10 ways to make remote hiring a cake walk!

Great talent is not just limited to a certain geographical area—it’s scattered all around the globe.

Fortunately, remote hiring allows recruiters to source talent from every corner of the world without worrying about physical barriers.

The extensive possibilities of remote hiring have been served on a silver platter since the beginning of the pandemic. If you are still struggling to adopt the virtual hiring process, here are 10 ways by which you can do it.

Highlights

• Create clear and tailored job descriptions that outline remote work expectations and required skills.
• Use recruitment software to automate tasks and streamline the hiring process.
• Engage candidates consistently through communication and social recruiting.
• Personalize onboarding to ensure new hires feel supported and integrated from day one.

Decoding the remote hiring process for recruiters

1. Define strong remote characteristics

Whether for an in-office position or a remote one, identifying the ideal candidate is vital for any job listing.

However, job descriptions become more critical for remote hiring because they require specific remote working traits that candidates must possess.

As a rule of thumb, evaluate character traits and abilities instead of focusing on experience. This will help you outline the requirements of a remote position much more effortlessly.

If you’re hiring for a remote position, certain personality traits and skills are more critical now than ever. Through a series of targeted questions, aim to find candidates who are organised, proactive, focused, communicative, independent, yet collaborative.

2. Modify remote job descriptions

Job descriptions are often commonly overlooked and end up being neglected.

But while hiring remotely, this description is what will bring more interested job seekers to you.

When drafting your job description, be sure to specify the nature of the working environment right in the very beginning.

Emphasise your workplace values and culture so that candidates understand what it would be like working remotely with your team. Be sure to mention your expectations, including the required skills and traits.

Include the typical working hours, especially if weekends or travel are required. Be specific but concise.

Remember, if your description is insufficient, you’ll either end up receiving applications from unqualified candidates or very few applications.

On the other hand, if you are too narrow in your approach, you will lose top-quality candidates who feel they don’t fit the exact description.

3. Take advantage of recruitment software

As a remote hiring team, instead of manually handling all administrative tasks, leverage recruitment automation and intelligent recruitment software to do the work for you.

An Applicant Tracking System and Candidate Relationship Management (CRM) software can effectively manage your recruitment tasks by automating the most time-consuming tasks.

Along with this, recruitment software can accelerate the entire process by organising your data and presenting you with the most relevant information, allowing you to make the best hiring decision.

4. Make hiring a collaborative effort

Collaborative hiring is a great way to get your team involved in the hiring process, remote or not.

But with a heavy focus on getting a real deep dive into a candidate’s skills, personality, and experience, it may be worth getting your team involved in the entire process of remote hiring.

Moreover, collaborative hiring efforts will considerably reduce your burden by bifurcating tasks among your team members.

To make collaborative hiring easier, invest in a centralised cloud-based hiring software to easily monitor and track all hiring activities. For instance, Recruit CRM is completely cloud-based and provides visibility to your entire team without relying on long meetings or email exchanges.

5. Don’t miss out on social recruiting

Whether you’re searching for candidates locally, nationally, or globally, you have the advantage of a larger pool of candidates when you hire remotely.

A study by Aberdeen Group revealed that 73% of millennial job seekers found their last job on social media. This says a lot about the importance of social recruiting!

Remote job seekers are already active on career sites and social media searching for remote jobs. Therefore, make sure you leverage social recruiting to your advantage by staying active on sites like LinkedIn and CareerBuilder.

A lot of agency recruiters are leveraging the power of Instagram too. We have prepared a guide for you on how to go about it!

Today, most job seekers are guaranteed to be on social media multiple times a day—especially tech-savvy, millennial, and Gen Z talent. So make sure social recruiting tops your remote hiring strategy.

6. Keep candidates engaged

The most prominent aspect of remote hiring is keeping candidates engaged and maintaining consistent communication.

Disengaged candidates will lose interest and opt for employment opportunities elsewhere.

Consider engaging with remote candidates by doing the following–

• Use social media platforms to keep your remote candidates aware of the recruitment process. Share content related to your work culture, keeping candidates connected
• Share automated reminders and updates regarding candidates’ status
• Give instant feedback

Remember, consistent communication and engagement are the secrets to a stellar candidate experience and employer branding, leading to better prospects in the future.

7. Leverage online assessments to uncover talent

Remote recruiting brings the challenge of effectively assessing candidates without any physical interaction.

Fortunately, digitalization and AI allow recruiters nowadays to administer online assessments or psychometric testing.

When done correctly, online skill assessment tools can significantly raise the probability of hiring top talent as they provide a more objective selection process than other recruiting methods such as interviews.

They also help reduce time as they include pre-determined questions and are automatically evaluated.

To integrate online assessments into your hiring strategy, include a personality questionnaire to effectively pinpoint standout candidates. On the other hand, recruiters can use skill assessment software to identify hard skills.

