This content was produced in partnership with ZupRecruiter.

Many businesses have learned in recent times that being able to hire remotely is a huge benefit. Rather than being limited to a local pool of potential employees or needing to persuade candidates to move for a new job, remote employment means you have the flexibility of the world. By hiring people from any location and allowing them to work from home remotely, you instantly expand your horizons and the quality of the candidate you might find. But, how do you hire such staff? Here’s an overview of how to hire remote workers and what’s involved.

Many jobs can be performed well remotely, but not all. It’s likely you already know if your business can be easily conducted virtually and remotely, but make sure to consider how effective remote working can be for your firm.

Remote jobs can be as varied as writing, editing, coding, design, or even marketing. It’s also possible to hire virtual assistants to work remotely, without any need for them to be working in the same location as you.

Plan ahead and ensure you won’t miss out on a remote hire compared to hiring someone local. If you need staff to serve people in stores for instance, they can’t be remote. However, if you need customer service staff, that can be conducted with a remote worker.

Depending on the role, you need to consider different factors. Do you need the candidate to be located in the same country or time zone as you? There are pros and cons to both. Hiring someone in a different time zone to you can mean that your business can offer wraparound services all day long. However, that candidate needs to be good at working independently and making the right judgment calls if they’re rarely working at the same time as you or the rest of the team.

It’s also important to consider any budgetary needs. Of course, there’s a salary to consider, but you also want to consider if a home office budget should be factored in. Consider paying a certain sum for your new hire to kit out their home office or ensure they have equipment shipped to them. This can also tie into how you advertise the role.

Once you know what you’re looking for, place a job ad for the role. ZipRecruiter is a great place to check as it’s one of the best job search sites. It connects to more than 100 job boards so your recruitment ad will reach many sources. The site also automatically screens potential candidates to help you find a good fit, before inviting them to contact you.

Crucially, there’s a checkbox option for if you’re seeking someone to work remotely, saving any hassle for both you and jobseekers. Make sure to focus on selling the one-line sales pitch angle well, so that you instantly stand out in a busy crowd of jobs.

Working remotely can feel a little cold and sterile for potential candidates. It offers many benefits but unless you’re a household name, a candidate is likely to want to know more about you than just your company name. After all, it’s not like they can head to your office buildings and check out what they’re like.

That’s why it’s important to have a strong digital presence. That could be as simple as being very active on social media, demonstrating some of the personality a candidate should expect from your firm. Or it could involve having a significant amount of positive feedback for your company’s online presence, across a variety of platforms and review sites.

Make sure your firm is well-known and has a strong reputation so you appeal to the very best candidates.

Depending on your industry, you might actually know who you want to hire. There’s nothing stopping you from reaching out to potential remote workers directly. This could be via their social media profile, their professional website, or by being connected via other mutual ties.

Alternatively, if you want to seek out people you don’t know, you can start by posting a temporary or contract-based offer, giving freelancers and other professionals a chance to sign on before making them a permanent hire. This also gives you the opportunity to see them in action and test their skills, personalities, and work ethic. While freelance platforms are not as great for long-term positions, if you need to find a capable remote worker fast, they’re a good avenue for doing that.

This aligns with one of the greatest benefits of using a major hiring platform such as ZipRecruiter. As soon as you post your job ad, the platform reaches out to top candidates, inviting them to apply to the open role. The unique matching technology ensures that the relevant candidates are coming to you, rather than you having to seek out the best of the best.

It’s likely you or your company have a strong social media presence, which is also a great way to find candidates. It’s a more personable form of networking. If your company operates in a niche field, word of mouth is everything so being able to connect to people with similar skillsets your business is a vital way of getting ahead. It’s possible to create a job ad on LinkedIn but you can also message people you feel would be a good fit for your business.

A strong social presence is also one of the most accessible ways to get your company name out there, especially for small to medium-sized operations with minimal resources. Moreover, building an active and engaging online presence ensures that remote workers see you as an appealing place to apply to.

The recruitment process for a remote worker is slightly different to other recruitment processes. Crucially, it makes sense to conduct all interviews online or remotely. Once they’ve cleared your vetting process and been screened appropriately, schedule a video call interview with the candidate. Some platforms even have built-in video conferencing tools so you don’t have to take your job interviews to a third-party application. That’s important because it streamlines the recruitment and onboarding process for everyone.

Depending on the role, you may also wish to set the candidate an online task to complete so they can demonstrate their technical skills.

In all cases, make the process as simple to follow as possible and follow best practices for any online conversations. That includes a private environment to talk to the candidate and making sure your microphone and webcam are high-quality.

When conducting the interview, look for qualities that work well outside of a traditional office environment like strong communication skills, extensive knowledge of collaboration tools, and self-motivation.

Make sure to have all the relevant paperwork (that may vary depending on the country) and you can move onto hiring the chosen candidate. Ensure that all remote work resources are available to them such as collaborative tools, the necessary hardware, peripherals – like extra monitors, keyboards, and mice – and so forth, and there’s no reason why the remote worker will be any different to one sitting near you in the office. Streamlining the experience for everyone involved should be the primary focus.

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