Remote work is no more just a trend for many companies and employees all around the world. Thanks to the crazy advancements in technology, this is slowly becoming more and more a reality and future of work.
A lot of talented and dependable workers prefer remote working for reasons like saving time and earning more money. Hiring remote workers is also good for startups for many reasons like lowering office expenses, access to better talents, and saving commute time. And although many businesses are still indecisive about hiring remote employees, a lot of big names are already doing this.
Companies such as Amazon, Dell, and Apple have remote work positions that let some of their staff work at the comfort of their homes without making them feel like they’re missing out on anything in the office. Not just in tech, businesses in other fields like STEM and creative industries who want to gain a competitive advantage are eager to hire remote workers.
Are you looking for top remote talents? How can you ensure a smooth hiring process? Here are tips to help you find and hire the best remote workers for your startup.
Use multiple interview methods
Hiring and interviewing remote workers don’t differ much from the traditional office interview. However, you have to keep in mind that remote talents work differently from your regular employees. When performing job interviews for a remote role, it’s not enough to simply know your ideal candidate’s skills, experience, and knowledge. You also have to take into account important factors that will determine their work style like their levels of commitment, availability, and collaboration skills.
- Phone interviews can help you determine the candidate’s verbal ability.
- Video & behavioral interviews can help determine the candidate’s personality & cultural fit.
- Q&A Exchanges can help you gather more information after the initial interview.
Examples of questions to ask remote workers:
- What’s your remote work experience?
- How’s your home office setup?
- What project management tools have you used before?
- What kind of issues have you experienced when working remotely?
- How do you manage tight deadlines?
Look in the right places
Remote working allows companies to find and attract top talent from all over the world. With remote working, they can get the highest quality of candidates from Asia to Europe – with no location limits. Are you looking to assemble your first remote team? Here are the best places to start your search:
- Angellist Jobs
- WeworkRemotely
- FlexJob
- Upwork
- Virtual Vocations
- Outsourced
- GURU
- Working Nomads
- ProBlogger Job Board
- Jobspresso
- Indeed
- Authentic Jobs
- Dribble
- Freelancer.com
These websites have remote specific workers with the skills and passion you need for your company. They are basically remote work job boards for interested self-employed individuals.
Look for these specific traits.
Remote working is slowly becoming the drive of the modern workforce as many companies are now embracing telecommuting. However, handling workers can be a bit of challenge if you have no prior experience doing it before. To make the process easier, you can hire someone to do it for you or simply screen your candidates and look for these specific characteristics.
- Result-oriented. These workers are often the easiest to work with. Since you probably don’t have the time to manage all your remote workers, you have to find someone reliable and focused on getting the job done.
- Motivated. Work with someone who loves their job and what they do. These people often produce the best results.
- Punctual and responsive. Nobody wants to work with a slacker. Treasure workers who are good at meeting deadlines.
- Problem solver. Hire workers that are smart problem solvers. They contribute a lot to the team and help you accomplish more for your business.
Give them reasons to work with you.
Establish yourself as a legitimate company that talents will want to work and get associated with. You can do this by linking your website, social media pages, or the names of your founders and owners in your job posting.
Make sure you’re also highlighting your company’s best benefits and policies. For example, Chargify promotes work-life balance by giving their remote workers 4 weeks of paid annual vacations. Companies such as IBM and Humana, offer health insurance to their remote workers. While DigitalOcean supports remote-inclusive programs to help remote employees get together in person and enjoy sponsored team travels.
With the gig-economy helping a lot of small businesses succeed, it’s just right that employers look out for their remote workers by increasing flexibility and benefits.
Need more ideas? Here’s a list of some great perks for your remote employees.
- Internet or Phone reimbursement
- Paid travel to headquarters
- In-person team retreats
- Flexible work schedule
- Health and wellness benefits
- Home office upgrades
- Unpaid time off
- Productivity tools
Consider a freelance contract first
Get to know your potential candidates. Some are really good at writing resumes, some are good in the interview process, but only a few are actually good at their jobs. To avoid hiring bad and suffering the consequences later, consider a freelance contract first. If you’re unsure of the candidate, a temporary freelance contract can give you a safer and risk-free hiring option. It can help you determine how reliable they are and how they’re able to communicate.
With a freelance contract, you can give your candidates the opportunity to show their skills by paying them to work for a day or week for you. You can also gauge their communication skills. Once you have a concrete idea of how they work, you can now better decide if they’re the right fit for your company.
Final Thoughts
Remote work doesn’t always work for everyone. In order to find the best talent, you have to look past their listed skills and experience. Workers who have a demonstrable skill and success working in the past are usually the best people to hire. Hiring wrong will cost you more in the long run, so invest time and effort in finding the perfect team today. With a good team, a solid strategy, and an unwavering passion for your business, nothing can stop you from achieving success.