8. Fine tune the hiring process

Remember that remote hiring requires a different approach than traditional hiring strategies.

As mentioned earlier, remote workers require different traits, including being culturally fit, self-disciplined, collaborative, and having proper communication skills.

Take note that remote job interviews differ from traditional interviews in several ways.

To find success in remote hiring, reconfigure your approach in terms of your teams and new hires.

For example, consider changing your evaluation process by sharing assignments with candidates. As for your hiring team, incorporate consistent communication in the recruitment process to keep all of your team members in the loop.

9. Prioritise remote onboarding

Remote hiring doesn’t stop at the final hiring decision.

Once a candidate has been finalized, do not waste time getting new hires on board. To make sure you don’t lag in onboarding, prepare a structure and remote training material so that you can instantly start onboarding new hires.

A smooth remote onboarding process requires thorough planning.

Start by introducing new hires through a common communication channel or group.

Next, make a checklist for all the tools, accounts, and other information new hires will be presented with on their first day. This can include their email, a walkthrough of communication protocols, etc.

Today, there are online tools and apps that make remote onboarding easier! You could be using a webinar software to host an interactive onboarding webinar for all new recruits.

Here’s a guide on remote onboarding by GitLab that can help you understand the process better.

10. Create a structured process

Prepare a structured remote work schedule so that you and your team can stay productive and engaged.

To avoid creating a chaotic environment in your organization, construct a set of remote recruiting goals around the following elements–

• Keep a unified database for sharing data and relevant information
• Have a common communication channel like Slack, Teams or Zoom
• Plan weekly meetings with the hiring team to understand goals and hindrances. As more organizations transition to secure remote work
  environments, recruiters must also align their hiring processes to ensure data protection, compliance, and smooth collaboration across dispersed teams.

Having a well planned and structured recruitment plan will help you work more efficiently and help deliver better results to candidates, further accelerating the hiring process.

With the rise in remote hiring practices, the competition for the best remote talent will be fierce in the years to come. However, with guidance and preparation, recruiters can kickstart their remote hiring strategies with ease.

Frequently asked questions

1. How do I create an engaging job listing for remote roles?

To create an engaging job listing, focus on highlighting the flexibility and benefits of working remotely. Clearly communicate the skills required, such as self-discipline, communication, and the ability to work independently. 

Be specific about expectations like working hours, collaboration tools, and company culture to give candidates a clear picture of the remote work environment and help them understand what’s expected.

2. How can I prevent remote workers from feeling isolated?

To combat isolation, encourage regular virtual team-building activities, such as virtual coffee breaks or happy hours. 

Foster open communication by providing clear expectations and encouraging regular check-ins with managers. 

Additionally, use collaborative platforms like Slack or Zoom to help remote employees stay connected to their teams and feel part of the company culture, even from afar.

3. What are the key challenges remote recruiters face?

Remote recruiters often struggle to coordinate across time zones, handle communication overload, and manage candidate engagement without face-to-face interaction. 

To overcome these challenges, use scheduling tools that accommodate time zone differences, ensure clear and consistent communication, and provide candidates with regular updates on their application status to keep them engaged and informed.

4. How do I ensure fairness in remote hiring?

To ensure fairness, make use of structured interviews, skill-based assessments, and blind recruitment techniques to reduce bias. 

Use recruitment software to anonymize resumes and focus solely on the candidate’s abilities, experience, and suitability for the role. 

Regularly train your hiring team to recognize and address unconscious bias, ensuring that every candidate has an equal opportunity regardless of background or personal characteristics.

Blog summary

Remote hiring opens access to global talent and enhances diversity. To streamline the process, consider these 10 tips:

• Define strong remote characteristics: Focus on traits like adaptability, communication, and self-discipline rather than just experience.
• Modify job descriptions: Tailor job descriptions to specify remote work expectations, company culture, and required skills.
• Leverage recruitment software: Use recruitment software to automate tasks, organize data, and improve decision-making.
• Make hiring a collaborative effort: Involve your team in the hiring process to share the workload and ensure a holistic view of candidates.
• Don’t miss out on social recruiting: Utilize platforms like LinkedIn and Instagram to reach remote job seekers and increase candidate engagement.
• Keep candidates engaged: Maintain regular communication via social media, reminders, and updates to keep them interested.
• Leverage online assessments: Use digital tools to objectively evaluate candidates’ skills and reduce bias.
• Fine-tune the hiring process: Adjust it to support remote work, ensuring consistency in interviews and communication.
• Prioritize remote onboarding: Create a structured, personalized onboarding process to help new hires settle in quickly and feel supported.
• Create a structured process: Plan a clear remote hiring schedule with communication channels, weekly meetings, and a centralized database for seamless collaboration.