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Amongst the many ways that coronavirus pandemic has impacted our working lifestyle, ‘remote working’ is probably the most prominent one, which obviously has given rise to a new norm in the recruitment process called, remote hiring. It is interesting to see how recruiters are ramping up to adopt this new norm, calling for this new hiring strategy, which helps in,
- Reduced costs
- Flexibility in schedules
- Access to a larger pool of candidates
- Potential increase in Employee Retention
A report by Zapier.com published at the end of 2019 revealed that about 74% of the workforce would prefer to quit a job for one that offers remote positions.
Remote working has transpired remote hiring for companies, hence in this article, we are going to talk about the best practices to recruit top talents while also effectively achieving your individual business goals.
1. Define your recruiting goals/process :
When business processes undergo such drastic changes, there is an ever-increasing need to bring about clarity in the objectives of the recruiting team. It is just as important for everyone to be on the same page concerning what the remote recruiting etiquettes will be, since no matter if you are recruiting just one employee remotely or an entire team, it requires a different approach. Recruiters must ensure clear communication about the remote hiring process, set appropriate guidelines and standards for the team to keep at bay any remote hiring risks and challenges that might occur.
2. Define what you look for in a candidate :
When recruiters already know what to look for in a candidate, and define that clearly on a piece of paper called the JD (job description), the process is automatically speeds up. Having a clear set of must-haves such as qualifications, previous experiences, or a specific set of skills that you are looking for in a candidate, and making use of a suitable ATS (Applicant Tracking System) tool are the practices to select only the top few for interview. This will help recruiters to only assess those candidates with the relevant keywords in their CV as specified in the job description. ATS tools are also capable of conducting candidates’ screening to suit your job requirements.
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Some skills to look for in a candidate while remote hiring are:
- Communication skills
- Adaptability and flexibility
- Ability to work independently
- Collaborative skills
3. Employer Branding :
Employer branding can be described as the way you market your company to internal employees as well as external job seekers. This improves employees morale, helps on reduced employee turnover and retaining/recruiting top talent.
A few ways of doing this is to have a distinct identity on social media, having a well-defined ‘Careers’ page on your website that exemplifies the company’s vision and culture. Identify the gaps you might come across in such places and find ways to fix them keeping this in mind. After all, a candidate will always check your website to learn more about you before the interview.
4. Using digital recruitment tools :
Digital recruitment allows companies to reach a larger audience geographically, hence having access to much more diverse candidates. Effective use of social media can help in reaching out to a bigger pool of candidates, finding the potential fit for the roles, as well as build the required level of employer branding.
Other ways for companies to reach out to the candidates can be through advertising in own company website’s, local online recruitment websites, organising virtual job fairs, etc.
5. Acing the remote interview :
After a screening process and evaluation, video / telephonic interviews are the next step. As conducting in-person interviews are not as possible in times like these, thanks to the advent of a host of video conferencing tools that help in conducting interviews with the candidates.
Tip: While conducting a telephonic/video interview, ensure you ask the right questions to assess the candidate to get to know them a bit better and see if they are a good fit for the next round.
At this step, assess the candidate’s technical skills, while also giving an equally significant amount of importance to their soft skills, which help gauge the candidate’s ability to communicate and coordinate with other teammates remotely. Recruiters need to make sure the interviewers are comfortable with the virtual interview tools and overall set-up for a good interview experience by the candidate.
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6. Onboarding the candidate :
Onboarding remotely requires a few adjustments while hiring remotely. The organisations should note the following:
- Send out paperwork as PDF’s
- Use tools for e-signatures to help with the documentation
- Schedule introductory meetings virtually, make the employees feel comfortable just as they would in a normal scenario
- Provide proper guidelines to help them be familiar with the tools and the processes.
- Offer support in the initial weeks until they get on the job.
7. Using Team Collaboration Tools :
Having the necessary remote collaboration tools for employees is just as important as the entire process of remote hiring. For employee engagement, the following tools can be used to share work seamlessly and managed centrally despite geographical and time zone differences of hired candidates. Some of the useful team collaboration tools are :
For more on team collaboration tools, please read our article : Team Collaboration Tools for Remote Employees
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