14 Ways by Which Remote Hiring Can Be Made Easier for Recruiters

Excerpt: Every recruiter has their way of sourcing and hiring the right talent, including establishing connections, background checks, etc. It is already a cumbersome process. However, With remote hiring, everything becomes even more challenging. So, to put the burden off of the recruiter’s shoulder, here are some ways by which remote hiring can be made easier.

When hiring remotely, recruiters can come across several issues like a gap in communication, improper analysis of candidate’s potential, etc., which affects the outcome of the overall process. Furthermore, the recent onset of a pandemic has left recruiters with no other choice than to opt for remote recruitment.

It is no more a privilege but a necessity to help businesses go on along with keeping everyone safe. So, recruiters should familiarize themselves with this process as soon as possible.

Remote hiring may seem quite complicated at first, but it can yield exceptional results if the correct method is used. Here are 14 pointers recruiters must keep in mind while hiring remotely.

1. Build a Centralized Recruitment Plan

Recruitment marketing already requires a lot of planning and effort; remote hiring is even more complex. Though reaching the audience is more accessible through online platforms, not every method works for every recruiter.

Hence, it is crucial to design a detailed recruitment plan in a remote work setting. This plan needs to be centralized and conveyed to all the team members.

For building an effective plan, consider:

A typical communication platform that is easily accessible by all members to ensure smooth engagement.
Schedule daily weekly online meetings to analyse the work progress.
Plan opportunities to get together virtually with your team members. It helps them keep connected with the process.
Keep the communication channel open. Let everyone share their opinions without any barrier.

2. Create Clear and Attractive Job Ads

The job advertisement is the first thing a candidate comes across while searching for open positions. It helps build a first impression of the company and the integral role in their mind. Writing engaging and transparent job descriptions can attract many candidates. Here are some pointers to take care of while writing a job advertisement:

Mention relevant details about the job position. If it is for a remote company, mention it. Specify “must-haves” and other specifications in bullet points.
Write straightforward job titles. Writing a job advertisement doesn’t need much creativity. Keep the message simple so that it can be easily understood.
Promote your company’s brand. Describe what your company is all about and mention your social media and website links to give the candidate a better insight into your company.
Use clear and inclusive language. Avoid jargon and discriminatory language. Let candidates know all the requirements beforehand so only eligible candidates apply for the position.

3. Boost Your Candidate Sourcing

The best ways to boost candidate sourcing while hiring remotely are:

Source Passive Candidates. Many already employed people still want to hear about new job positions. These people do not actively fill application forms on job boards. Recruiters must know how and where to locate such skilled candidates.
Social Media is the best way to find talented job seekers. Make your presence visible on these platforms through relevant content, reels, etc., to increase your page’s organic reach.
Join community groups on Reddit, Facebook, etc., to find potential candidates.
Host online webinars for your talent pool and followers on the social media platform.
Use Boolean Search to discover new candidates.
Leverage your clients’ and team’s networks.
Invest in better sourcing tools to fill in the positions faster.

4. Choose a Mix of High Quality and Quantity

For effective remote hiring, recruiters are required to reach the best mix of high-quality and high-quantity candidates. The more the candidates apply for the job position, the more are the chances of finding a better candidate, especially for high-volume recruiting. To locate a large number of candidates, recruiters should ensure their strong online presence on multiple channels. Their application should be both web-friendly as well as mobile-friendly.

5. Leverage Resume Parser for Better Screening

A resume parser helps fasten the hiring process. When working remotely, there are hundreds of challenges in front of recruiters. They can’t waste their time going through the bulk of resumes one by one. So, to lessen their burden, resume parser allows recruiters to eliminate slow, error-prone data entry and management of candidates’ information.

Some benefits of using resume parsing software are:

It helps extract and arrange candidates’ information in a structured format that is easily accessible.
It passes through tons of resumes within a fraction of seconds with 95-97% accuracy.
It gives flexibility to both candidates as well as recruiters. Candidates can upload their resumes in different formats and languages, and a resume parser handles everything else.

6. Evaluate Candidates Effectively

For evaluating candidates, conducting an interview is the most desired option. There are many AI-proctored interviewing tools available for remote hiring in the market. Recruiters can either choose a chat-based interviewing platform or a one-way video interviewer.

In chat-based interviewing tools, AI puts up some predetermined questions in front of the candidate and later ranks them according to their performance in the test.

However, in video-based interviews, Recruiters can expect better results since AI judges the candidate based on their body language, performance, and quick answers.

