In recent years, many US businesses have taken a shine to virtual staffing. Virtual employees help organizations reduce operational costs and obtain greater operational efficiency as well as productivity. With digitization on the rise, remote work has become the new normal. While offices are adapting to the new normal in many aspects, there’s one area that needs updating – hiring. Here are some strategies that professionals in human resources departments can implement for talent acquisition processes in this era of virtual working.
Challenges of Virtual Hiring
Traditional methods of talent acquisition focus on in-person interviews usually conducted onsite and skill-testing on secure devices or intranet systems. These methods require the physical presence of candidates and meeting a prospective employee in person for screening purposes. However, when using virtual remote job interviews, it’s not feasible to perform onsite skill testing or truly get a feel for a potential employee. Does this mean that talent acquisition screening processes are compromised? Absolutely not! You just need a shift in mindset and implement some innovative strategies.
Create Accurate Job Descriptions
There are many remote-friendly tools and strategies available to screen and hire competent virtual employees. As a first step, employers should clearly state that the job on offer is a virtual job and comes with workplace flexibility. A majority of the workforce is currently seeking WHF option as a career benefit, and you could lose out on the best talent if you don’t communicate your current and future remote work policy. The job description you provide plays a crucial role in motivating candidates to apply, so try to be as honest and specific as you can.
Consider Outsourcing for Various Economies
Hiring virtual employees means that you have the freedom to recruit from any part of the country – or even the world. Now may be the right time to partner with an outsourcing company in India. Outsourcing service providers in India have access to a massive, diverse talent tool and can cater to a wide variety of staffing requirements. They offer several benefits such as services of well-trained professionals, lower labor costs, and quick turnaround times due to time difference, to name a few. India has a large section of English-speaking professionals and the IT infrastructure to deliver top-notch solutions.
Make Relevance a Priority in Early Stages
If you’re new to the world of hiring for virtual jobs, you’re likely to be overwhelmed by the vast number of applications for these jobs. A good strategy is to create a relevancy filter in the early stages of the talent acquisition process so that you have a balance between quality and quantity. Online skill testing, asking targeted questions, and using AI screening tools can help you identify candidates with relevant skills and applicable experience in the initial stage. You may then continue with more advanced steps of the hiring process. This strategy will help you narrow your search to a manageable number of candidates.
Evaluate a Candidate’s Soft Skills Proficiency
When you’re looking to hire a virtual employee, keep in mind that soft skills are as important as technical skills for successful remote work. Skills such as discipline, communication skills, critical thinking skills, decision-making skills, self-motivation, and empathy, which are indicators of emotional intelligence, are as crucial for successful outcomes as technical skills. Interviewers should consider adjusting interview questions and skills tests to evaluate a candidate’s proficiency in these areas as well as in the area of technical expertise.
Replicate Remote Working Conditions During Screening
Interviewers would be wise to replicate remote working conditions during online interviews for virtual jobs. This will give interviewers an idea of what to expect from a virtual employee on a typical working day. You may conduct the interview via chat or a video call to see if the candidate has mastery over online communication. Online chats, video calls, and virtual meeting platforms are the commonly used solutions for remote communications daily, and any remote employee you are considering hiring must know to use these solutions for maximum remote working efficiency.
Create an Engaging Virtual Onboarding Process
Once you hire competent remote employees for virtual remote jobs, the next challenge is to conduct a successful onboarding experience. The onboarding process is vital for introducing company culture, fostering team relationships, building brand loyalty, and preventing feelings of isolation. But how do you have an onboarding process when employees are working at different places? The trick is to focus on the employee experience from a remote site. Think about the challenges and issues a virtual employee is likely to encounter and can design suitable virtual onboarding activities that enhance training and make new hires feel like they’re part of a team.
Virtual remote jobs are here to stay – at least for the near future. Follow the strategies mentioned above for a viable, productive, and profitable virtual hiring process!
DepositPhotos – remote working
