How To Hire Remote Employees
Hiring Insights News ...
Remote jobs offer many benefits that make them highly desirable to candidates, from greater flexibility to more autonomy.
In fact, a recent study found that ‘41% of workers were searching for remote-first jobs’, further highlighting the growing demand for remote roles. However, in spite of this, it can be difficult to know how to go about hiring the right remote employees, especially if you’ve never hired remotely before.
Once you’ve established that the vacancy in your company can be carried out remotely, there are a few tips to bear in mind to simplify the hiring process of remote employees, some of which we’ll cover in this guide.
Let’s get into it.
To hire remote employees effectively, you will need to:
Make the remote work expectations clear
Make use of a recruitment agency
Recognise that remote interviews require a different approach
Establish a thorough remote onboarding process
Maintain excellent communication
1. Make The Remote Work Expectations Clear
The first tip for hiring remote employees is to make the remote work expectations clear.
Whether you’re writing the posting yourself or intend on working with a recruitment agency, you’ll need to make the remote work expectations clear and concise in the job posting.
This means clarifying what the term ‘remote’ means to your company and being sure to consider whether this is a hybrid or 100% remote job role.
This will help to ensure that all candidates are clear on what is expected of them before they apply.
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Setting remote work expectations from the beginning is crucial.
2. Make Use Of A Recruitment Agency
As remote work often includes a higher degree of autonomy, it naturally demands a higher level of trust, so finding the right candidate for your remote position is key.
Enlisting the help of a recruitment agency offers many benefits, allowing you to leverage their industry expertise to find the best talent for the role, save time and money, and even help you streamline the onboarding process.
What’s more, working with a recruitment agency opens up your business to a pool of higher quality candidates than you are likely to find on your own.
At Yolk, we specialise in 8 markets, covering technology and digital, engineering, finance, and the public sector, to name a few, and have been helping businesses find the perfect fit for over 15 years.
Get in touch with our recruitment specialists today to learn more about our services.
3. Recognise That Remote Interviews Require A Different Approach
Although candidates’ preferences towards interviews are shifting, with 41% of candidates preferring online interviews, having an awareness of the differences between remote and in-person interviews is essential.
You must test your interview tools, such as conferencing tech, ahead of time to make sure everything is running smoothly. This is important as this is the candidate's first impression of your business, too, and it likely won’t be positive if you have technical problems that disrupt their interview.
Moreover, if more than one person from your company is interviewing the candidates, you’ll want to make sure that you all log in from different devices, even if you’re joining the interview from the same location.
This will help to ensure that your candidates don’t feel isolated throughout each interview.
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It's always important to test your interview tools, such as conferencing tech, ahead of time to make sure everything is running smoothly.
4. Establish A Thorough Remote Onboarding Process
Another tip is to establish a thorough remote onboarding process.
From preparing secure digital contracts to digital copies of employee handbooks, and technology tutorials, there is a lot to consider when establishing your onboarding process.
Beyond the logistics, you’ll also want to consider facilitating social interactions to allow your new employees to bond with the rest of the team, such as creating a social channel for non-work topics.
How To Successfully Onboard Remote Employees
There are many best practices to improve employee onboarding, but how does this apply to remote employees?
Tips for successfully onboarding remote employees include, but are not limited to:
Assign mentors - Mentors play an essential role in helping new hires acclimatise to the culture and feel more comfortable in their new roles.
Clarify responsibilities - Lay out their responsibilities and include what you expect from them and how they should report their progress.
Invest in the right type of software - Leveraging the right technology can significantly help a new hire. To avoid overwhelming new employees, stick to a few tools for communication, training, and completing their work.
5. Maintain Excellent Communication
Lastly, a tip for hiring remote employees is to maintain excellent communication.
Communication with your remote employees plays a crucial role in establishing trust when they’re working from home.
Communication will look different for every team and will likely evolve over time, but this might involve regular video calls, especially during the first few weeks of their role.
You want your remote employees to know they have your support should they encounter any problems.
That said, considering research has shown that ‘71% [of workers] said micromanagement interfered with their job performance’, you need to be able to delegate without micromanaging their every move.
After all, trust goes both ways.
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Regular communication with your remote employees will help them to feel supported and as a valued member of the team no matter their working location.
How We Can Help
If you’d like help finding the perfect remote employees, Yolk’s recruitment experts can help.
From finding the right remote candidate to our complimentary Post Placement Care package that helps your new hire settle in, our recruitment specialists are here to support you every step of the way.
We provide access to hard-to-reach talent and are invested from day one in finding you the remote employees that not only fit seamlessly into your team, but that will also provide the most value.
Get in touch with a member of our team today at info@yolkrecruitment.com or 02920 220078, and we’ll put you in touch with the most appropriate consultants.