Council Post: Three Pieces Of Advice For Hiring In The Remote Work Landscape

Kuba is the founder of Zety — a career advice site visited by over 40 million readers a year.

It’s no secret that in the aftermath of the coronavirus outbreak, many businesses are looking to make remote work the new normal.

In fact, Facebook, a tech-sector giant, expects up to half of its 45,000 employees to work from home within the next 10 years. On top of it, there are powerhouses like Twitter and Spotify that followed suit and are now announcing they will allow employees to work from home indefinitely, according to a recent article from The Wall Street Journal. 

The result is that remote hiring is likely to become the new normal in the post-Covid-19 workplace. By revamping how talent acquisition teams conduct off-site candidate interviews, you’ll have better odds of winning golden-rip candidates that will ultimately help your business reach its true north.

Set clear-cut expectations.

Nothing short-circuits momentum at the beginning of a virtual interview like a 10-minute delay because the candidate needs to download the videoconferencing software or has trouble joining the meeting.

So before the video interview, it’s a good idea for all interview participants to be on the same page with regards to how the interview will be conducted.

Specifically, ensure the prospective hire:

• Has a memo that outlines the meeting’s agenda and the participants involved.

• Test-drives the videoconference technology of your choice and is comfy with its key features.

• Knows if the interview will be video only or if optional audio is allowed (in the case of bandwidth hiccups.)

• Is aware whether they’ll be asked to share their screen at any point.

Craft a virtual company culture pitch.

Did you know that nearly one-third of recruits quit their jobs within the first 90 days of being hired? Of that third, 32% leave because the company culture didn’t meet their initial expectations. That’s a major problem that’s likely to exacerbate in the era of remote workplaces.

Why? With traditional on-site job interviews, job candidates take a handful of environmental cues that make up your workplace. They gauge and absorb details like the location of your office, the general climate across the departments and how they are treated throughout the encounter. 

With virtual interviews, none of that is available to prospective job candidates. All they get is a narrow field of view that’s down to the hiring manager and a few other team members further down the road.

To address it, you can put in the legwork and create a robust culture pitch that objectively reflects what your company stands for, such as your vision, mission and core values. While it might turn down some candidates, you’ll have a much better chance of finding professionals who fit your culture like a plug in a socket.

Ensure prolonged remote work floats the candidate’s boat.

Remote work isn’t for everyone.

While there are working professionals who thrive in the digital nomad lifestyle, others — even with a clean workspace setup and pixel-perfect light for videoconference calls — aren’t cut out for it.

That’s why it’s critical to gauge the candidate’s ability to cope with prolonged working from home through a series of pandemic-related questions, such as:

• What did you learn about yourself during the crisis?

• Did your productivity levels take a hit while working from home?

• Do you have the capacity to work remotely full time if need be?

• How are you spending your time during the pandemic?

• Would you rather work from home or the office once we emerge from the lockdown?

What’s great about these questions is that they’ll help assess the candidate’s emotional intelligence, their resilience,and how they can cope with a crisis amid today’s challenging climate. On top of it, most job seekers don’t typically expect Covid-19-related interview questions. That means you can catch them off-guard and evaluate their ability to answer without preparation.

As you can see, there are a few ways you can improve your talent acquisition process in today’s new normal of working from home. By setting clear expectations, providing insight into your company culture and assessing whether a candidate will succeed in a remote setting, you can ensure your team thrives in the post-pandemic workplace.

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