Spend a lot of time Onboarding. In fact, because we’re a remote company, the final stage for a candidate is to spend a week working with us to get a solid idea of who we are, and whether both are a good fit for each o...
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Spend a lot of time Onboarding. In fact, because we’re a remote company, the final stage for a candidate is to spend a week working with us to get a solid idea of who we are, and whether both are a good fit for each other.
There are two types of people. Those who are 3x more effective than in a busy office – and there are those who quickly become isolated or distracted working from home. Be careful hiring middle managers from big compan...
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There are two types of people. Those who are 3x more effective than in a busy office – and there are those who quickly become isolated or distracted working from home. Be careful hiring middle managers from big companies into a remote role on your team as they will rarely work out. Remote teams need less talk and more rock. Look to recruit former entrepreneurs, consultants, freelancers – people who aren't afraid to roll up their sleeves, work hard, and do whatever it takes to get the job done.
The best types of remote candidates are strong communicators and proactive self-starters who care about delivering quality work. They know how they work best and don’t need a hovering manager to tell them otherwise. T...
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The best types of remote candidates are strong communicators and proactive self-starters who care about delivering quality work. They know how they work best and don’t need a hovering manager to tell them otherwise. To me, remote workers are kind of like the rebels against the 9-5 and the industrial revolution. So beyond best practices in how to recruit for remote, it’s really more about getting to the root of who you are as a remote company - what your culture is - and how you’re communicating that out to the candidates. Create a cause that’s authentic and true for your company and the right kind of candidates will follow.
1) Pair Programming is undervalued in engineering hiring processes. Engineering interviews only get you so far given cultural and education differences. Work together with people for 1 hour and you will see if they wi...
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1) Pair Programming is undervalued in engineering hiring processes. Engineering interviews only get you so far given cultural and education differences. Work together with people for 1 hour and you will see if they will be a good fit for your daily work or not. 2) Invest in brand building / employer branding - eg blog about your company. Being known as remote team is an unfair advantage when it comes to inbound/sourcing.
When hiring, we look for self-motivated people that can stick to a routine. People fail when working remote if they don't form a daily routine centered around work. They need to get up and get dressed just as if they ...
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When hiring, we look for self-motivated people that can stick to a routine. People fail when working remote if they don't form a daily routine centered around work. They need to get up and get dressed just as if they were going to commute. When you are in sweats all day, it is easy to get "lazy" in all things.
Biggest thing to vet for is the impetus for why someone wants to "go remote". People normally fall within two buckets: 1) Wanting to do less/little work, 2) Wanting to live a more dynamic/flexible life enabling them t...
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Biggest thing to vet for is the impetus for why someone wants to "go remote". People normally fall within two buckets: 1) Wanting to do less/little work, 2) Wanting to live a more dynamic/flexible life enabling them to achieve more (both inside and outside of work). Work-life balance is important, but it's about finding people who are excited to improve with extended flexibility (ie: design their lives for the better).
Everyone wants to work remotely, but not everyone should work remotely. It’s the job of the hiring manager to sniff out who would be a great remote teammate and who just wants to travel the world while working remote....
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Everyone wants to work remotely, but not everyone should work remotely. It’s the job of the hiring manager to sniff out who would be a great remote teammate and who just wants to travel the world while working remote. When interviewing it’s important to be up front about some of the challenges of remote work to see how your candidate reacts. Not everyone sees those challenges as negative, but those that do may start to ask more questions along those lines. Follow that line of questioning and see where it leads. It’s normal to receive questions around what remote looks like at your organization, but if the questions start to veer towards “Can I work from anywhere?” or “How firm are you on core hours?” you’re starting to receive signals that the candidate is more interested in freedom rather than work. That’s not always the case, but your discernment as a hiring manager is crucial here.
Set expectations. For example, it’s different for folks to do a remote interview. Do you get dressed up, where do you sit, etc. lots of things whose unfamiliarity can cause stress for folks. Set those expectations up ...
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Set expectations. For example, it’s different for folks to do a remote interview. Do you get dressed up, where do you sit, etc. lots of things whose unfamiliarity can cause stress for folks. Set those expectations up front to help calm nerves and help folks represent their best selves in an interview.
The remote companies that I’ve seen successfully attract the candidates they’re looking for are also advocates of remote work. If you go to their career pages, ’About Us’ sections, and social media platforms, you’ll s...
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The remote companies that I’ve seen successfully attract the candidates they’re looking for are also advocates of remote work. If you go to their career pages, ’About Us’ sections, and social media platforms, you’ll see them creating dialogue around remote work and why it works for them. Some solid examples who post their jobs regularly on We Work Remotely are GitHub, Aha!, TaxJar, and HotJar. Other great examples are Doist, Basecamp, and Owl Labs. Beyond stating that they offer work flexibility or remote work as a benefit, these companies are actively discussing why remote work has been a game-changer and how they’re navigating through their challenges. That’s the great thing with remote culture, transparency and integrity has to be at the base otherwise communication won’t thrive.
If the main reason they want to work for your company is to be remote, that's a pass. Look for people who are passionate about your mission and vision first, and remote is just the icing on top.
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If the main reason they want to work for your company is to be remote, that's a pass. Look for people who are passionate about your mission and vision first, and remote is just the icing on top.
Use a short video screener as a first or second step in your hiring funnel. We ask candidates 3 simple questions (1m each). This helps us screen for good candidates early in the process.
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Use a short video screener as a first or second step in your hiring funnel. We ask candidates 3 simple questions (1m each). This helps us screen for good candidates early in the process.
