Hiring remotely can mean that you are in sunny Las Vegas while your applicant is in upstate Washington, speaking to you while there’s snow on the ground. With working from home and having everyone work remotely nowadays, you will have to do most of the hiring over video chat and from your computer. That’s OK! Plenty of people have done it now and we are here to help you improve the process to make it the best it can be for you and your applicants.
1. Make it Fun
There are so many ways to make the hiring process fun, and a few of those can apply to hiring remotely. You can have a theme for the call, like a color palette to follow or having a special background on display for the applicants to see. Or, you can even have music playing while they enter the chat!
There are so many little ways to make this process more fun for all involved. Don’t be afraid to make it a little more interesting; that way your applicants can see what your business is all about, even from afar.
2. Run a Credit Check Beforehand
Multiple online screening services offer a reliable credit check for employment that will make running a background check a breeze. You can get results in minutes, so that you can make hiring decisions quickly and efficiently.
The best of these services don’t require any lengthy approval process, all you need is the applicant’s email address and you are on your way to the report. You can see things like their employment history, their prior address, level of debt, or if they have accounts sent to collections. This is a great tool to have when you are far away and might not be able to get a good read on them in person.
Related: 8 Expert Tips to Ace Your Job Interviews and Get a Dream Job
3. Send out info well in advance
With all the different changes happening in the world, it is best to give your applicants advance notice and time to prepare. Everything changes so quickly and drastically so, it will be nice for them to be as prepared as possible, and that starts with you and your hiring team!
Don’t be afraid to change your normal style of withholding information until the day of the interview. They will appreciate you giving them the extra time, as they will be able to prepare better.
4. Be Flexible
We encourage you to think about your days of applying for a new job and being in the hiring process. It is brutal and at times ruthless. In addition, most of the hardships come from inflexibility. Not being able to find a good time to interview, having to work around multiple job schedules, etc. It is important to be flexible, that way the candidates are as comfortable as possible.
5. Give them Time to Shine
When you aren’t in the same place as the applicant, you won’t get a good feel for their presence. So, we want to encourage you to allow them some time to shine! Usually you leave a section of time for them to ask questions, but we think giving that time to them to use however they see fit will really allow them to be their best and will show you a different side of them.
They can use the extra time for questions of course, but they can also use it to tell you anything they didn’t get to tell you but had prepared. They will be happy they had their moment, and you will feel great knowing you gave them that time.
Related: Phone Interview Tips to Make You Stand Out
6. Make Sure they are Comfortable
You may have someone who’s unfamiliar with the technology it takes to have a remote interview. Instead of writing them off for not having enough technology knowledge, take the time to educate them and make sure they are ready! If you notice your candidate gets flustered, start a small talk with questions about the weather or their activities before the interview. This will make them feel more comfortable and ease them in answering the questions in a friendly approach.
7. Be Prepared for Plan B
These kinds of interviews rely strictly on technology. You can check in advance for the hardware tools you will be using during the interview, but that doesn’t account for the internet connection. It can be good before the interview but it can crash during the process, leaving you with a misunderstanding of the conversations coming from both sides and a bad hiring experience. The best you can do is to be ready in advance with Plan B, and when these things happen you can switch to a video call on another application, or a simple phone call would work.
We hope these tips will help you better prepare for your next hiring adventure, get you the best candidates for the jobs, and after all that, result in a wonderful hiring experience!
Related: How You Can Better Prepare for Your Next Job Interview
