One thing is certain, the effects of the pandemic are not going to go away anytime soon. We will have to live and work with them for a long time. That time has changed everything from health issues to the need for lockdowns and social distancing. It can also fundamentally change the way we deal with employment and attitudes.

While the pandemic is far from over, companies still have to work and hire people. They may need or hire urgent staff immediately so that new staff can be trained, prepared and integrated into operations when business resumes.

Building a fully functional workforce may be a dream for small business owners, as the cost of hiring a new full-time employee is still high at $ 4,129. This is where hiring remote workers comes into play, however. Your hourly contracts and lack of full-time engagement allow you to grow and shrink your workforce as needed while saving money on employee benefits.

But how do I hire someone I’ve never met before?

Hiring qualified employees at the right time contributes significantly to the success of a company. Remote recruiting is slowly becoming the new normal, but it can be difficult to find quality candidates and engage them virtually. Hiring can be stressful enough in person, and even more so in a remote hiring situation. If you’re looking to hire a virtual assistant for your business, use these hiring tips to find the best global talent available.

1. Understand what you are looking for

In general, if you don’t understand what you are looking for in life, you will never find it. If you’re a remote job recruiter, the same is true. Having a clear idea of ​​what to expect from your remote workers is constructive. The setting is not a “one-size-fits-all” option and should be carefully considered before proceeding. Writing a detailed job description also helps in hiring the right candidate.

2. Request a letter of intent or video recording to evaluate your candidates

You will certainly receive more applications than you can process after applying for a job. It is therefore crucial to determine which prospects are suitable for an interview in the first place. One of the easiest solutions to this is to ask for a video tutorial that mentions some important details. That narrows down the serious applicants and gives you additional resources to help you make your selection.

3. Read between the lines during the interview

When filtering through applications, you may want to start with an applicant’s experience. However, you should also review your previous work experience and soft skills. If the prospective remote worker is constantly changing jobs, company loyalty and work ethic can be an issue.

Long work experience on a resume usually indicates that the applicant has been an ongoing provider of solid work for a company. In addition to the skills and expertise, it is important to assess their soft skills and how they fit into your company culture.

4. Prepare for the interview

If more than one person conducts the interviews during the remote recruiting process, make sure you have a standard list of interview questions for remote employees. For example, does the interview focus on leadership style? Past experiences? How good are you as a project manager?

Create interview kits to help anyone remotely interviewing your company prepare and document their responses so you can make the best, most informed decision. It is also a great way to ensure that there are no repetitive questions throughout the interview to save both your and the candidate’s time.

5. Implement collaborative mindset

As we mentioned in our previous point, the collaborative mindset is an excellent approach to involving your entire team in the recruiting process, whether remote or otherwise. This will help you better assess a candidate’s skills, personality, and experience. So it pays to involve your team in hiring remote workers earlier.

During the recruiting process, future employees have the opportunity to appraise, evaluate and get to know their potential colleagues. This will help you analyze whether the remote recruit is a good fit for your team.

6. Eliminate all technical difficulties

Before the interview, make sure that all of your technical equipment is functional and ask your applicant to do the same. Remember that just as you rate the prospect, so too will they rate the company that depends on you. Technical problems or the failure to set up and test your equipment prior to the interview indicate a lack of attention and organization on the part of the employer.

7. Assign a smaller task

Assigning a task is an effective way to get a good feel for your prospects as people and as remote workers. Before you schedule a video call with them for an interview, ask them to prepare for a small task. This can be as simple as taking a personality test or some other career-related assignment that provides deeper information about your character and work.

8. Formulate your expectations

One of the most important steps after hiring remote workers is setting clear standards and expectations. Expectations have to be very explicit and even better when they are written down so that there are no misunderstandings later. This should include everything from working hours, routines, response times and corporate culture.

9. Guide them through a typical work day

Another critical aspect to discuss is what exactly your regular work day will be like. Guide the potential candidates through their roles, responsibilities, the different departments they will be working with, how long they will have to deliver projects, whether they will be expected to work under pressure, etc.

Notice how interested they seem during this process and whether they ask follow-up questions. You want your employee to be interested in the work they are doing to get the best results and a candidate who has doubts and asks questions about the position is always a positive sign.

10. Grant a transition period

In the absence of the personal element, transitioning to a remote hiring can be a difficult adjustment. While difficult, it’s important to remember to connect with your new colleagues. Finding a way to link the goals of a new employee with the goals of the company leads to a win-win situation for everyone involved.

Everyone is driven differently and it is important to recognize this early on. Building a solid foundation begins with good communication and getting to know your employees, both of which are crucial for success.

“Remote work is the future of work. “- Alexis Ohanian, Reddit.

With even some of the largest companies in the world, like Walmart and Apple, switching to a remote, or at least hybrid, work module, the remote setting has many benefits for smaller businesses. However, given the potential of working remotely, managers and business owners will have to adapt to a remote hiring process, and we hope these hiring tips and tricks will help you hire the right people for the job.

However, if you want to skip reading through tons of résumés and hours of interview, delegate the hiring process to us at Wishup. We have a strict filtering process and guarantee you a virtual assistant selected from the top 2% of global talent.

If you’d like to hire a Wishup virtual assistant, click here or send us an email [email protected]