It doesn’t come as a surprise that remote recruitment is the new fashion.
Recruitment rules are being rewritten, and the businesses need to adapt to the new normal. Earlier, companies occasionally used technologies during interviews, but now it’s a must in most cases. Although it posed some challenges at the outset, now, the employers have embraced remote recruiting and leave no stone unturned to attract the top talent.
Besides, virtual hiring allows a more extensive outreach to the candidates on the job market. It also speeds on all the processes, which is critical considering the increased competition among companies for skilled candidates.
You’re more likely to ensure an engaging and time-effective hiring process and save costs when you decide to recruit remotely. So, let’s take a closer look at the topic and see how it can boost your business and help it stay competitive.
What is Remote Recruiting?
Remote recruitment means that the company or its recruiting partner sources, pre-screens, interviews, and onboarding new employees. Everything’s done remotely, using various software, tools, and strategies. These often include Zoom, Hangouts, or Skype for face-to-face communication, e-signature programs for new employee paperwork, and Slack and Trello for on-site coordination.
Apart from standard remote recruitment tools, the specialists introduce niche software. These can include the following:
- online assessments that evaluate personality, cognitive ability, and values to choose top performers quickly
- background checkers that reduce hiring risks
- single sign-on tools for seamless integrations
- onboarding tech that makes it easier for the newbies to understand the organization’s culture and values.
Remote recruiting opportunities seem to be endless. You can hire employees in areas with a lower cost of living, which means paying less yet receiving high-quality services. Additionally, you can reduce overhead costs, save workers’ time, and increase employee productivity. This sounds compelling, right?
Usually, a remote recruiting coordinator is the one who handles all the mentioned processes, so it’s time to explain this specialist’s role.
The Role of a Remote Recruiting Coordinator in The Company
Setting up an HR department is expensive, especially if you are a startup or SMB owner. Now, as the world went remote, there’s no need for it because you can find recruiters for remote jobs and outsource all the hiring tasks to them.
A remote recruiting coordinator’s works from home and helps the company manage its HR needs. The specialist leverages virtual office software to contact managers and gather the requirements for an ideal candidate. They also post job descriptions on career websites and handle advertising outlets to attract candidates.
A recruiting coordinator’s remote work also implies sourcing candidates, looking through resumes and selecting suitable applicants, helping to create test tasks, keeping HR managers in the loop by providing candidate shortlists, and virtually training the members of HR staff.
HR Bit would be glad to become your remote recruiting coordinator because our specialists have impeccable communication, interpersonal, and interviewing skills. They have considerable experience in the remote recruitment industry and know all the pitfalls and ways of dealing with them. With us, you can attract the world’s best talent, retain it, produce competitive products, and stay on top of the competitors.
HR Bit will ensure headache-free remote recruiting and help you save time and money while making your business skyrocket.
What Do the Stats Tell About Recruiting Remote Workers?
Although recruiting remote workers differs from in-house interviews, it offers a bunch of opportunities both for employers and candidates. Since the pandemic’s start, many people have embraced work from home and changed their opinions about the way they do their jobs.
So, we’ve gathered some data to show you what both sides of the interviewing process think about remote work and recruitment:
- 97.6% of people mentioned they prefer working remotely, at least some of the time, for the rest of their career, as suggested by Buffer
- 75% of remote employees say they’re maintained and improved their productivity during the pandemic, according to BCG
- 80% of the respondents say they would be more loyal if their employer offered flexible work
- 74% of employees mention that if they have the option to work remotely, they’re less likely to quit
- 85% of managers believe that remote teams will become the new norm
- 63% of HR managers use or have used a video interviewing recently
- 74% of recruiters mention that video interviews have made it easier or them to interview and shortlist candidates
As you can see, many employees opt for a WFH option over in-house, which, in its turn, implies that the companies would recruit remotely as well. The employees don’t want to work in fancy offices with PlayStations and tennis tables; they want flexibility.
If you thoroughly organize the virtual recruitment process, the candidates will be more likely to accept the offer. This is your first touchpoint with potential employees, and if you nail it, you’ll get a skilled professional for the team.
How to Recruit Remote Employees?
Recruiting remote workers isn’t just about looking for the right job skills. It’s about finding a person who fits the remote working environment. A simple “we’re hiring remote” announcement won’t work if there aren’t enough details. Besides, you wouldn’t want to receive endless CVs from candidates who don’t fit the vacancy or treat remote work as the opportunity to get paid for doing nothing, would you?
