Summary
The top remote hiring tips include multiple checkpoints. Like assessing the candidate thoroughly through updated virtual tools. Then there’s setting clear expectations during the interview process. Getting on a call frequently with the candidates to learn their personalities also works like magic.
Hiring remotely isn’t really that different from supply chain management. Here’s how. Would you source materials without vetting the supplier? Or ship without tracking?
Similarly, in remote hiring, you want someone reliable. Someone you’ve tested well. Someone who communicates well. Shows up on time (even virtually). And you don’t need to follow outdated practices to hire a remote team. We’ve got some proven remote hiring tips up our sleeves.
In this blog, we’re going to talk about just that, and with all the details. You don’t need to reinvent any new formula. Stick to the said remote hiring best practices, ask the right questions, and you are good to go!
After all, finding top talent isn’t about where they live. It’s about how well they fit. Isn’t that what great remote hiring is all about?
What Challenges Can You Face When You Hire a Remote Team?
Before getting into the best remote hiring tips, let’s first lay down the challenges of hiring a remote team. This section will give you a detailed overview of a few common and a few uncommon barriers to remote hiring. So, let’s get started.
Wider Talent Pool but Tougher Screening
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- A global talent pool drastically increases candidate options.
- With that comes more responsibility. More candidates mean more effort to filter through resumes.
- Let’s get real. It’s harder to assess candidate qualifications without in-person interviews.
- Further, without direct interaction, there’s no way to assess the practical skills of a candidate. Skills like quick problem-solving, effective time-management, etc. Forget about gauging their personality.
Read our blog to know things before you hire top talent in India.
How Successfully Can a Candidate Work Remotely?
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- There are a few non-negotiable demands of remote work. Self-discipline, time management, and focus are a few of them.
- Now, resumes and interviews don’t show these remote-readiness quotients in a candidate.
- Further, it’s nearly impossible to evaluate how candidates handle distractions during work hours. More importantly, if they can work independently without constant supervision.
Battling Legal Obstruction
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- Hiring in different countries comes with different labor laws, taxes, and regulations.
- Failing to comply with these laws can cause fines, lawsuits, or operational risks.
- Other critical factors that vary country-wise are employment contracts and worker rights. Without careful attention, these local employment laws can take the wrong turn.
For example, an employee can file a lawsuit against you for misclassification or wrongful termination. Then, your business would be the first thing to get impacted heavily.
Hunting for Unicorns
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- A remote talent with the right specialization and the required niche skills is much rarer than you think. Hence the term “unicorn”.
- Most of the highly skilled professionals today prefer on-site experience for better exposure.
- High-demand or senior remote roles require highly competent and trend-setting recruitment strategies.
The Great Salary Battle
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- Salary expectations vary greatly across regions due to multiple factors. Some of them include the cost of living, market trends, country-specific employee benefits, etc.
- Disparities in compensation greatly affect the morale and satisfaction of remote employees.
- Companies hiring remotely struggle to find a balance. Between what? Local pay standards and global competitiveness.
Now that we’re aware of the challenges, let’s move on to the next section. The remote hiring tips you can implement to change your recruitment game.
You can learn more about the top remote hiring challenges and how to overcome them through our blog.
Wish to hire a remote team in India without the challenges?
What Are the 8 Remote Hiring Tips that Employers Should Consider?
How do we hire a remote team that’s nearly impeccable, if we speak practically? By implementing the remote hiring best practices, obviously. However, it’s hard to find remote hiring tips that are admirable yet achievable. Hence, we’ve come up with some practical remote hiring tips that are not just good to read but also execute. Let’s see how they’ll help you hire a remote team in India, Iceland, or anywhere else.
1. Design a Remote Training Program That Actually Works
Situation: Suppose you get GitLab’s open-source handbook for a perfect training program after you hire a remote team. But, how to practically implement it?
Solution:
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- By swapping the long-form PDF into bite-sized, interactive content.
- By opting for video tutorials, quick quizzes, or live Q&As instead of presenting a “death-by-slide-deck”.
These remote hiring tips will make the training process more effective with high engagement.
