10 Remote Recruiting Tips for Hiring the Right Talent Virtually Anywhere
September 25, 2020
The shift to remote work due to COVID-19 had led to a rise in remote recruiting. Employers are now navigating an unfamiliar world of video interviewing, virtual onboarding, and making job offers without ever meeting applicants face-to-face.
While many best practices for traditional, “in-person” recruiting apply to remote recruiting, companies small and large are reimagining their processes and finding creative ways to hire qualified talent. If you’re struggling to figure out how to recruit remotely – without compromising candidate quality – consider these 10 remote recruiting tips from business leaders who are finding great candidates while working (virtually) anywhere.
1. Follow a hiring framework.
“Start by implementing a framework for how you hire. There must be a repeatable process in place for how you interview, grade, and select candidates. Have a sheet that details exactly the skills, outcomes, and goals for the position prior to conducting interviews. This way, you can decide if a candidate is the right fit by systematically grading their responses against what you need for the position.” – Matt Bigach, CEO, Nexus Homebuyers
2. Build a strong employer brand.
“You must have a strong employer brand before you begin hiring remotely. This is because remote candidates are relying on web searches and online resources to learn everything about your company. You should optimize your website and social media pages with lots of information about your company culture, benefits, mission, and more. Also, include employee testimonials, add videos from a team offsite, and dive into the values that make your company unique.” – Natik Ameen, Marketing Expert, Canz Marketing
3. Use video whenever possible.
“Video is a great way to get to know a candidate and learn more about their mannerisms. If you're going to use video calls, make sure that the candidate knows ahead of time that they will need to be camera-ready. Give your candidates a warning so they can prepare accordingly and find somewhere quiet where they can have the meeting uninterrupted.” – Ian Sells, Founder & CEO, RebateKey
4. Give candidates a skills test specific to their position.
“A skills test is a simulation for assessing a candidate's ability to do a specific job. Even if the interviewer hasn't met the candidate, they can know if the candidate can perform or has the potential for the job they are applying for.” – Paul Lewis, CEO & Founder, Scrum Explainer
5. Consider having applicants complete an assignment before interviewing.
“I like sending all candidates a short assignment to complete before the interview. This way, I can see how people are thinking and whether their solutions are creative and innovative. Those who succeed in this task get called for a video interview during which I like to discuss the assignment. It’s quite easy to see if a person truly did the assignment alone and what the thought process looked like.” – Malte Scholz, CEO and Co-Founder, Airfocus
Create Your Account Today
6. Ask behavioral interview questions.
“When hiring remotely, it is important to keep in mind that remote candidates need to have different competencies and attributes than office-based workers. To find out if a candidate is a good fit, ask the right behavioral questions. For example, ask about a time when they worked independently and a scenario that required them to apply superior organizational and communication skills. Ask them to provide examples of motivation and productivity. Their responses will tell you a lot about the candidate’s ability to be a valuable team member while working remotely.” – Darrell Rosenstein, Founder, The Rosenstein Group
7. Throw a curveball or two (but be careful not to impact the candidate experience).
“One thing we like to do in our remote hiring process is to incorporate a few distractions or some disorder while conducting remote interviews. A reality of remote working is that distractions and disorder will come up while you’re trying to work. By introducing unexpected occurrences into the remote interview, we get a chance to see how the applicant handles themselves and use that as an indicator of how they will respond when something comes up after we hire them.” – Chris Waltenbaugh, Payment Processing Expert, Payment Depot
8. Record interviews and share them with your team.
“Getting input from your expanded team on potential hires is critical, but scheduling can often be a nightmare. A great way to solve this is to record your video interviews, with the candidate's permission, and share those recordings with anyone that you want to get input from. This can be a great way to both bring the rest of the team into the process and get a lot of feedback without taking up too much time.” – Adam Sanders, Director, Successfulrelease.com
9. Supplement interviews with DISC assessments.
“This exceptional tool will remove the boundaries of the remote recruitment process. DISC personality tests have been consistently helping us to find rock star employees in the digital space. Its comprehensive and precise approach will determine the behavioral patterns of the candidates, thus helping you to identify their strengths, personalities, and skillsets that you need in your team and your company.” – Karl Armstrong, Founder, EpicWin App
10. Don’t draw out the process.
“Communicate with candidates during the entire process to keep them engaged and try to give a final reply within a few weeks. Often, the hiring process can drag on, but with so many people looking for work, they are likely applying to dozens of jobs. Don’t miss out on a good candidate because you took too long to make a decision.” – Kimberly Porter, CEO, Microcredit Summit
Looking to hire remote or hybrid employees? Find the right candidates faster by using iHire's unique recruiting tools and features to inform job seekers about your workplace flexibility.