Interviews, Training, and Beyond: Must Have’s for Remote Hiring

From drone delivery to tapping on apps to get food delivered, the dynamics of life have changed. And when COVID-19 hit, these dynamics changed further. The way we work changed, how we work changed, and, obviously, how we hire changed to remote hiring as well.  

To ensure business continuity, changing strategies and processes to hire remotely has proven to be a smart step for long-term growth. The remote hiring process also opens a window of opportunity for companies to hire swiftly and bring talent from any corner of the world onboard.  

A number of things go into remote hiring remotely, the HR has to assess, communicate, and interview virtually. But to make this kind of change quickly is challenging, especially when you are clueless about how to get resources to recruit virtually.

So, let us take a look at the essentials of virtual hiring:  

• The Basics: Apart from the basic resources such as a good internet connection, a good assessment, and an efficient tool to interview online, the most important thing is the skills.
  
  According to a study conducted by Cornell University’s Centre for Advanced Human Resources Studies on fortune 500 companies, the important traits of the best remote working professionals are self-motivation and self-discipline, effective communication, results-oriented behavior, resourcefulness, and efficiency in tech.  
   
  Checking these traits is an essential step while looking at the CVs of candidates. Their performance in academics or work experience may not provide clear insights but can surely tell if they have the basic traits or not. There are ways to do so. 
  
  Check how the applicant writes, whether it is articulated and thoughtful. Do they understand the goals and culture of the company and how they have aligned their goals with them? Candidates who know what else they need from a job and demonstrate that they understand what the employer wants are likely to take more responsibility for their work. 
  
• Needs of Candidates: The best employees are the ones who know how to maintain a work-life balance. Search for candidates who want to work better and get better at what they do. Understanding the needs of candidates is another important thing to do if you want to hire the best talent virtually.   
  Ask the candidates about their expectations from your company and the job, and what are their future goals. Check if these two things match with each other to know who is the best-suited candidate for your company. 
• The Assessment and Interview: Make sure you promptly engage all the candidates in the recruitment process so that you do not miss out on the good due to technical or non-technical issues.   
  An efficient assessment is a great way to let the candidate know how challenging and serious the job is. Use any good online skill assessment tool such as iMocha to ensure candidates have the skills required to perform the role you’re hiring for. These tools not only help in assessing tech skills but also assess certain soft skills such as communication skills, critical-thinking, decision-making, etc.   
  Moreover, online skills assessment tools help you in tapping into a more diverse pool. Since the candidates would be able to appear for the test from any part of the world, some restrictions such as location and availability won’t be a problem anymore. 
  
  
• Restructuring Recruitment Strategy: Traditional methods of conducting interviews would not work in today’s world of remote hiring. Hence, it is important to modify your recruitment strategy to suit the new needs.  
  For example, communication and presentation skills are something that used to be tested during in-person interviews in the pre-COVID world. But since we can’t do that now, it’d be significantly easier to test them beforehand. You can use the same online skills assessment platform to do this. 
  This will leave you to do very little during the online interview, and shorten the duration of the interview significantly.  

• Highlight Training Programs: The training is also an important part of onboarding. Often, candidates are also attracted to the learning opportunities that the organization provides.
   Make a video tutorial program to introduce basic training about the work and the company before joining. Moreover, conduct advanced skills training programs according to their needs and showcase it when you post about a job vacancy.  

Lastly, notice your candidate carefully and be vigilant throughout your remote hiring interview process. Do not look at the correctness of their answers but the way they respond throughout. This is what will help you understand the way they will work for your organization.