How to Hire Remote Workers, Remotely

For our first five hires, we did meet candidates in person. What it did add was cost, coordination headache, and time. If you wanted to interview three people face-to-face, that could take up to two weeks to manage. The first person in the interview process would then be waiting two or three weeks before knowing if they got the job or not.

• Just do so in a structured manner that compliments your work flow.
• They should be able to respond to all forms of communication in a timely manner.
• Also, while it isn’t required, I like hearing that potential candidates are experienced with remote work already.
• Whether it’s because of people leaving or increased workloads, keep in mind the hiring process can take months, so it’s smart to be proactive.
• The mental health of employees will start to hinder productivity over time decreasing employee satisfaction.

As remote working becomes more commonplace, these same employees have a greater choice than ever before about where they work. They are beginning to challenge the boundaries of traditional working styles, the need to be tied to a desk, and the idea of presenteeism. This likely means you need some way to screen applicants, like with employment histories, or to use a format like contests that make employment histories irrelevant. Incentive alignment in this case cannot come from the promise of a public signal of good feedback, but instead may come from a pathway to a permanent position or a substantial bonus upon project success.

FlexJobs Is SO Much More Than Just a Job Board

Most decisions are temporary, especially in a growing company with a rapidly evolving product, so what’s important is that a reasonably sound decision gets made so that work can move forward. Working remotely and working for a startup requires a high level of autonomy and action. The ability to “find answers” and “figure it out” are crucial to a new employee’s success. This isn’t meant to be frustrating, but actually as a way for us to understand if there’s a good match. Also, in a remote setting it’s vital to hire proactive, curious people who won’t wait to be told how to do things. That’s why one of the most important things we look for in interviews are “Jacks & Jills of all trades” – people who take ownership over learning new skills.

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Questions to evaluate communication skills

If you want to be how to work from home successfully here, you need to come to the table with remote working experience and a passion for travel. We also look for a few other traits—startup experience, the ability to work autonomously, and the ability to collaborate—when determining who would make a good fit in our organization. We consider our remote candidates no different from in-office candidates. Most of our business team is in office, and most product is remote, but that isn’t a hard, fast rule for who we hire for which location. In order to be successful in a remote environment, one has to be self-motivated. You will not be given daily tasks at komoot and you are responsible for driving your agenda/day.

In summary, hiring remotely doesn’t require you to dramatically overhaul your existing recruitment strategies. Data from Jobvite shows that asking for employee referrals can nearly halve your recruiting time . Here’s what’s worked for us as we’ve built a remote culture of safety and trust where individuals feel valued and want to participate in virtual happy hours and the like.

More In Invest in You: Ready. Set. Grow.

Occasionally, we talk to people that say they would rather work in an office environment. In those cases we try to clearly set expectations so they know what they’re getting into if they join us. Some people might not enjoy the culture of remote work and that’s fine. I wouldn’t want to put anyone in a situation that didn’t make them happy.

• Giant walls of text aren’t fun either, so it’s important to keep things concise.
• There’s huge value in having the flexibility to go out for a 15 minute walk, not stressing out over if you’ll miss a message during that time.
• Having worked remotely in the past is a plus, but too many freelance jobs isn’t.
• After all, just because someone has the right skills for the role doesn’t mean they’re the best person for that specific job at your specific company.

You’ll notice this is a common theme with us, but “trust” is a big one. The ability to trust that your teammate is going to go away and do an amazing job and check back in when they’re ready to. If a candidate explains that they need a lot of direction and “hand holding,” then that is usually not the best candidate for a remote opportunity. This isn’t just about grammar, it’s about succinctly communicating your ideas and the ability to express your personality through writing. I lean towards people who are self-motivated, organized, work well with deadlines, and are very driven. We find these to be the best traits for a remote work environment.