How to Ask to Work From Home When Applying for a Job?

Bay Area housing is crazy expensive and traffic horrible, so I am so happy to see work-from-home policies emerge since COVID. Companies are much more flexible than pre-COVID. If you are now looking for a job, how do you raise working from home in the interview process?

1. If working from home is an absolute requirement, prioritize applying to companies with remote work policies (Coinbase, Elastic, PayPal, Square, Twitter, Upwork, etc.).
2. Research remote/flexible working arrangements, and you may find their answer there. Companies that are permanently remote tout this benefit upfront. Big companies like Google, Salesforce, Microsoft, Amazon, and Apple have publicly commented on their hybrid approach, including number of days expected in-office versus from home, and approvals necessary for exceptions. See here on Google, Salesforce, Microsoft, Amazon; here on Apple.
3. If the policy is unstated and remote work is super important to you, you can find out pretty early in the recruiting process. What’s key is to ask gently without coming across like “what’s in this for me” because sometimes the answer can be yes, but depends on how you ask. I recommend you first express sincere enthusiasm for the job, explain how all your past experience leads to this job, and then ask what typical days are like or how management is handling back in office after COVID. If you ask conversationally, you should be able to get a clear answer on how the company is handling remote work.
4. If the policy is unstated and remote work is a nice to have, the best strategy is to have the employer fall in love with you first. Then ask for what you want when you have the offer in hand.