2. Craft Job Descriptions That Attract Top Talent
Situation: You wish to draft a remote job description that creates a great first impression. You really like the ones that Buffer creates. They emphasize the remote work flexibility and the growth potential equally well. But how to achieve that?
Solution:
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- Avoid just listing down every possible skill that’s relevant to the role you are hiring for. Highlight only the essential and regular ones that are absolutely non-negotiable.
- Focus on the detailing and customization of the job description that reflects your company culture.
- Mention the employee perks that are competitive and make you stand out in the recruitment jungle.
These remote hiring tips are achievable with minimal effort and a bit of strategic thinking.
Make Candidate Experience Your Hiring Superpower
Situation: You conduct a hiring process that’s confusing, slow, and impersonal. The result of such a process? You end up losing your best-fit applicants. Now, does candidate experience matter that much in remote hiring? Absolutely, it does! A Glassdoor survey revealed that 58% of remote candidates reject job offers due to poor interview experiences. How to work on this challenge?
Solution:
- Overcommunication never fails. Connect with your applicants regularly to provide them with interview updates.
- Provide them with timely feedback and guide them through the next steps of the interview process.
- Preparing them early for the interview also comes as a pro remote hiring tip.
- Offer proper feedback to rejected candidates. This would build a good relationship between you and the candidates. This would in turn help you with future hiring spree.
4. Set Remote Work Expectations from Day One
Situation: Suppose you’re a US-based startup hiring remote workers in India. Now, there’s a two-hour daily gap in your working hours. This makes real-time collaboration with your Indian team difficult. How to cope with the problem?
Solution:
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- Define the work hours early in the interview process.
- Set expectations on the deadlines and performance metrics during the hiring process itself.
- Define the communication channels in case of any urgency to avoid any misunderstandings.
- You can also share a “How We Work” documented video during the interview process.
Making small adjustments with these remote hiring tips will bring consistency to your team’s approach.
Evaluate Technical Skills in a Smart Way
Situation: You need to hire a remote team of software developers. You’ve decided to conduct a coding assessment as part of the interview process. Now, you’re concerned about the candidates passing the test by unfair means. What remote hiring tips should you implement here?
Solution:
- Leverage platforms like Codility and HackerRank to conduct real-time assessments.
- Skip asking any fluff questions and stick to their technical abilities once they pass the test. This will further assess the authenticity of their claimed skills.
6. Establish Clear Communication Rules for Remote Teams
Situation: You’re on a virtual call with your remote finance team. Suddenly, the marketing team joins in—uninvited. They now have access to confidential data they shouldn’t see. Not cool, right? How would that make you feel?
In fact, a recent Buffer study revealed that 20% of remote workers struggle with transparent communication. Here are some remote hiring best practices to avoid such situations.
Solution:
- Leverage tools like Slack and Zoom to schedule and manage virtual meetings properly.
- Create clear guidelines around response times and levels of transparency within the remote team.
7. Verify References Properly
Situation: Let’s say you hire a marketing strategist remotely. You ask all the right questions during the interview. You even run a thorough background check.
But once the candidate joins, the truth hits you. They flat-out lied about half the things in the interview.
Not exactly the rockstar you thought you hired.
Now what? You’ve already invested time, money, and effort into this hire.
What remote hiring tips should you apply to never encounter such a failure again?
Solution:
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- Go beyond just reviewing resumes and connecting through emails.
- Get on a call frequently during the interview process to increase face-to-face interactions.
- Talk to the candidate’s previous managers and team members as solid references.
- Assess the candidate’s work ethic and reliability by asking situation-based, specific questions. Like how they handled past projects under pressure.
- Last but most important, check their LinkedIn profile thoroughly. LinkedIn can be your wonderland for a candidate’s background check.
8. Find the Best Talent Through the Right Channels
Situation: How would you feel if you missed out on top remote candidates by just posting your requirements on generic job boards? Worried about what remote hiring tips to follow to stay ahead of the game? Here they are:
Solution:
- Post your job vacancies on focused and niche job platforms in the country you wish to hire. For example, for hiring remote workers in India, you can list your jobs on Naukri, Indeed, etc.