So, let’s see how to recruit remotely and get the right people for your team:
Specify what You Mean by Remote Work
Although it’s obvious advice, some candidates still don’t know what remote work actually means. But, sometimes, employers offer remote work but don’t mention they offer working 2 days from home and 3 days from the office. Different interpretations of remote work cause misunderstandings and hinder remote recruitment.
So, when posting a job ad, specify if you mean 100% remote work, it’s a hybrid type, or the days when employees can work from home are limited. In this way, you’ll save both your and candidates’ time and eliminate confusion.
Decide on the Qualities and Skills the Candidate Should Have
Although most people would love to work from home, not all have the right combination of skills to do so. That’s why you need to come up with skills and qualities that will ensure a worker’s success in the role. These characteristics will also facilitate the tech recruitment process because you could screen the candidates right away.
Usually, a person with skills that fit remote work is well-organized, trustworthy, and reliable. They have to be motivated and driven to hold themselves accountable. Also, remote employees should be tech-savvy because they usually have to set up and run a home office themselves.
Being able to concisely and timely communicate both in writing and verbal forms is a must.
Evaluate the Candidates’ Behaviors
In remote recruiting, each touchpoint with the candidate is significant. So, pay attention to the job applicant’s reactions from the initial communication with them. For example, consider how much time they take to respond to calls and emails, define if they communicate clearly and effectively in messages and over the phone, and pay attention to how they use the technology.
The mentioned behaviors will help you define the skills and qualities we discussed above.
Ensure an Exceptional Remote Interview Experience
When you recruit remotely, it’s essential to make sure the candidates feel relaxed and create a welcoming atmosphere. Start the conversation with simple questions, and don’t forget to smile. If the applicants feel calm and comfortable, they’re more likely to open up, giving you the chance to spot real talents.
Ask the Right Questions
Usually, recruiters for remote jobs try to stick to the plan and don’t ask random questions for the sake of making the interview seem more professional. They use the mentioned list of characteristics and ask questions based on it.
For example, they ask candidates about what they’d do in certain situations to evaluate their organizational and self-direction abilities. Recruiters ask to give examples of when the applicants were responsible for the projects to see how they manage their time, cooperate with others, and work independently.
Such questions help to gig deeper and come to the final decision faster.
Make an Offer to the Right Candidate
Once the major remote recruiting stages are completed, it’s time to choose a person who will add value to your team.
You can analyze notes you or the recruiter took during the interviews, implement a scoring system, and compare the skills and capabilities of each applicant. If you have a clear winner — it’s time to hire this person!
Time-Tested Virtual Recruitment Strategies
When you recruit remotely, you need to have a plan and plan “b” as well. Communicating with people online is tricky, and unexpected technical issues might make it even more complicated.
So, we have a couple of virtual recruitment strategies for you. Our remote recruiters for hire have been using them for several years and can confirm their effectiveness. When recruiting remote workers, keep an eye on the following advice:
Host Virtual Job Fairs
One of the remote recruitment secrets to yield high-volume recruiter-candidate interaction is attending or hosting virtual career fairs. These are online information sessions you can host yourself or with partners. The candidates join the call, listen to information about the companies and available positions, and participate in a Q&A session to chat with attendees.
This helps to reach a bigger audience because it’s easier for the candidates to join online events than offline. Also, such fairs drive the employer brand by proving that the company is flexible and creative, leveraging tech to ensure safe interactions between the participants.
Start with Phone Interviews
An initial phone screen with the candidate is critical in the remote recruiting process. It helps to get to know them better, see how they react in certain situations, and evaluate candidates’ adaptability. In this way, you’ll understand better if the position is a good fit for what the person is looking for.
Master Video Interviewing Skills
Two-way and interactive communication is key to having a successful interview. Make sure the candidate feels comfortable and not detached, engage them through the process by asking questions and offering to share their opinions. This also helps to boost your employer brand.
Scaffold the interview beforehand by deciding how many topics you want to discuss and how much time you want to allocate to each of them. Don’t overload the candidates with too many questions because it will take too much time and make the interview less efficient. Remember that recruiters usually ask 5–10 questions during an average interview.
Tell prospective employees of your company about key organization members and point out recent successes your business achieved. Communicate your company’s corporate culture in explicit and implicit ways.
