A lot has happened the past year or so, where there’s been a real shift towards remote working as being the norm for a lot of businesses across the globe. Whilst most were forced into it due to the pandemic, many are seeing it as a new way of working in a post-COVID-19 world.

However, perhaps this is something that has been coming for a while now, thanks to the opportunities that the internet has provided. Hiring remotely has become a typical method of recruitment. Companies are finding themselves hiring employees more so for their ability to work from anywhere and at any time, rather than just their skills and experience.

In this article, we’ll take you through how to hire remote team members for your business in 2022. We’ve got some useful remote working tools that are beneficial to use to find the right candidates and ultimately, the best person for the role you’re recruiting.

Is remote working the future?

Triggered by the pandemic, the number of people working remotely was at its highest. Even businesses that had no remote working experience had to adapt quickly to keep themselves afloat.

Many of the companies who were remote during the pandemic have realized the benefits that come from working remotely, opting for a hybrid work model for the future. A Mercer study conducted in May 2021, found that 70% of companies said they were planning to adopt the hybrid model. 

This could result in fewer offices existing and more remote working jobs made available to those looking for new positions. A lot of existing workspaces will likely accommodate hybrid work arrangements and co-working spaces will perhaps become more popular and considered the norm for more businesses.

Existing in the office physically at all times isn’t necessary to provide results for a business and many companies have realized this during the pandemic.

How to hire remote team members for your business

Have you ever hired anyone for remote working before? Perhaps you’re a business that’s adapted because of COVID-19, or maybe you already had employees that worked remotely to some degree? Whatever the situation, hiring team members specifically for remote positions is something to prepare for. It’s not your typical process like other methods of recruitment.

To help, we’ve put together a step-by-step process that can help guide you from start to finish. From laying the groundwork to onboarding successful candidates into your company. If done right, hiring remote team members can be as easily done.

1. Preparation is important to know if it’s the right choice for the company

Indeed found that 57% of remote workers found they’re more productive when they work from home. For some businesses, they see the benefit of remote working not only to save on costs but to provide their employees with a better working environment.

However, not every business is suited to offer remote working and there are, of course, challenges with working remotely. Owl Lab found that 29% of US employees said they miss the visibility of being in an office, as well as missing out on training and career progression opportunities.

Whilst remote working may be the future, it’s not suitable or a preferred choice for everyone. It means that you first want to consider whether or not this type of work style is suited for your business.

You’ll want to consider whether you need full-time or part-time positions filling and working out the budget that you have available for recruitment. It’s a good idea to spend some time on your social media and online presence. 

Selling your business to the candidates is just as important during a recruitment process so a lot of that promotion needs to be done via your social media platforms and your website. Competition for the best talent can be fierce, so you want to stand out as a company that you’re the candidate’s best option for their career.

2. Make a list of requirements for the role or roles required

Hiring remote positions is a lot different from hiring traditional employees that are working in the office. Not only do they have to be capable of doing the job itself, but they also need to be able to work remotely successfully. That means having the best technical and communication skills, experience using remote working tools, and being highly self-motivated.

So with that being said, you’ll want to make a list of requirements for the role or roles that are required. You may want to look for those who have already worked in remote positions before or have had some experience in remote working in previous roles.

There may be certain tools that you want your candidates to be proficient in, whether that be tools for communication like Slack or Zoom, to automation tools like Zapier. If they’re responsible for project management, tools like Asana and Basecamp are often a preferred choice.

It’s better to find candidates who can adapt to your current remote working methods, instead of having to make any changes. They also need to be a good cultural fit for your company, even though they’ll be working remotely. They still need to be part of the team and therefore their personal values and personality need to align with the company’s values and overall dynamic.

3. Be detailed in your job listing and promote it to the right channels

The job listing is critical to get right and so it’s beneficial to be as detailed as possible about what you’re after. Be sure to go over it a few times, particularly with HR to ensure all that you’ve asked for is worded appropriately.

For remote workers, promoting it on the right channels is essential because not every candidate is happy to do remote work. Some people prefer to be in an office, so it’s not worthwhile advertising somewhere that’s catered for those looking for location-based roles.

With that being said, consider what channels cater to the future of remote working. Social media platforms for example and Facebook Groups that you can share your job listing on. LinkedIn is a go-to for most recruitment drives nowadays, so make sure to advertise on there too.

By choosing the right platforms, you’ll help make the most of your hiring budget, whilst bringing in the right candidates that you’re after. There’s nothing worse than spending money on recruitment and not even getting a good pool of candidates to choose from.

4. Shortlist and interview the selected candidates

Sifting through the applications is the tough part because for many businesses, they can end up receiving hundreds of resumes. This can result in a lot of hours spent reviewing applications and putting them in the yes or no pile.

Every recruitment approach is different from one company to the next and even down to the individuals responsible. You may find it easier to hire an agency to do all the work for you or you may wish to look for certain key skills or experience that you’re after.

For example, if you’re looking for experienced remote workers with X years of remote working prior, then you can simply remove all those that don’t fit that criterion. It’s not something you have to mention on the job listing but there may be certain indicators that help you to keep or remove applicants from the final selection.

The interview process is like any other but you might likely interview the candidates over remote tools like Zoom or Skype. This will certainly be the case for those candidates in different time zones. Make sure that you’ve set up everything correctly so that you’re not encountering any difficulties in connecting with the individuals.

Make sure you’ve considered the right questions and organized any tests/activities ahead of time. For some remote working positions, you may wish to conduct a problem solving skills test or basic coding test to assess the candidate’s ability. This is something you should organize before the interview, notifying the applicants of this beforehand.

It’s a good idea to have a recording of the interview to look back on but make sure you notify the applicants that this is happening to get their consent.

5. Onboard successful candidates properly

Once you’ve selected your candidate, it’s time to onboard them. Remember to sort out all the paperwork, including contracts. Bonsai contracts are a great choice when it comes to including all the relevant information needed in an agreement between employer and employee. 

It’s a useful service that can benefit small businesses and those without a proper legal team or HR department to hand. 

Onboarding your employees is key because, without proper onboarding, it’s likely to cause a lot of problems further down the line. With onboarding, you should be providing the relevant handover and training of remote tools and systems that are already in place. Communication is a big part of remote working, so much so that it can all fall apart without it.

Improve your hiring process beyond 2022

Like anything in business development, improvements can always be made to help with the company’s progression. When it comes to your hiring process, be sure to welcome feedback from candidates to improve future recruitments and to enable more quality hires for the business going forward.

Author Bio: Natalie Redman (LinkedIn)

Freelance writer for many clients across multiple industries. Natalie has two years of copywriting experience. Natalie has a wide range of experience copywriting web pages for businesses across many industries. She’s also an owner of two blog websites and a Youtube content creator.