Remote work is rising dramatically, and that shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. Young professionals are searching for a right company fit for them, and remote work is rising in terms of a lifestyle trend. Of course, the question remains: how do you know that you are hiring the right remote employees? How will they truly understand the company culture?
Your company might need to adjust the way that it hires employees before it considers hiring remote employees. There might be job candidates that have the required skills, but wouldn’t be a good fit for your organization. Here are some solid tips that can help you make the right decisions when it comes to recruiting remote employees.
Defining The Role
The job candidate is clearly interested in a job, but do they fully understand their role and what it entails? You might want to make sure that you are not only hiring an individual that has the right skills, but someone who can adapt to changing situations and times. If you aren’t clear about what that role really requires, then you might have the wrong employees interested in the job.
For example, you might think that they could be a bad personality fit for your company. You might even encourage personality tests as part of the hiring process. You also might want to communicate very clearly what hours they should be expected to work, since remote employees often work in different time zones.
Ask Specific Questions
Every company has specific questions that they love to ask in the interview process. Google, one of the world’s most well-known tech companies, is infamous for their interview questions, in particular. However, there are some things that you will undoubtedly want to know. First and foremost, are they used to remote work? Do they understand that just because they are working remotely, that they will need to check-in and answer you and other employees within a specific amount of time?
The last thing that anyone wants is to hire a remote employee that can’t answer an e-mail for days, or is consistently late with assignments while blaming it on a “time difference”. You might want to ask more about what tools that they’ve used in their past remote work, and how familiar they are with these tools. If the remote employee is familiar with all of the tools that your company uses, for example, that’s a huge plus in terms of saving time during on-boarding.
A Paid Trial Solution
Let’s say that you’ve interviewed a potential employee many times, and they seem to embrace remote work. They might even have worked remotely before. However, you still might have the nagging feeling that they might not be a good fit culturally for your organization.
One great way to move forward is to offer them a paid trial instead of a permanent position. The employee will get to show off their skills, and you can decide whether they have a viable future within your organization. The fact that the trial is paid should make them feel better about the situation, since many job candidates don’t exactly jump at the thought of an unpaid trial.
It might not be ideal, but it can determine a lot in terms of whether they seem to understand the role or not. A paid trial can also be a great opportunity to find out whether the employee understands, and respects, feedback.
Many employees will tell you that they are perfect for the role, or explain that they understand the role completely. Ultimately, you will have to trust your gut and figure out whether they are worth hiring or not. It’s easy to understand how hiring several remote workers can actually disrupt your company culture more than you realize, so making the wrong mistake here could prove fatal.
If you are detailed in your hiring process, you shouldn’t run into a problem down the line where the individual doesn’t understand the role. With some luck, your remote employee will be a productive part of your company, and will fit in with the other employees seamlessly. The process might be much different from an on-site hire, but you may realize that remote employees are an integral part of your organization.
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