Hire remote team: how to get the candidates profile right

Hiring a remote team is no longer an unknown field in the area of ​​R&S or a taboo for organizations. Given technological advances, it is no longer necessary to be trapped or tied to a traditional office space. Workers in a variety of areas are able to complete their daily tasks from anywhere as long as they have a good internet connection.

With the increase in the number of remote workers, already on the rise in recent years and accentuated by the covid-19 pandemic, the tendency is for the Talent Acquision area to turn its attention to this type of hiring that has its particularities there that must be respected. The formula used for face-to-face hiring does not work when admitting remote teams.

To help you in this task, we will cover, in this article, what are the main details that need to be observed in remote teams’ R&S and tips on how to approach professionals who work well in the home office. Good reading!

What is a remote team?

They are professionals who work outside the office environment and are able to deliver even with all the distractions of working at a distance. However, the professional needs to have a specific profile to produce remotely.

Generally, remote workers work in the home office and some days of the week they work from coworking environments as well. But there is now a trend called digital nomads – people who take advantage of remote technology to work from anywhere in the world. In one week, the professional can use his hostel in Belgium as a home base and in the following week, a library in Amsterdam.

How to hire remote team?

Since the worker can work anywhere in the world, the recruiter, in turn, can expand his search for qualified talent to all corners of the globe. It is therefore possible to hire people who work in different time zones. With a diversified workforce, your teams can cover more hours of work, offer better support to customers and monopolize sales opportunities in different regions.

But, for that, it is first necessary to know how to hire the professional profile for distance work. Recruiting and managing remote workers can seem intimidating – there are many differences between the on-site worker, however, if you look at some particulars of this process, in a few days you will hire excellent professionals with this profile.

Change your job promotion tactics

The R&S approaches to hiring interns and senior professionals are different. People with these profiles spend their time on different platforms, communicate in different ways and respond to different types of disclosure. The same goes for remote talents.

Having a good reputation as an online employer brand will help you attract and retain qualified people. So make sure your employer brand has a strong digital presence. Does the communication made by the networks show your organization as reliable? Does it clearly illustrate your company’s culture? Is it possible to see on the company’s virtual channels the testimony of employees reporting the day-to-day of the organization?

If your answer is negative to one or more of these questions, take a step back and review your online recruiting marketing, before hunting for distance workers.

Decide and hire the right qualities

Many people would love the opportunity to work from home, but the reality is that not everyone has the right combination of skills and experience to succeed in this type of position.

On the report A home office at the end of the tunnel, from the agency BACKTOHUMANS, five profiles of professionals who had to work remotely due to the social isolation caused by Covid-19 are described. As the study shows, not everyone was familiar and happy with the home office. Therefore, it is not any professional who can act at a distance.

So, before you start interviewing candidates, consider what qualities and skills are ideal for remote workers.

Skills of a remote worker

To begin with, home office workers must be self-employed and independent. They won’t have anyone peeking over their shoulders and charging them all the time. Instead, they need to have the motivation and the effort to take responsibility. Ideally, they will be reliable and well organized.

The best remote employees are also creative and have digital knowledge. They must have the technological knowledge to set up and run a home office and must identify when they need external support or updates for their software programs. Ideal candidates will also have the creativity and ingenuity to solve their challenges alone, with minimal or nonexistent outside assistance.

Communication is also essential for those who work remotely. Distance professionals must be able to respond to all forms of communication in a timely manner. and communicate clearly and concisely in writing. The best remote employees are also great verbal communicators.

Test your skills during the interview

Your assessment process with a remote candidate will begin with your initial communication with them. Consider this: how quickly do they respond to your phone calls, or your e-mails? Do they communicate clearly and effectively in writing and over the phone?

And to see the verbal level of communication of the remote candidate, probably the best method will be the video interview. In this online interview, also use methods to check if he has good interaction with the technology, after all he will always present himself remotely to the other team members. Remember that observing these behaviors helps to track the initial list of attributes we discussed earlier.

Ask the right questions

As already mentioned here, not all workers who deliver excellent deliveries in the office environment are able to produce in the same way in home office mode.

You need to use the interview questions to carefully evaluate candidates who may not be ideal for the job and the work environment.

Raise questions in interviews that allow you and your team to assess characteristics and skills of the remote job. Ask questions that allow you to understand the level of self-direction and organizational capacity. Ask for specific scenarios when they work independently, strategies they used to manage their time, or an example of when they were responsible for proactively communicating status on a project.

Find out about the technology and tools they used to work remotely. Ask about the hours they keep when they work remotely and how they plan to deal with distractions and interruptions when working from home.

Guiding principles for remote contracting

Hiring and managing remote teams has its particularities there. But once these differences are understood, it is easy to outline a roadmap for your R&S process. Always remember these principles to guide your remote hiring work:

• The video interview is an essential tool in this process
• Online interview is also extremely important for the moment
• Practice video calls regularly and follow a few simple tips to put you and your candidates at ease:
• Provide your candidates with all the necessary information in the invitation to the interview.
• Check for a plan B in case the connection is cut unexpectedly.
• Set up your interview in a quiet space where you will not be interrupted.
• Double check all your technology before starting the call. This includes hardware (headphones, microphone) and software!
• Be the first to appear! Put your candidates at ease by being present when they enter the virtual room.
• Facilitate the interview with chat.

Ready! You are prepared to hire the best professionals in remote performance

After hiring comes engagement with the team and the company. If you have questions about how to captivate professionals who work at a distance, read an article on the topic that we have separated for you.