Hire Remote Talent Quickly with These Tips!

19 Oct Hire Remote Talent Quickly with These Tips!

This year’s challenges have certainly made some aspects of doing business more complicated than normal. Instead of being able to bring people in for interviews, everything is done remotely. Keeping up with customers is now a matter of video chats and phone calls instead of meetings and conversations over coffee or meals.

Working remotely has some opportunities as well: No longer are your applicants limited to a specific geographic area. If working from home is part of your current model and your future expectations, it’s time to embrace some tactics for finding and hiring excellent talent quickly.

Here’s some advice on how to hire remote talent on a short timeline:

1. Define the position clearly.

Be as specific as possible in the job posting in order to only attract people who meet the expectations and job requirements. This will save time and money when it comes to reviewing resumes, as many people will opt-out after determining they don’t have what you’re looking for or that the position might not be for them.

2. Create a screening checklist.

Identify the most important qualities and skills a job candidate must or should have for the open position. Write them out in a list, then stick to it. Determine early whether someone needs to hit every target or a majority of them before being considered for an interview. Prioritize which items on the list are the most important and which are just nice things to have. If someone doesn’t hit enough of the targets that have been identified, their resume goes into the dismissal pile. You’ll be left with a stronger, but more shallow, pool of candidates, which will save time and money in the long run.

3. Look for proficiency and response rate.

If your new hire will be working remotely 100%, you want someone who will get back to you promptly when you send a message about the position. If it’s an hour or more between correspondence, that might not be a great sign. Also, does the person also take too long to get to the point in an email or seem to need more than the “normal” amount of direction? Might be better to pass than pursue.

4. Have targeted questions ready for the interview.

Prepare a list of questions that get to the heart of what you’re looking for in an ideal candidate for this position. What are the most important qualities? What are the key tasks? Write questions that will help determine whether the interviewee can do the job well, with minimal coaching or training, and will get up to speed and become a productive member of your team quickly.

5. Consider a test assignment.

It’s hard to know for sure whether a candidate will meet your expectations through the course of an interview. When you have a small list of names remaining, give them a work sample to see how they’d handle it. Give all the candidates the same assignment, with the same parameters, and see how they do. It’s inevitable someone will separate themselves from the group in terms of completing the task to your satisfaction.

When you’re hiring someone for a remote position, you’ve got a bigger, deeper pool in which to search. That brings with it a great opportunity for finding exactly the kind of talent you’re looking for — you just have to move quickly to find them before they get picked up by another company.

Find Your Next Great Hire

At LeadingEdge, we’re standing by with our resources to help you find a great new person for your time. We have expertise in hiring remotely, along with a database of candidates that fit your needs. Contact us today!