The professional landscape has been undergoing major changes since the COVID-19 pandemic. Today, more and more professionals prefer the flexibility of remote and hybrid work systems, so employers who want to work with the best human talent should adjust to this growing demand for independence. Fortunately for employers, remote hiring has a number of advantages, including access to a more diverse talent pool and, often, a chance to optimize corporate budgets.

On the other hand, remote hiring is not without a downside. For starters, the remote interviewing process often makes it challenging to assess a candidate’s skills and, more importantly, see if the candidate is a good fit for the existing corporate mindset. Besides, attracting candidates from other countries and cultures usually differs from engaging a local talent pool, so recruiters need to adjust their processes if they aim for a truly efficient remote hiring process. Below, we will discuss some of the best strategies to keep everything on the right track.

Make job ads appealing for independent experts 

The first tip is to ditch the boring job ads and ensure new job postings appeal to experts with an independent-thinking mindset. After all, that’s the people you are looking for — someone who could work with minimum supervision, manage their own time, and deliver the results in due time. Highlight all these qualities (and any other relevant soft skills) in your remote job ads because experts looking for independent schedules tend to be very selective in their choice of prospective employers. 

Of course, you should not ignore actual job requirements and necessary hard skills either. Ideally, the job posting that attracts self-motivated people should be as precise as possible — but, of course, it should stay concise. Clearly outline job requirements and primary benefits — and while you’re free to use catchy headlines, it’s best to avoid cliches like ‘design wizards’ or ‘programming Jedis’ because such phrasing can be really off-putting to professionals who value their time and experience. 

Outline remote work policies on corporate channels 

A well-crafted job posting that speaks to self-motivated experts is a good start, but it’s only the beginning. Ideally, you should try to create a coherent brand image that conveys the same message — on all of your corporate channels. Most tech giants today, including Microsoft and Google, regularly work to convey this message on social media and official websites — and smaller brands will be wise to follow their example. 

Clearly stating your remote work policies on a dedicated website page is one of the first things to do. Here are some points most remote candidates will be interested in:

• Eligibility criteria (no fluff, only specific job roles/departments eligible for remote work)

• Availability times and work hours (based on particular timezones)

• Access to collaboration and reporting tools

• Legal considerations (official holidays, vacation times, taxing, etc.)

• Contact info for questions in case of emergency 

Invest in the right tools for smooth hiring 

The actual list will surely depend on company specifics, but recruiters may want to reconsider their current ATSs to make sure the systems they use are optimized for remote hiring. The top ATSs in the market, including Zoho Recruit, Workable, and Manatal, are all solid choices, but you should still think over the hiring tools you use to see if they truly fit your new hiring needs.

Another essential suggestion is to use a LinkedIn email finder or similar tools that can find candidates’ email addresses or other relevant contact details. Even though LinkedIn is one of the top channels for talent sourcing, its popularity varies from region to region. Some candidates, even if they have detailed LinkedIn profiles and all the necessary skills for the job, may not be as active on the site as professionals in your region. So, sending a direct email is always a wiser strategy that boosts your chances of finding a great fit and, as a tangible bonus, sends all the candidate’s communication history straight into your ATS. 

Additional software that will prove very useful during remote hiring is quality video interviewing tools, with Zoom and Microsoft Teams among the most popular solutions. Besides, you can check out AI-powered candidate screening tools designed to eliminate bias and promote hiring diversity. So far, the best examples to get started with are HireVue, Pymetrics, and SeekOut.  All of these tools can integrate with the most popular ATSs, so you will not have to completely replace your recruiting toolkit. 

Implement a two-phase interviewing process 

Assessing the candidate’s skills and mindset is probably the biggest challenge in a recruiting funnel — even with face-to-face interviews. With remote interviews, the process is even more challenging, which is where video conferencing tools we already mentioned prove very handy. 

At this stage, a two-phase interviewing process makes perfect sense. First, recruiters should aim to define a candidate’s overall qualification for a job opening; during the second phase, they can assess soft skills and mindsets to determine if a candidate is a good fit for an existing corporate fit. Of course, with high-responsibility roles, additional interview phases may be necessary, but recruiters should be very careful with prolonged interviewing because it can put off independent experts who value their time and skills. 

Ensure compliance with legal standards 

This is another major challenge of remote hiring and is too vast a topic to dwell upon here. Besides, the actual details will depend on your and your candidate’s legal regulations — so in most cases, it makes sense to hire a legal consultant or invest in legal compliance software. 

Still, we suggest you pay extra attention to taxation (some taxes may have to be withheld), data protection laws (that differ for the US and EU and may not be applicable in some developing regions), international hiring policies, and minimal wage requirements in your country. As a rule, these issues are the most delicate, but it’s essential to consider all legal aspects of remote collaboration to keep everything on track. 

Don’t forget the onboarding 

Finally, do not forget that onboarding is an essential stage of the recruiting process — and with remote hiring, it may pose additional challenges. The first obvious challenge is security concerns — unlike on-site employees using company equipment, remote staff may lack the necessary technology to minimize the chances of cyberattacks, which remain a major challenge for businesses. But even if the hardware alone is sufficient, new employees may need access to internal company data, so it’s important to include security guidelines in your onboarding documents. 

Besides, it’s essential to specify emergency contacts (and availability hours) of managers and team leads who can assist remote employees should they experience any issues. The remaining onboarding materials will probably be the same for remote and in-house staff, except for the legal frameworks we already discussed above. 

These are some of the most effective remote hiring strategies to ensure everything goes without a hitch. The last (but definitely not the least) tip is to always foster relationships with all candidates you interact with. Here, the logic is no different from local hiring — recruiters should add candidates to their ATSs even if they weren’t hired for a specific opening. Later, a more suitable vacancy may appear, and maintaining relationships with talented experts may still result in fruitful collaboration. This strategy is even more critical with remote hiring — so stay in touch with the top talent if you want to streamline your recruiting routine.