As the world is getting closer to the end of the pandemic, companies are drafting their future work strategies. With work from anywhere becoming a lucrative option for companies and candidates, remote hiring is here to stay.
Remote hiring is an affordable option for employers. It cuts down on their infrastructure costs and brings out proven candidates from a cheaper talent pool. However, the remote work trend is leading to new challenges for recruiters. Recruiting remote workers seem to be a different story altogether.
For those organizations that dealt with remote workers, remote hiring may be a cakewalk. But those that just started embracing hybrid or remote work need to perform substantial groundwork.
When hiring remote employees, some common mistakes are evident. From ineffective assessment of the candidate’s skills to miscommunication in clarifying responsibilities, various aspects can go amiss.
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Remote hiring challenges
Remote hiring brings its dose of challenges. Tried and tested methods may not always work for remote hires.
For instance, posing a set of questions in a face-to-face interview is a lot easier. Recruiters, at most times, go with the flow to ascertain whether the candidate is the right fit. Remote hiring buries the advantage of studying the facial cues to assess the candidate.
Hence, recruiters need to adapt their techniques to effectuate the control over the hiring process. Here we present tips to simplify remote hiring and pick the best candidate from the talent marketplace.
Streamline the Hiring Process
The recruitment process in remote hiring is best kept simple. It must ensure the comfort of the candidate as well as the recruiter. Streamline everything to speed up the candidate assessment.
Job Advert Matters
Every remote position attracts three times more candidates than a regular opening. A well-drafted job advert weeds out unsuitable candidates from this large pool. Given below are the points a job advert for a remote position must clarify.
What type of remote work is it?
Explain whether the employee will be working remotely alone or as a team. Throw clarity if the role is fully remote or a hybrid one. Doing so will ensure that only suitable candidates apply for the post.
Gathering these details also helps recruiters determine how to interview the employee. If they need to work in teams, they can plan to coordinate the team for further interview rounds and ensure that they can collaborate well together.
What are the time zones?
One sizeable advantage of remote hiring is – it facilitates hiring candidates from different time zone. Outsourcing work to regions of various time zones is a tried and tested industry practice.
However, when it comes to remote hiring, employees should be comfortable working across time zones to ensure they can enjoy their job.
What are the perks?
Make it clear in the job advert about the perks and privileges the remote workers enjoy. Doing so removes any doubts that remote workers may have about accepting the position.
Assess Effectively
Ascertaining the fitness of the candidates can be challenging in remote hiring. Every candidate wants to put their best foot forward and claims to get the job done. However, the reality may be different. Hence, before hiring a remote employee, assess their skills with a test project. Various online assessment tools and tests can simplify this part.
For assured peace of mind about candidate skill sets, collaborate with a staffing company that handpicks candidates after rigorous vetting.
Make Technology Your Aide
The number of applications that every remote role receives can be overwhelming compared to regular jobs.
Here is where technology comes to aid. Handling a large volume of applications becomes effortless with such software. Hiring tools such as application trackers helps to stay organized, sort through the profiles quickly, and pick which applicant makes the best fit for the given role.
Such software lets you pick fitting candidates based on their skills and experience and not just based on keywords in their resume.
Gain Clarity about Availability
Treating remote employees as in-office workers gives them space. On the contrary, using remote employees as help available around the clock can lead to frustrating situations.
While remote employees get to work from home, they possess a working schedule that may differ from usual office timings. It can be unreasonable to assume that they would be accessible throughout the day.
Though they may be available to work during emergencies or deadlines, it is best to ascertain their availability ahead for the convenience of both parties.
When In Doubt, Opt for Contract Candidates
Whether or not they are remote employees, hiring on a contractual basis can be a safe move at any instant. It provides an extra layer of convenience to terminate the candidate should they fail to meet expectations.
Observing the following aspects helps to decide whether to convert the contract employee to a full-time one or not.
- Do they complete their work on time?
- Are they reliable?
- Are they able to meet deadlines?
- How smooth is communicating with them?
- Is their work quality up to the mark?
Thus, hiring someone on a contract makes it easy to observe their work habits and assess whether they are the right fit for the organization.
Communication is Key
Communication is the key irrespective of the nature of the role of the employee. Clear communication facilitates ideas and smooth workflow across teams.
While one can observe office workers any time, and quickly inform last-minute changes, with remote workers, it may not be possible. Hence, establishing a proper channel of communication is crucial with remote employees.
Choose a communication channel that works for both parties. Pick from among video calling applications, chat-only platforms, or email to establish straightaway communication. With the pandemic forcing most companies to turn hybrid, there is no dearth of apps that ease communication with remote workers. Additionally, create emergency contact points and save it only for emergencies.
Clarify All Doubts
Unlike in-office workers, it is hard for remote employees to associate with the team leader. Hence, when hiring remote employees, detail the job role and duties.
Once the candidate is on board or assigning them projects, take time to explain every minute aspect of their day-to-day responsibilities. Ensure that they understand the company’s vision, goals, and the duties that they need to fulfil. Check whether they possess the tech and equipment necessary to fulfil their responsibilities satisfactorily.
Stay in touch with them occasionally till they gain hold of the work and get comfortable with the job.
Summing Up
Delving into the world of remote hiring may seem challenging at first. These pointers make it easier for organizations to expand their virtual teams through faster and effective remote hires.
Need help with remote hiring?
Cloudely has helped many global companies to build their remote teams cost-effectively. Get in touch with us to know how to find the best remote workforce that suits your business goals. Follow us on LinkedIn to receive our latest updates.