Provide Information on what the Candidate Can Expect Next
When you recruit remotely, you should keep the candidates in the loop. So, at the end of each virtual interview, don’t forget to let the candidate know when the company plans to make the final decision, how you will inform them about it, and whether you require additional information from the person for consideration.
Around 52% of job seekers are “extremely likely” to move forward in the interview process if they get feedback from the recruiter within 48 hours, so don’t miss the chance to leverage this advantage.
Prepare for Virtual Onboarding
One of the most liked yet challenging remote recruiting opportunities is virtual onboarding. It helps to engage the candidate from day one, but you need to put considerable effort into creating an outcome-driven onboarding.
Make sure to check in on the newbie before their start date to gather the basics and complete the documentation. This can be a video check-in or a detailed email about their first day. Sending a welcome package makes the new hires feel like part of the team.
Building relationships from the first day will help you understand the newbies better to help them adapt and deliver excellent results at the outset. Set clear expectations and introduce an employee to the team, offering them to interact online.
Although virtual onboarding is a lengthy process, it can be enjoyable if you have a clear plan and give new hires enough time to adapt.
Top 3 Remote Recruiting Tips from HR Bit
Since our HR experts have been in the industry for 15+ years, they have faced all the imaginable and unimaginable challenges that honed their skills. Now they know all the nitty-gritty of virtual recruitment and skillfully operate their knowledge to tackle our clients’ HR issues.
So, our experts decided to share some remote recruiting tips to help you streamline the processes. These include:
1. Build a virtual recruiting technology stack
One of the simple yet effective virtual recruiting tips is determining the tools that will help you facilitate the recruitment process. Although email and video conferencing software might seem sufficient, there’s always room for improvement. For example, having an applicant tracking system, skills testing tools, or candidate screening software can greatly improve your remote hiring outcomes.
2. Set expectations and communicate effectively
When it comes to recruiting remote workers, you can set them up for success by providing as much information as possible. For example, inform them about any specific tools involved in the hiring process, tell them about the timelines, and mention the next steps.
Often, remote recruiting coordinators use automated candidate messaging tools to ensure good communication. Also, you can implement a chatbot that will answer frequently answered questions not to put an extra burden on recruiters.
3. Gather feedback on the candidate experience
One of the virtual recruiting tips that is often overlooked is asking both successful and unsuccessful candidates their opinions about the virtual recruitment process. They can reveal many areas for improvement you might have never noticed.
These might be communicating too much or not enough, a badly written job description, or a lengthy online application process. A fresh perspective on the usual processes will help you eliminate the issues and deliver a better employee experience.
What are the Best Remote Recruiting Companies?
Finding reliable remote recruitment is critical because this professional plays a significant role in your company’s success. Many firms offer their services in this area, but not all of them meet customers’ needs.
This list includes some of the best remote recruiting companies you can reach out to without worrying about the quality of their services:
HR Bit
Being a top-rated HR outsourcing and remote recruitment company, HR Bit delivers outstanding services to its customers and helps them elevate their human resources. The company offers designing recruiting strategy, sourcing and attracting candidates, conducting interviews, and filtering candidates, among other services. Its specialists have 15+ years of experience and empower startups, small and medium-sized businesses to deliver comprehensive HR to employees without the overhead expenses.
Kelly
This remote recruiting organization specializes in connecting employees from different industries with companies looking for specific specialists. Kelly worked with several Fortune 500 companies from various industries and is one of the pioneers in the workforce solutions area.
Robert Half International
Robert Half International is a remote recruiting coordinator specializing in accounting and finance, technology, legal, creative, marketing, and administration industries. Its team includes such specialists as recruiting coordinator, human resources recruiter, and technical recruiter.
Planet Professional
This remote recruiting company’s main areas of focus are finance, human resources, and administrative talent. Its team includes a recruiting coordinator, senior HR business partner, and HR Recruiter, among other specialists its clients can cooperate with.
Looking for a Remote Recruitment Partner? HR Bit is at Your Service
Recruiting remote workers takes time and money, loading business owners with too many tasks and making their schedules even more overloaded. How much time do you spend on tasks that aren’t your core responsibilities? Isn’t it better to handle top-priority tasks instead of being scattered across too many jobs?
HR Bit will get your HR tasks and remote recruiting fully covered. We’ll take care of your remote workers, solve work-from-home struggles, and improve performance.
Reach out to us to spend less time on HR and focus on things that drive your business instead.
