Trends for remote working are on the rise, and if the present is any sign of the times, it’s not slowing down. The trend has brought with it some challenges for those seeking employment, but also for the hiring managers. Remote and online only work has become more common in the past 5 years.
Many industries have had to cope with all the questions regarding how to hire remote workers and manage those teams. Remote work comes with its own set of challenges, from the quality of work to data security. Here, we’ll guide you through the 5 top tips to hiring your remote team.
Tip One: What are you Looking for?
The successful hiring of the right candidate starts with you as the hiring manager. Like everything else in life, be clear about what you want and need for the company and this position. Look at the process in the same way you would a relationship, friendship or business partnership. Success comes when you have a list of the qualities you deem satisfactory for this position.
Action Step:
Write what you want the person in this position to do. What are they to accomplish? What is the end goal of every day in this position? Once you have a clear picture of what that person has to do, then you can create your best employee avatar.
Now, construct that perfect employee avatar. What are their best qualities? What are the deal breakers and the least they have to have. Then, compare that to the perfect avatar. So, why not make a list of only the ideal characteristics? Because you may not get that in one person. You want to have a range, meaning that you have a list of requirements that you will not compromise and a list of ones that are less rigid.
Tip Two: Take Advantage of the Technology
Do a face time interview over Skype or Zoom, whichever is more cost effective for you. You’ll want to get a feel for the personality and the vibe the person gives off. Face to face over the same technology they’ll work on and how they show up on it will give you a great inside picture of how they’ll approach their workday.
In fact, don’t tell them how they should show up for the interview at all. How they arrive will tell you how your clients and other coworkers will see them. You’ll also get a more inside view of the surroundings they’ll work in. People can only mask so much. If they live and work in a home office environment with certain noises or interruptions, then it’s likely they you’ll experience that during the interview. You want a remote team with control over the professional environment.
Tip Three: Use the Technology to Give Skill and Personality Tests
These assessments speak a thousand words like a picture. Tests structured right will actually help you fit that person to the perfect employee avatar you just made. If your company doesn’t have such tests, you can make your own and tailor it to that avatar.
Tip Four: Craft your Questions Carefully
Bottom line: If you tell them how to answer you with the question, you may not get an honest answer. If you give them a hint of what your employee avatar should be, then they can falsify their image.
Action Steps:
So, what does the more effective way of asking interview questions look like? Leading questions are what you want to avoid. Below, is an example of a leading question and how you can reword it to your advantage for all your questions.
“ We’re looking for a bright self-starter that can work without supervision and make executive calls, is that you?”
This gives the person a way to mold an image that isn’t true. Reword it in a way that they do most of the talking. Here’s an example.
“ Tell me about your ideal work day. If you had a day that you considered a perfect workflow what would that look like?”
With the questions being more open-ended, the talk and you listen. It’s the easiest way to get the right information from them. Make sure you don’t make judgement statements. Be friendly and professional, but don’t let on about how you feel about the answers.
Tip Five: Don’t underestimate the power of the Reference Check
One powerful suggestion is not to contact friends and family for obvious reasons. If you get one of those HR numbers, the information won’t be sufficient because they’re to litigious-minded. The fear of breaking the law by saying too much is too great. Try to contact managers and coworkers.
You’ll better get a feel for the way the person works in a team environment and the quality of work from their former management. The law doesn’t govern coworkers in the same way the management is. With the coworkers, you’ll get an idea of how the people around them feel about them. How they impact others. Just understand you must use discernment in case the person wasn’t popular for a reason that wasn’t of their making.
The Takeaways:
Let’s recap what the best way to successfully hire a remote team.
Get clear on what you’re looking for.
Craft your perfect employee avatar.
Interview face to face on the technology they’ll be working on in the space they’ll work in without telling them how to show up.
Use the technology to test personality and skill test them.
Craft your questions in an open-ended way and let them do the talking in a descriptive way.
Get references from only managers and coworkers remembering to use your discernment to decipher what you are learning from them.
These 5 tips should get you the range of remote team that’s effective for your company.
