Best Tips for Hiring Remote Workers Who Are a Good fit for your organization

Hiring the correct virtual talent is critical for remote organizations. After all, employing a substandard employee can have disastrous implications, such as missed productivity and substantial disruptions in a team’s workflow, not to mention the thousands of dollars required to repeat the hiring process once again.

These seven remote worker hiring tips should get you started—and help you build a great remote workforce:

 Discover their “why.”

The reasons for wanting a remote job can differ from one job seeker to the next. They may require work flexibility to care for their young children, an aging parent, or simply because there isn’t much employment in their area. While their personal reasons for wanting a remote job should not play a large role in who you recruit, it is still a good idea to understand why they want remote work at this point in their careers and lives. It might provide you with more information about the job seeker and help you make a better-informed hiring decision.

Understand where to look

Remote job searchers, like employers, should avoid spending too much time on big-box job search sites. Look on specialty sites that cater to these types of job prospects to find remote workers that may be a good fit for your firm. You should also use social media to your advantage and go on LinkedIn to see if you might find excellent remote prospective employees there as well.

Maintain as much flexibility as possible.

While some remote businesses operate as a R.O.W.E. (Results Only Work Environment), others continue to rely on the traditional 9-to-5 workweek. However, if you want to hire top talent, attempt to abandon the typical office mindset and instead provide your employees with more scheduling flexibility. Listing your remote company’s flexible work policy in its job descriptions is an excellent method to recruit new talent. This will assist you in broadening your talent pool and hiring the best and brightest available.

Highlight the benefits.

With an increasing number of organizations becoming remote or giving flexible hours to their employees, the prospect of working from home may not be enough to convince a job seeker to submit an online application to your company. Lively business culture is what can entice a potential recruit to join your corporation. Businesses that devote time and effort to developing a strong company culture frequently outperform those with a weak or ambiguous one. Include the company’s mission, charity contributions, and even Friday happy hours in your job descriptions. All of these factors can aid your hiring process by attracting individuals that are a good fit for your firm from the beginning.

Look for their soft skills.

Your top three prospective candidates look to be flawless on paper. They have the necessary education, abilities, and knowledge. But are they effective remote workers? Unless your applicants have already telecommuted, their qualifications may not be sufficient in the remote global workplace. Instead, search for soft talents (such as time management, digital savvy, and strong communication) that are actually required for remote work. If your candidates lack certain abilities, you could be taking a major risk by hiring them for a virtual job.

Probation should be imposed on them

In an ideal world, you would employ a potential employee and have them start working immediately away. However, it may be a better decision to place your new recruit on probation for at least the first couple of weeks. This is not intended to make your colleague feel guilty, but rather to safeguard both of you from a possibly disastrous situation in the future. Let’s imagine your new hire discovers that the job is too difficult for them, or that remote work isn’t working for them. And if your remote team is having difficulty connecting with them (both as a team member and as a person), a probationary period can be a kinder approach to mutually accept that it didn’t work out and part ways personally and professionally.

Try them out!

Remote workers can certainly claim to be excellent time managers. However, unless they are tested, you may not discover that they are severe slackers until after you have recruited them. So, put your top applicants on the exam. Assign them a little assignment that is typical of the type of work they would be doing if hired, as well as a timeframe for completion. If they have technical difficulties, do not express their project questions to your remote team, or submit it late (or not at all), these are all signals that they are not a suitable fit.

Tips by IceHrm, a promising digital HR platform