5 Keys to Hiring Talented Remote Workers

Remote hiring: Most people either love it or hate it! From an employer’s perspective, remote hiring is a task that contains unique challenges. Without being able to rely on gut instinct that comes from face-to-face interviews, a hiring manager is missing some key information about a candidate. Plus, what makes a great remote employee isn’t necessarily the same as what makes a fantastic in-office hire.

Your remote employees are just as important as your in-office hires, so you want to make sure you hire right the first time. Fortunately, there are some best practices when it comes to the process. Consider this your cheat sheet to hire better—even if you may never have an in-person meet with your new onboard!

This is obvious, right? However, with so many job boards, social media options, word of mouth recommendations, and more data coming your way, it can be really difficult to narrow down the best platforms to search for employees.

For example, Alexey Semeney, CEO of DevTeamSpace, takes a different approach for hiring remote developers. “Instead of skimming through tons of candidates on standard marketplaces, we decided to create a super-tight vetted network of some of the best dev teams in the world,” he explains. “So when clients come to us, we know that we can offer them to work with any of our dev teams because each person has 4 to 10 years of software development experience and is supported by a project manager.”

Consider past experiences but don’t be afraid to experiment. Ask colleagues in similar industries where they’ve had luck or—even better—ask your current employees for recommendations!

There are certainly benefits to having an in-house hiring manager, but unless that person’s sole job is HR, you’re forcing multitasking when you really shouldn’t. If you don’t have an HR team, outsource it ! There are many very reputable options so you can delegate a portion or all of the hiring duties to an expert. If you go with a la carte options, you will still have the final say, whether it’s to approve the last candidate standing or take over once the pool gets narrowed.

Okay, that’s easier said than done. We all have a lot of biases that are deeply seated after years of having them ingrained. However,  confirmation bias is something that’s a little easier to work on–it’s our brain’s way of taking a shortcut because we innately love to prove ourselves right!

This goes for “knowing” where you left your phone based on past experiences to “having a feeling” that you’re hiring right. If you don’t keep an eye on your confirmation bias, your decision-making skills can become very disturbed and will require actively looking for contradictory evidence to overcome.

You’re going to have a lot more back and forth emails, perhaps texting and instant messaging, and phone/video calls when hiring remote candidates. The way they email or talk on the phone with you during the interview process will give you a world of insight into how well they communicate.

Knowing how to write a professional email, which includes proper spelling and grammar, sign-offs, and crafting subject lines, are all important because written content is by far the most common type of communication in the digital era. If they can’t pull together a solid email to you, the person hiring them, then how do you think they’ll represent your company when emailing a client?

Asking for references is only half the battle. Make sure you finish the war! The best way to know the quality of any job candidate is to actually follow up with their references. Look at third-party review sites and testimonials, too (if applicable). It’s important for any candidate, but a necessity for remote candidates.

Hiring is never easy and you want to find the right fit, especially if the job isn’t an at-will position. Follow these best practices and you’ll drastically increase your odds of snagging a great candidate.

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