Trends for remote working are on the rise, and if the present is any sign of the times, it’s not slowing down. The trend has brought with it some challenges for those seeking employment, but also for the hiring managers. Remote and online only work has become more common in the past 5 years.
Many industries have had to cope with all the questions regarding how to hire remote workers and manage those teams. Remote work comes with its own set of challenges, from the quality of work to data security. Here, we’ll guide you through the 5 top tips to hiring your remote team.
Tip One: What are you Looking for?
The successful hiring of the right candidate starts with you as the hiring manager. Like everything else in life, be clear about what you want and need for the company and this position. Look at the process in the same way you would a relationship, friendship or business partnership. Success comes when you have a list of the qualities you deem satisfactory for this position.
Action Step:
Write what you want the person in this position to do. What are they to accomplish? What is the end goal of every day in this position? Once you have a clear picture of what that person has to do, then you can create your best employee avatar.
Now, construct that perfect employee avatar. What are their best qualities? What are the deal breakers and the least they have to have. Then, compare that to the perfect avatar. So, why not make a list of only the ideal characteristics? Because you may not get that in one person. You want to have a range, meaning that you have a list of requirements that you will not compromise and a list of ones that are less rigid.
Tip Two: Take Advantage of the Technology
Do a face time interview over Skype or Zoom, whichever is more cost effective for you. You’ll want to get a feel for the personality and the vibe the person gives off. Face to face over the same technology they’ll work on and how they show up on it will give you a great inside picture of how they’ll approach their workday.
In fact, don’t tell them how they should show up for the interview at all. How they arrive will tell you how your clients and other coworkers will see them. You’ll also get a more inside view of the surroundings they’ll work in. People can only mask so much. If they live and work in a home office environment with certain noises or interruptions, then it’s likely they you’ll experience that during the interview. You want a remote team with control over the professional environment.
Tip Three: Use the Technology to Give Skill and Personality Tests
These assessments speak a thousand words like a picture. Tests structured right will actually help you fit that person to the perfect employee avatar you just made. If your company doesn’t have such tests, you can make your own and tailor it to that avatar.
Tip Four: Craft your Questions Carefully
Bottom line: If you tell them how to answer you with the question, you may not get an honest answer. If you give them a hint of what your employee avatar should be, then they can falsify their image.
Action Steps:
So, what does the more effective way of asking interview questions look like? Leading questions are what you want to avoid. Below, is an example of a leading question and how you can reword it to your advantage for all your questions.
“ We’re looking for a bright self-starter that can work without supervision and make executive calls, is that you?”
This gives the person a way to mold an image that isn’t true. Reword it in a way that they do most of the talking. Here’s an example.
“ Tell me about your ideal work day. If you had a day that you considered a perfect workflow what would that look like?”
With the questions being more open-ended, the talk and you listen. It’s the easiest way to get the right information from them. Make sure you don’t make judgement statements. Be friendly and professional, but don’t let on about how you feel about the answers.
Tip Five: Don’t underestimate the power of the Reference Check
One powerful suggestion is not to contact friends and family for obvious reasons. If you get one of those HR numbers, the information won’t be sufficient because they’re to litigious-minded. The fear of breaking the law by saying too much is too great. Try to contact managers and coworkers.
You’ll better get a feel for the way the person works in a team environment and the quality of work from their former management. The law doesn’t govern coworkers in the same way the management is. With the coworkers, you’ll get an idea of how the people around them feel about them. How they impact others. Just understand you must use discernment in case the person wasn’t popular for a reason that wasn’t of their making.
The Takeaways:
Let’s recap what the best way to successfully hire a remote team.
Get clear on what you’re looking for.
Craft your perfect employee avatar.
Interview face to face on the technology they’ll be working on in the space they’ll work in without telling them how to show up.
Use the technology to test personality and skill test them.
Craft your questions in an open-ended way and let them do the talking in a descriptive way.
Get references from only managers and coworkers remembering to use your discernment to decipher what you are learning from them.
These 5 tips should get you the range of remote team that’s effective for your company.
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