Recruiters can choose to interview candidates manually too. In such cases, they should:

Start by giving information about the job and other requirements
Make sure the correct details of the interview are shared.
Tell candidates how you will follow up with them.
Choose a quiet place for interviewing candidates.
Keep the videos switched on to give it a more personalized touch.
Use a platform that is easy to use and globally accessible.

Email templates can also work well to speed up the process. Another way of evaluating a candidate is by giving them a short assignment related to the job. This can help recruiters analyse their skills better. Set a deadline to confirm if they are the right choice.

7. Enhance Candidate Experience

The way recruiters engage with candidates helps shape their impression of the company. A positive candidate experience can help build a healthy talent pipeline and solid rapport in the market.

Ways to enhance candidate experience in remote hiring are:

Keep the application process short and engaging. Most candidates drop the application in the middle if it is too lengthy. This, to attract more applicants, stick to relevant and straightforward questions. Ask questions that spark their excitement and curiosity rather than something that can be easily found in their resume or CVs.
Keep updating your career page regularly. Be informative and describe who you are and what is your agenda? Personalize your page with a user-friendly design and architecture.
Follow up with candidates frequently. Use Applicant Tracking System built-in email templates to keep them updated about every stage of recruitment. Give them constructive feedback.

Track necessary metrics to analyse where you can improve your hiring strategies like using email templates and work on those areas.

It is challenging to build an emotional connection with candidates in remote hiring but paying attention to little details like maintaining eye contact during video interviews, nonverbal communication, etc., can help build a genuine relationship with them.

8. Create a Remote Onboarding Roadmap

Onboarding is just as necessary as evaluating the candidate for hire. Recruitment doesn’t end with hiring candidates but also introduces candidates to the company’s culture and goals.

With remote work, recruiters should make sure that they plan candidates’ onboarding strategies to avoid any future hurdles.

Consider the following pointers for smooth remote onboarding:

Provide your new hires with the company’s relevant information. Share digital documents with them to ensure that they are aware of their role in the company and understand their expectations.
Give them access to the tools and platforms required for work as soon as possible. Getting them familiarized with all the tools makes them feel more confident and productive.
Build a formal or informal channel for easy engagement with new hires. It helps them feel more involved and connected to their new colleagues.

9. Build diversified Talent Pipeline

Whether remote or in-office, the talent pipeline is the only way that keeps the recruitment process going. An effective talent pipeline consists of candidates of different backgrounds, personalities, skills, and experience levels. The more diversified the candidates are, the better is the result of the hiring.

Steps to build a diversified talent pipeline:

Determine the role, industry, etc., you need candidates for.
Engage with candidates involved in roles with high turnover and hard-to-fill positions.
Search your ATS for finding past candidates, former employees, and interns to create a talent pipeline.
Poach for candidates from competitor’s pipeline
Source passive candidates on multiple channels
Stay in touch with candidates through various methods like emails, content, etc.

10. Improve Your Recruitment Efficiency

A few ways to increase your remote recruitment efficiency are:

Build a checklist to analyse your work progress. It will help you organize the overall hiring process. Use it to prepare interviews, schedule meetings with team members, screen candidate’s calls, etc. Ensure you have all you need before contacting any client or candidate.
Cold email recruiting is a great way to gather the attention of some clients. Use attractive recruiting cold email templates to increase the chance of receiving an answer from the other end. Update your recruiting email templates regularly to make them more personalized.
Invest in the right software and tools. There are hundreds of recruitment tools available in the marketplace to choose from. On top of that, many vendors are selling the same services, which makes it even more complicated to land on the ideal recruitment tools. Before purchasing any resource, take time, discuss with your team members, look for demo versions, etc.
Leverage your clients’ network to find a potential candidate.

There are many ways to increase the quality of your hiring process. Be creative and explore all the opportunities.

11. Promote Connection and Confidence

Working remotely restricts in-person networking but opens new horizons for promoting the recruiter’s brand online; hence, attracting candidates from around the corner is easier.

However, while dealing with candidates from various countries, recruiters must invest extra time and resources into building a proper connection with them. Therefore, recruiters have to find innovative techniques to make candidates feel welcomed and maintain connections with the team members.

This is the most challenging part of remote recruitment, but once mastered can do wonders.

For maintaining connectivity with employees, recruiters can create a virtual “Buddy System” and create a sense of belonging with other members. Now and then, connecting through calls or video conferencing can make the whole process more genuine and exciting.