The COVID-19 pandemic has changed so many aspects of both personal and professional life, and one of the biggest shifts we’ve seen in the working world is the move out of the office and into remote working environments.
Statistics show that more people are working from home than ever before, and there are clear pros and cons to this change. On the one hand, it allows for more flexibility for employees. On the other hand, it can make many parts of running a business more inconvenient, such as the hiring process.
Typically, when you want to bring new talent on board, you’ll want to actually meet up with them in person for face-to-face interviews, training, introductions, and so on. Hiring someone without even seeing them in a physical environment can feel like quite a challenge.
Fortunately, there are ways around this, and there are various steps you can follow to improve your remote hiring strategy. This guide will cover some of the basics, along with a few more advanced options to bring top talent into your business at a distance.
Be prepared for remote interviews
When it comes to vetting new hires remotely, you won’t be able to rely on the usual face-to-face interview process, but you can still enjoy the next best thing in the form of video interviews on platforms like Zoom and Skype. These services make it easy to carry out interviews in much the same way as you would in reality, with real-time video messaging and direct communication.
However, you need to make sure you’re prepared for the process. If you don’t have much experience with a platform like Zoom, for example, you’ll need to test it out beforehand and ensure that the microphone and camera on your connected device are of adequate quality to avoid any interference or inconvenience. Prepare properly, giving your hiring team the tools they need to conduct the best interviews and give an ideal first impression for talented recruits.
Don’t overlook the aesthetics
If you want to bring in top talent, you have to be able to wow them right from the first moment. Candidates can make snap decisions quite quickly within the first minutes of meeting a potential employer and learning about a business that might want to hire them, so you can’t overlook the importance of aesthetics when it comes to your interviews and video discussions.
While some people working from home have chosen to embrace the ‘comfort’ aspect of the experience, wearing sweatpants each day and carrying out Zoom calls from the kitchen, employers need to be more professional when interacting with potential hires. Consider setting up an attractive teleconference background and make sure that the interviewer dresses smartly for the occasion.
Focus on the candidate experience
In the past, the main focus of interviews was centered around the interviewee trying to impress the interviewer, and while this still can be the case, there’s been a shift over the years towards a different kind of dynamic: one in which the interviewer actually needs to be more focused on impressing and catering to the needs of the interviewee.
This is even more relevant in today’s world of remote work. The remote hiring process is a new prospect to many, and it can be stressful and daunting, especially when coupled with the stresses that many people are experiencing in the modern world. You need to therefore make sure that the hiring process is tailored towards providing comfort and consideration to candidates, showing empathy, communicating well, listening to and answering questions thoughtfully, maintaining eye contact, and so on.
Make engaging job ads
Before you get to video interviews and interactions with your prospective hires, you actually need to get them engaged with your company in the first place, and the best way to do this is to write attractive, appealing eye-catching job descriptions. This is always important, but in the age of remote work, it’s even more vital, as candidates will have more free time at home to scour the many different job platforms and look for the job ads that interest them the most.
Your job ads need to be informative, covering the roles and duties of the position, as well as expectations of the applicant’s experience and qualifications, but they also need to be interesting to read. You might even consider going one step further and creating video ads, with statistics showing that job postings with video get viewed and engaged at a higher rate than those without.
Final word
Remote hiring may seem like a challenge, but with the right approach, it’s one you can overcome and even use to your advantage. Follow these tips to bring the best people on board remotely.