview, she talked about how she started earning money through working remotely and the opportunities in the sector.
Here is her story as told by WoK,
Education Background
She holds a Bachelor degree in accounting from the United States International University and a Masters degree in Human Resource Management.
Employment
It was during her internship that she realized accounting wasn’t something she wanted to do in the long run. After graduating, she worked at Mabati Rolling Mills as a graduate trainee in the HR department and proceeded to stay with the company for about six years.
In 2021, she started looking for jobs without success. This was until she discovered a remote work opportunity through Tik Tok and decided to look into it.
She got the job after intense interviews and began working for a remote company called Superside. She was hired as a senior people care specialist, an equivalent to a HR VP in Kenya.
Initially, she wasn’t sure about the job but the whole interview process made her feel reassured. She also looked up the company on Linkedln and realized two Kenyans worked there. She reached out to one and it eased her fears. Hence, she handed in her resignation and stepped into the world of remote work
According to her, remote work is amazing as most companies pay way above the market rate. She went from earning a monthly salary of Sh160,000 to half a million Kenyan Shillings.
Later, she founded the company Beyond the Savannah. Initially, she was supposed to post travel content. However, she realized there was an opportunity to train people about remote jobs. Apart from this, they equip those interested with requisites skills to get these job.
Remote Jobs Sites
Loraine said there are several considerations when one is applying for such jobs. While one can get them on upwork, she advised there were other sites like: We Work Remotely, Working Nomads com, just remote. com and remote.co. Of course, there is also Beyond the Savannah.
Red Flags and Considerations when applying
Loraine advised that just as there are real jobs there are also scams. One of the red flags is if you are hired on the spot as there needs to be a rigorous interview exercise.
The other is if they ask for money, either for training or anything else. The third is if they ask you to offer your services free in exchange for stock.
One should also be on the lookout for advertisements with spelling mistakes and when you don’t see anyone’s face during the whole interview process.
Before applying for a remote job, one needs to make sure it is within specific time zones. For example, in Kenya it should be the Emea Time zone or the Worldwide/Global time zone. Your CV also needs to have an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) as this is what companies use to sift through the applications and shortlist candidates.
