Work is a Verb #29 - Early access: a remote job board that can't be gamed


Work is a Verb

A newsletter by


If you've been reading this newsletter for a while, you know I think most job boards are broken. While I've been writing about it, I've been building something in the background. For the past year, actually.

Today, Work is a Verb subscribers get to see it first.

Remotivated is live.

A job platform where every listing is real, every company is screened, and you can see how they actually do remote work — before you apply.


Why this exists

Every major job board is built for employers, not candidates. Companies pay $250–300 per posting, which means the best remote companies — the ones that don't need to advertise — often aren't there at all. And the jobs that are listed? Some are ghost postings. Many are "remote" in name only.

Remotivated flips that model.

Hand-screened companies, categorized by work model. We don't just slap "remote" on everything. You'll see the difference between a fully distributed team and a hybrid company with some remote roles.

Jobs pulled straight from company ATS systems. Companies can't pay to post. They literally cannot. Jobs only enter our system through direct ATS integration — which means no ghost listings and no scammers.

REMOTE Scores: See how each employer actually practices remote work before you spend time applying. Some are dream employers. Some aren't. Either way, you deserve to know before you apply.

What you can do right now

  1. Browse jobs without signing up. No account required.
  2. Create an account (30 seconds). Save jobs, set up alerts, and get personalized recommendations. Magic link login — no passwords, no friction.
  3. Set up job alerts. Tell us what you're looking for. We'll email you when matching jobs appear. No spam and you build your own filters.
  4. Explore company profiles. Click into any company to see their remote culture breakdown, tech stack, benefits, and open roles.

Browse remote jobs →

This is early access

You're seeing Remotivated before anyone else. That means:

  • Some things won't be perfect yet. If you encounter any issues there's a feedback form in the app and of course you're welcome to reply to this email as always.
  • I'm still adding more companies. We have 105 so far and each requires quite a bit of manual review. I expect to add a handful per week to keep things very curated and high quality.
  • I'll be shipping new features weekly. If there's anything you want to see, please log feature requests in the form or let me know on here!

I built this for people like us. People who want to find work that fits into the lifestyle they've designed for themselves instead of building life around work.


Your replies, your questions, your frustrations with a broken job search process — that's what shaped what you're seeing today and it will continue to shape what we work on next.

Thanks for being here from the start.

Community Pulse

Last week I asked what AI tool you use the most to get a sense of which I should base our content around. Several people also replied that they use a mix and my answer would be the same which is why I had to ask. I use Claude for most things, ChatGPT for planning and research and Gemini pretty much only for image generation.

🎯 WORTH YOUR TIME

LinkedIn's New AI-Powered Candidate Matching

LinkedIn is rolling out AI that matches job descriptions directly to candidate profiles — meaning recruiters won't just be searching by keywords anymore, they'll be matched to you. If you're open to remote roles, this changes the game: a well-crafted profile tailored to your target jobs just became your most powerful sourcing tool. Time to treat your LinkedIn like a landing page, not an online resume.

📰 REMOTE RUNDOWN

🏢 Younger firms, younger CEOs, more remote work. A new NBER working paper finds that newer companies and those led by younger CEOs allow meaningfully more work-from-home. Remote work isn't dying — it's migrating to the next generation of companies building differently from the start.

😶 Most U.S. workers are still "languishing." A University of Illinois study finds 61% of workers are struggling with engagement, motivation, or fulfillment — and autonomy and support are the key drivers.

🤖 The "AI will give us a 4-day workweek" narrative gets a reality check. Robert Reich argues that productivity gains from AI won't automatically translate into shorter weeks — not without bargaining power and policy changes. For job seekers: don't plan your career around AI utopia timelines. Build leverage and optionality now.

Working remotely—but never alone,

Jim


600 1st Ave, Ste 330 PMB 92768, Seattle, WA 98104-2246

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