Effective Remote Hiring Tips

Comparing skills, slowly identifying a candidate’s identity and building relationships with candidates is why many recruiters start acquiring talent. This is an exciting challenge for many. You need excellent communication skills, interrogation tactics, and real curiosity. This becomes more and more difficult when you consider a distant attitude.

We know that there is a shortage of talent and professionals in many areas. In fact, 78% of recruiters said that most skills will be even more in demand over the next 10 years. These statistics alone have forced many recruiters to look outside the country for candidates. And for teams that hire remote workers.

Whether you hire remotely or are a remote recruiter yourself, recruitment remains a priority   no matter how far away you are! Fortunately, new tools appear every day to help us communicate with remote candidates. But in addition to these tools, those working in a remote settings environment need to know a few guiding principles.

Guidelines for Remote Recruitment

1. Video interviews are a basic skill

In the absence of personal communication, the video interview is your best opportunity to meet your candidates. But not everyone feels comfortable in front of the camera.

Practice video calling regularly and follow a few simple tips to calm yourself and your candidates:

· Provide candidates with all the necessary information in the interview invitation.

· Make sure there is a Plan B if the connection is suddenly interrupted.

· Arrange the interview in a quiet place where you will not be interrupted.

· Check all your technicians again before you start the interview. This includes both hardware (headphones, microphone) and software!

· Be the first to show up! Calm down your candidates by being present when they enter the virtual room.

· Take it easy to talk to them in a conversation.

· Establish a clear order of interaction with the candidates.

2. Consider extending the recruitment process

Getting to know someone is time-consuming and candidates play no role, especially if you think it is important to hire someone properly from the start! But if you consider the distance and virtual communication of the remote configuration, you can think about spending extra time on this process.

I think we do this to really spend this time getting to know the person well because if we all work from a distance, we don’t get the same amount of personal time together. We meet twice a year, so it’s important to make sure we have a good feeling for the person before they start seeing us. So for us, the difference between remote recruitment and remote hiring is to expand the hiring process so we can get to know them all better.

Whether you are adding an extra step or ordering a longer interview period, a longer process will help you get to know your remote candidates better.

3. The focus on cooperation should be a priority

A collaborative approach is a great way to involve your team in the recruitment process, both remotely and without it. But with a strong emphasis on a real in-depth understanding of the candidate’s skills, personality, and experience, it may be worth involving your team earlier in the remote recruitment process.

Potential team members have the opportunity to assess, evaluate and become familiar with potential remote recruitment during the recruitment process. This will help you to ensure that remote recruitment is a good qualification, in addition to the cultural adaptation for your potential team. Ensure that your ATS can serve multiple users and facilitate teamwork.

4. Change promotion tactics

We all know that in order to attract highly qualified technical specialists, you should use a different tactic than the one used to find graduates. People with such profiles spend their time on different platforms, communicate differently and respond to different types of public relations. The same applies to remote talents.

4 things should be in your remote job description?

1. A detailed description of the remote access policy: Not all remote access situations are the same. Some offices are the first remote, remote friendly or mixed remote offices. This will help you find suitable remote employees.

2. Your company’s remote history: it is always useful for remote employees to understand why a particular location has been removed or why some teams have been removed. This will help you learn about your remote working culture.

3. All logistical requirements: Report all logistical needs arising from remote operations. For example, remote workers may need to live or work within a certain time zone. Or have the flexibility to travel to headquarters on a monthly basis.

4. Summary of your communication culture: As they will be working from outside, it is important that these candidates know what they can expect in terms of communication and collaboration. This will help to understand the candidates who do not want to work together in such a hyper-communication environment.

A detailed description of your position at a remote office with this important information will help you find a suitable candidate for the first time.

5. Setting up a set of questions at your discretion

In addition to the standard screening and cultural adaptation questions, there are a few additional questions you would like to add for remote candidates. Think about your ideal candidate and how he or she manages to work from a distance. There are a number of key competencies that you should focus on, including time management, discipline, communication, consistency, initiative, and others.

· Verify autonomy: What did you do when the manager was gone and you had to make a decision?

· Test your personal drive: What three things have you done in the last 12 months to improve yourself?

· Test your ingenuity: If you have a problem and don’t know how to solve it, what do you do?

· Review teamwork: How do you manage to work for more than one leader?

· Check communication preferences: How do you stay in touch with colleagues, managers?

· To reveal your daily processes and your environment: Describe your remote office and a virtual work test.

· Check Time Management: How do you prioritize projects?

· Check your commitment to personal development: How do you keep up to date?

Using open-ended questions to review specific qualities required for effective remote work helps you identify suitable candidates.

6. Adding a test or performance evaluation phase

Not everyone uses a trial day during the recruitment process. But when it comes to remote recruitment, trial days can be very useful to ensure the right selection of personnel.

Let’s say the candidate has passed basic tests, has an amazing portfolio, fits perfectly into the cultural environment and has also passed the phone screen with distinction. It’s time to invite her to a personal interview, right? I’ve seen candidates join the company and don’t do so once they’re in the position. It’s incredibly difficult to evaluate your hard work and commitment, even if you meet someone in person, so you can imagine how difficult it is to hire them remotely.

If you want to be sure that someone is well hired, give them a trial project before they even talk to the other members of your team.

Make sure that your candidates are able to achieve results before they are hired by an outside company.

7. Remember that you are looking for a different profile

Sometimes people forget that remote employees need other skills and even personal qualities. Your candidates need to know how to work remotely and efficiently.

You can read more about remote employees here.

Key Characteristics for the remote worker;

Written communication: Most of their communication will be written. It is important that they know how to express, coordinate and collaborate through text.

Discipline: Remote workers should be autonomous and do their work without feeling that someone is looking over their shoulders. This goes hand in hand with a strong sense of responsibility.

Resolute: Working off-site and even in different time zones can mean they have to make decisions without someone in the office leading them.

Interests outside the world of work: Working from home can make it difficult to “switch off”. Interests outside the workplace can help them avoid the risk of loneliness and possible burnout.

Remote work is not everyone’s cup of tea, make sure your candidates know how to work efficiently from a distance and have these key qualities.

Remote recruitment as a professional.

Remote employment is a trend that many recruiters can’t ignore. And with a little leadership, you don’t have to ignore it anymore. Keep the following points in mind when preparing for the introduction of a remote hiring plan:

· Develop your video interviewing skills

· Consider extending the hiring process

· Priority collective recruitment

· Change your advertising tactics

· Set up a series of questions

· Add a test or performance evaluation phase

· Remember the unique remote profile