The Rise of the Chief Remote Officer

While many firms have pivoted to hybrid or remote work in an ad-hoc way, others are creating a new role to oversee their workplace transformation. Plus, do viral job applications really catch recruiters’ eyes?

Why ‘chief remote officers’ are emerging

In the new world of work, business needs have shifted. One of the most pertinent issues has been how to establish best practices around remote set-ups. Many companies have struggled: virtual working has been a moving target with no precedent. Organisations, in some cases, have?implemented hybrid?or work-from-anywhere policies without formal processes in place.?

Other firms are being proactive: appointing high-ranking leaders solely dedicated to making remote workers thrive. These chief remote officers may have different titles, but they are each tasked with addressing the complex issues that arise from new ways of working and future-proofing businesses’ post-pandemic operating models.

Read more from Alex Christian on why some companies are adding these positions.

The workers who went viral applying for jobs

When Lukas Yla took his first bite of a freshly baked artisanal doughnut from a popular San Francisco pastry shop, he had a eureka moment. “I was a 25-year-old Lithuanian tourist with the dream of working in marketing for a Silicon Valley start-up,” he explains. “I knew I had to get past the middlemen, land my resume on the desk of a decision maker and show off my skillset in three seconds: that I was creative and could make things happen. Those doughnuts connected the dots.”

Yla slipped a note into each box with his tagline “Most resumes end up in trash. Mine – in your belly”, alongside his CV and a link to his LinkedIn profile. He then posed as a food courier, wore a homemade uniform and hand-delivered doughnuts to the headquarters of each company on his wish list.

Yla isn’t the only worker to have come up with a creative plan to try and improve job prospects. Plenty of workers have done this – and are continuing to. But do these stunts work to get companies’ attention, or is the approach too over the top?

Read more from Alex Christian on whether CV stunts will get you noticed.

The young workers flocking to 'career influencers'

Now more than ever, Gen Zers and millennials are searching for career guidance. But they’re not necessarily turning to traditional coaches.

Increasingly, young workers are seeking out bite-sized bits of job advice from influencers on informal channels like TikTok and Instagram, generally helmed by millennial and Gen Z women. Experts say this is partly because early-career employees are looking to peers on social platforms and in formats they’re already fluent in.

But this may also be because millennial and Gen Zers value relatability in mentors, often more than other factors like years of experience or affiliation with a formal institution. When they feel they can relate to an influencer, they’re open to trusting their advice. Consumers of this content say it can help them to feel empowered to take control of their working lives.?

Read more from Annie Atherton on the rise of job advice on social media.

More around the BBC:

• It’s been chaos during Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover .
• Sarah Willingham shares her CEO Secret.

We’ll be back next week with another edition of Worklife 101, bringing you the best of BBC Worklife ?and?BBC Business .

– Meredith Turits , Editor, BBC Worklife?

Images: Getty Images; Courtesy of Lukas Yla