Fake remote: how to tell from the ad whether a job is actually remote

You apply to a job that says “remote”, get through two interviews, and in the third one the sentence lands: “of course, we’d expect to see you in the office two or three days a week.” You’ve lost several hours and, if you live in another city, the whole process.

This happens because “remote” has turned into a word that attracts candidates rather than a description of the job. Plenty of companies put it in the title knowing their real policy is hybrid, and plenty of boards apply the tag automatically to any ad that mentions the word anywhere in the text. The result is that the label on its own doesn’t tell you much.

The good news is that an ad leaves traces. You can almost always work out what kind of job is behind it before you apply.

Signal 1: there’s a specific city where none was needed

This is the most reliable one. If the role were genuinely remote, the relevant location would be a country, a time zone or a region. When the ad says “Remote — Madrid” or “Remote (Mexico City)”, that city is there for a reason: either they expect you to live nearby, or the contract is signed there, or there are office days nobody has mentioned yet.

A genuinely remote role reads differently: “remote from anywhere in Spain”, “remote, CET ±2”, “remote within Latin America”. Notice that these phrasings bound where you may be, not where you must go.

Signal 2: the ad talks about the office

Scan the text for office, headquarters, campus, on-site team, HQ. If the description takes the trouble to tell you about the beautiful office downtown, with specialty coffee and a games room, it’s because they expect you to set foot in it. Nobody describes an office their employees will never see.

The same reasoning applies to the perks: meal vouchers, parking, on-site gym, commuting allowance. These are physical benefits, tied to a physical place.

Signal 3: the word “flexible” with nothing behind it

“Flexible working model” is the favourite way to avoid committing. It can mean anything from “work wherever you like” to “you get to pick which three days you come in”. If the ad doesn’t specify how many days and where, assume the least favourable reading: in practice, flexibility gets defined after you sign, and rarely in your favour.

Same with “remote-friendly” and “open to remote”. Neither says the role is remote; they say the idea doesn’t scare them.

Signal 4: requirements that only make sense in person

Some responsibilities give the job away without anyone saying so. If the ad mentions client visits, availability to travel within the city, warehouse management, supervising a team on a factory floor, or any task that needs hands, the job has an in-person component whatever the title claims.

Signal 5: a very narrow time-zone requirement

A remote role asking for “at least 6 hours of overlap with our team in Barcelona” isn’t a problem in itself, but it is important information: it’s telling you your working day is set by theirs. If you’re in Mexico, that can mean starting at 2 a.m. It’s genuinely remote, but it isn’t flexible, and those are two different things that sometimes get sold together.

How to check before you apply

Before you invest time in an application, spend five minutes on this:

1. Open the original posting. Aggregators summarise; the full ad on the company’s own site usually carries the working-policy paragraph the summary trims.
2. Find the company’s careers page. Many state their general policy (“we’re remote-first”, “hybrid, 3 days in office”) in one place, and that overrides whatever a single ad says.
3. Look at where their other openings are. If all twenty open roles ask for the same city, the company’s real policy is on-site with exceptions.

The question that settles it

If you reach first contact still unsure, don’t ask “is it remote?”. That’s a question answered with an ambiguous yes. Ask this instead:

“How many days a month would I be expected to be physically in the office, and is there any recurring in-person meeting or event?”

It’s specific, hard to dodge, and the answer gives you the exact figure. Ask it at first contact, not in the third interview: it’s information you need in order to decide whether to continue, not a detail to settle at the end.

A useful follow-up once they’ve confirmed it’s remote: “does the contract reflect the remote arrangement, or is it an informal agreement?” If it’s informal, it can change with your next manager.

What to do with the answer

A hybrid role isn’t a bad offer. The problem isn’t hybrid: it’s finding out late. Knowing from the start lets you decide properly — maybe two office days twenty minutes from home suit you fine — instead of dragging a process that collapses at the end.

And if you’re after genuinely remote work, filter by work mode from the start and favour ads that bound a region rather than a city. You’ll skip half the false positives before reading a single description.