- Build a referral system within your existing remote team. Create a reward or incentive system for successful recommendations. According to Forbes reports, 60% of remote workers are hired through referrals.
- Suppose you don’t wish to go through the long recruitment process yourself. In that case, you can always partner with an employer of record.
Okay, now we’re well aware of the best remote hiring tips. Let’s see how we can implement them for hiring remote workers in India.
Wish to hire a remote team in India through an EOR?
How Can You Hire a Remote Team in India Easily?
Let’s now focus on the best remote hiring tips for an Indian team.
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- Indian professionals love to work within expected guidelines. So, one of the crucial remote hiring tips you can use is setting up expectations. Whether it’s skills, roles, responsibilities, work hours, or tools to use.
- To hire a remote team in India, leverage the local job boards. Platforms like Upwork, LinkedIn, Toptal, and AngelList can land you top-notch candidates.
- You can start your recruitment journey in India by working with Indian agencies like Turing.com or Instahyre. It’s one of the smartest remote hiring best practices because they offer pre-vetted candidates.
- Communication is a strength in Indian candidates. Mainly because they’re proficient in English and know their way around corporates. Leverage this strength while hiring remote workers in India.
- India is a culturally sensitive country. Ensure that you’re mindful of that and be empathetic while hiring remote workers in India.
- The best thing about hiring remote workers in India? You can partner with an employer of record in India to hire a remote team and successfully manage it. And I’m talking about payroll, taxes, leave management—the entire package here.
Did you find these remote hiring tips useful? I believe you did. After all, there must be a reason why global companies are hiring remote employees from India!
Conclusion
So, what’s the takeaway from this blog? Remote hiring tips aren’t just theories. If implemented correctly, they can be a talent magnet. You know what should be your cue to rethink your recruitment strategy? The 30% spike in qualified applicants via the revolutionized remote hiring tips (thanks, McKinsey!). All I’m saying is you just need the right tips, tools, and a shift in mindset for this breakthrough.
Worried about following these remote hiring tips correctly all at a time?
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FAQs
What is remote hiring?
It is hiring employees who are working outside a conventional office. The candidate can be in some different city, country, or even time zone. The entire hiring process, including interviewing, onboarding, and training, takes place virtually with the help of online tools such as video calls, online tests, shared documents, etc.
Why is remote hiring important nowadays?
Remote hiring enables companies to reach talent all over the world, not limited by geography. It reduces a lot of overhead costs such as rent for an office and utilities. Most importantly, it enables employers to find the rarest skills, which might not be available locally. This is very smart and scalable.
How do I find the best remote candidates?
Start with specifying very precise job descriptions stating that this is a remote position, and use websites like LinkedIn, Remote OK, or We Work Remotely. Look for candidates with experience in remote jobs, understanding of effective communication, and a self-motivated personality. You might even throw in a few minor tasks or tests in the recruitment process.
What traits should I look for in remote candidates?
Apart from all degrees and experience, traits may include self-discipline and time management, in addition to having strong written communication skills. Since he will spend most of his working time alone and should, for instance, feel comfortable using these tools: Slack, Zoom, and project management app MLOps, then to be a gold mine in a remote setup, you need someone who can take ownership without someone watching over him all the time.
How to make remote hiring really easy and quick?
Establish a clear and repeatable hiring process. Implement automation solutions to screen resumes, schedule interviews, and send follow-ups. Eliminate ambiguity by aligning your team in advance on what makes a “great hire” and communicating that upfront. Finally, let the candidates know the time zones, work hours, and deliverables as soon as possible to avoid confusion later.
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Rumela Chakraborty
Rumela Chakraborty is a passionate content writer specialist of Remunance’s marketing team with a knack for crafting engaging and informative articles. With extensive experience in curating versatile content, she has honed her skills to produce high-quality, SEO-optimized content. Be it blog posts, PR articles, or social media content, she takes pleasure in infusing storytelling into her work and has a keen eye for detail. She has emerged as a subject matter expert in the PEO/EOR industry, transforming a wide array of concepts related to remote work, freelancing, outsourcing, payroll, and more into compelling narratives that resonate with the intended audience.
