Technology allows workers in many professional fields to complete their work from any geographical location at any time of their choosing.  Employees no longer need to be physically at the office or work in traditional settings.  Hiring remote workers may be a new step in your company’s search for talented and qualified candidates: the world is your limit.

Remote work has many advantages such as more efficient use of time, increased productivity and flexibility, and increased convenience.  From a study conducted with over 12,400 participants, it was found that fully remote employees were 20% happier than employees who worked in the office full-time.

Most companies were forced to switch to fully remote work or hybrid work during the COVID-19 pandemic.  It’s not only cost-effective but also a great way to stay competitive, as your competitors are probably also offering remote work opportunities.

As a hiring manager, you may wonder how you can find the right person to adhere to deadlines and work productively while being under less supervision.  The transition to hiring for remote workers is a different process for sure, but new HR technologies are now being administered in HR processes to help facilitate the remote hiring task.

What Qualities Make the Best Remote Workers?

There are many qualities that make qualified workers, but remote workers need a specific combination of qualities to make sure they will add value to the company.  The candidate has to be independent.  In a remote work environment, there is no manager supervising them.  Instead, they will have to be a self-starter and hold himself accountable.

They have to be dependable and trustworthy, and also well-organized and technologically knowledgeable person.  They need to be able to communicate well with the people who are on-site to know whether they need to download additional software or other technology to maintain their at-home office.  Of course, since they are at home, they will need to be able to figure out solutions on their own as there is minimal support — not to say there’s no support, but there cannot be expected to have the same level of support for workers on-site and workers who are remote.  Again, communication is key.  The remote employee should respond to all communication in a timely manner and be clear when communicating in writing or verbally.

Behavioral Interviews while Remote

Behavioral interviews are common in the hiring process, but when hiring for remote workers, there is a necessity to go more in depth.  Remember to always refer back to the list of qualities that are desirable for remote workers and base the behavioral questions off of the list.  This allows your team to evaluate these traits while also learning more about their skills and experiences.  Fit for the role is also important, as you need to ensure the candidate actually has the qualifications to complete the necessary daily tasks.

Making it Comfortable during Remote Interviews

Remember that even though you’re interviewing the candidate, they are also interviewing you and making sure that your company is where they want to be.  Try to create a welcoming hiring process and a welcoming environment during your interviews to make sure candidates are comfortable.  Make the process more personable so that candidates don’t feel like they’re simply a box that got checked off.

Remote hiring includes the onboarding process as well as the recruiting process.  Ensure they feel just as welcomed as people who were hired for on-site positions.  Perhaps you can send them a welcome email as well as a present.  Scheduling a team meeting is also a great way for the candidate to meet everyone on the team right off the bat.

Implementing AI Software

Scheduling interviews for people in different locations and time zones is a tough challenge.  However, companies like Interviewer.AI use artificial intelligence to screen candidates and help you sift out a pool of talented candidates.  The AI software goes through each candidate’s resume and matches the words within the resume to the job description to see their fit.  Then, candidates are invited to take an asynchronous video interview and are ranked based on how they score.  This means the candidate can take the interview on their own time; there won’t be any scheduling conflicts or frustration.

Interviewer.AI is a technology platform purposely built to support Recruiters and HR teams in finding top talent for their companies. Interviewer.AI is a state-of-the-art video recruiting software that uses AI (Artificial Intelligence) to screen in advance and shortlist the candidates that meet the criteria set. HR teams use the software to make the recruitment process more efficient and shorten the hiring cycle.  Learn more about how Interviewer.AI can help your business.

Increase your hiring team’s efficiency using a combination of resume scoring, skill assessment, and asynchronous video interviews. 

Hannah Ng is from Boston College studying Finance and Business Analytics.  She is currently an intern for Interviewer.AI.

Besides work, she is also very interested in hair styling and is responsible for her family’s hairstyles as a hobby.