Hiring Remote Employees: 3 Tips That Can Help You

Apart from the world undergoing a sudden paradigm shift in terms of how workplaces and offices function, remote hiring and remote jobs were always inevitably the way to go. Employees, candidates, and jobs are continuing to progress towards deeper and more niche specializations, which makes roles more difficult to fill for recruiters. One cannot always expect the talent for a specific role to always be locally available, and hence the need for adapting towards remote employment was always a question of when, rather than if. So here a few helpful tips that can help your company (or your recruitment team) be more efficient when it comes to expanding your team:

1. Use the technology at your disposal

Move to meeting applications for video interviews. Before the interview, make yourself familiar with the software, and test it out a few times internally. Set up the interview in a quiet, well-lit place and test out your hardware (Are the mic and headphones working? Does your laptop have enough charge?) Make sure you are connected via a secure network. When inviting the candidate over mail, ensure that you have given them all the necessary information required to join you on the call (Do they have the right version of the software you use? Is there a meeting ID and password they need? What time will the interview l be and what is the expected duration?)

Join the interview before they do, and ease them into the process. Remember that they might be as new to this process as you are, or even more! Explain to them what your alternate plan is, in case there is a network connection, software, or hardware failure. Tell them about the possible ways in which they can follow up with you later.

2. Add to your interviewing process

If you hire a new member for your organization, the chances of you meeting them in person are scarce. It is therefore important to get a feel for the person’s professional temperament before they start at your company. Extend the hiring process if needed to accommodate a round or two, or make your interview longer just to interpersonally interact with them, and get to know them better.

This process is important for everyone who might be working with the potential employee, so make sure you make hiring a collaborative process. For instance, while hiring a developer, you can bring in a senior resource person, and future teammates as part of the interview so they can also get to know the candidate and establish your work culture to some extent. Additionally, this makes it easier for your organization to assess the applicant’s skill level and knowledge, making team collaborations easier in the days to come.

3. Change your end-to-end hiring process

Promoting your job:

Apart from LinkedIn, job search portals, your company’s website, and social media, also list your jobs on niche spaces that focus entirely on remote hiring and remote jobs, such as WeWorkRemotely, remote.co, and so on. In all your job listings, mention your remote policy in detail (Is your office strictly remote-working, or is it remote-friendly? How do teams communicate/collaborate remotely?), add details about the logistical expectations from candidates (Would they need any specific hardware or software to start with? Does a specific time zone work better for you? Will you have all-hands meetings they are expected to attend in person?), and if possible, set context for how your company went remote (if there was a transition to remote work culture, or if there is a specific reason this role/team is/can be remote, and so on).

Evaluating the candidate:

Certain positions require skillsets specific to them, no doubt. However, there are several other skills that need to be taken into account when hiring remotely. For instance, an employee will rarely have a manager constantly supervising them, or the freedom to walk up to another employee for collaboration. A different employee might not be available in the same time zone, so some decisions need to be taken individually. Keeping these in mind, also look for written communication skills, the ability to follow a self-imposed discipline and work ethic that facilitates higher efficiency, and decision-making skills when hiring someone.

Subsequently, when looking for these skills in an applicant, question them about similar instances they might have previously faced at their last job. What did they do when they could not figure out the solution to a problem and their manager was not available? How did they manage work when reporting to a team instead of an individual? What is their idea of a comfortable work environment and hierarchy? How do they generally communicate with their coworkers? What does an ideal workday look like for them, and what is their definition of a bad WFH day? How do they manage time, projects, and personal life?

Training and orientation:

If you think you have found the perfect candidate in terms of their portfolio, knowledge, skill-based proficiency, communication, and has even fit into your work culture well. Before bringing them onboard, give them a job trial day. Not only will this paint a clear picture of how they actually function in your work environment, but it will also provide them with a very good idea of what it’s like to work with your team, making them better equipped should they be the latest addition to your company’s workforce.

In short:

• Thoroughly research the tech needed.
• Familiarize yourself and the concerned team with the candidate’s work ethic.
• Make tweaks to your hiring, interviewing, and training process to adapt to remote jobs.

Follow these steps, and make your hiring process easier and more effective.