It is harder for remote companies to show their culture - one way to do is to publish your company handbook. Most of ours is public at handbook.meetedgar.com.
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It is harder for remote companies to show their culture - one way to do is to publish your company handbook. Most of ours is public at handbook.meetedgar.com.
It can be challenging to establish empathy across screens. Physical presence is irreplaceable. There are a few techniques I use to build empathy when meeting a new person: 1. Always come from a place of trust, 2. List...
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It can be challenging to establish empathy across screens. Physical presence is irreplaceable. There are a few techniques I use to build empathy when meeting a new person: 1. Always come from a place of trust, 2. Listen more than talk in an interview, 3. Never multi-task.
Don't just hire recruiters, hire coders looking to freelance. I used to freelance recruit and it caught people off guard getting tech'd in the 1st 3 minutes of the conversation. I've had recruiters ask me basic ques...
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Don't just hire recruiters, hire coders looking to freelance. I used to freelance recruit and it caught people off guard getting tech'd in the 1st 3 minutes of the conversation. I've had recruiters ask me basic questions, but not enough to really show that I knew anything beyond buzzwords (which is something a lot of recruiters fall for). If you have candidates that have already been through a vetting process then that's something worth advertising.
In interviewing and/or onboarding of new team members, talk about team values, and how they might come into play in different situations. The goal is shared ownership of values, and ways to uphold them in real-world s...
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In interviewing and/or onboarding of new team members, talk about team values, and how they might come into play in different situations. The goal is shared ownership of values, and ways to uphold them in real-world situations, and constructive ways to immediately address behaviors that are out of alignment.
Remote hiring is an intensely collaborative process. When you can’t have hallway conversations, getting that collaboration right and having good structured ways to ask questions to candidates and document responses is...
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Remote hiring is an intensely collaborative process. When you can’t have hallway conversations, getting that collaboration right and having good structured ways to ask questions to candidates and document responses is really critical.
We’re in a world of higher unemploymentI than we’ve had. You’ll be sifting through a lot more candidates than you ever have. Figuring out how to target the right people will be more important than ever.
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We’re in a world of higher unemploymentI than we’ve had. You’ll be sifting through a lot more candidates than you ever have. Figuring out how to target the right people will be more important than ever.
Talent is everywhere, be it Twitter, Linkedin, Github, or on your friends' phone book, just not in your neighborhood and city, Remote recruiting is all about screening for skills and domain knowledge, it is less about...
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Talent is everywhere, be it Twitter, Linkedin, Github, or on your friends' phone book, just not in your neighborhood and city, Remote recruiting is all about screening for skills and domain knowledge, it is less about time zones, plush offices, and free food.
You want people to be comfortable and have a space where they can work. If you don’t give people a budget for a home office they could be sitting on the sofa.
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You want people to be comfortable and have a space where they can work. If you don’t give people a budget for a home office they could be sitting on the sofa.
If your way of working is a lot of in-person one-on-one calls, like video calls, you should set expectations from the very beginning and you can see how successful the person is while conducting those interviews.
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If your way of working is a lot of in-person one-on-one calls, like video calls, you should set expectations from the very beginning and you can see how successful the person is while conducting those interviews.
With remote work, under-communication happens frequently and you can notice it during the hiring process. If the person takes initiative and clarifies questions, it’s a good sign.
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With remote work, under-communication happens frequently and you can notice it during the hiring process. If the person takes initiative and clarifies questions, it’s a good sign.
Companies themselves need to think about candidate fit criteria. They need to have a process in place to determine what criteria they are evaluating candidates on.
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Companies themselves need to think about candidate fit criteria. They need to have a process in place to determine what criteria they are evaluating candidates on.
If you’ve been banking on office perks like beer pong, fuzzball, free lunches, you have to figure out real fast what else you’ve got for remote workers.
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If you’ve been banking on office perks like beer pong, fuzzball, free lunches, you have to figure out real fast what else you’ve got for remote workers.
The job descriptions help you tell your story and be as explicit as possible with the company and how working feels like. If you put in the effort you’ll get the right applicants.
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The job descriptions help you tell your story and be as explicit as possible with the company and how working feels like. If you put in the effort you’ll get the right applicants.
The job descriptions help you tell your story and be as explicit as possible with the company and how working feels like. If you put in the effort you’ll get the right applicants.
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The job descriptions help you tell your story and be as explicit as possible with the company and how working feels like. If you put in the effort you’ll get the right applicants.
Create an internal hiring channel on Slack and coordinate your recruitment there. Include changes to schedules, calls you’ve had, sharing of notes, etc…
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Create an internal hiring channel on Slack and coordinate your recruitment there. Include changes to schedules, calls you’ve had, sharing of notes, etc…
If the position will involve a lot of Zoom / spoken team communication, include a requirement in the application that they upload a 20 second video of themselves answering some question like "what is your favorite foo...
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If the position will involve a lot of Zoom / spoken team communication, include a requirement in the application that they upload a 20 second video of themselves answering some question like "what is your favorite food" as an early filter on communication skills
Remote onboarding doesn’t start on the employees first day. Companies need to have touch points in place in order to make new employees feel part of the team before they even start.
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Remote onboarding doesn’t start on the employees first day. Companies need to have touch points in place in order to make new employees feel part of the team before they even start.
Successful remote companies are comprised of teams that trust one another to get the job done, and that starts in recruiting. One of the easiest things you can do early on is create a clear online presence that descri...
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Successful remote companies are comprised of teams that trust one another to get the job done, and that starts in recruiting. One of the easiest things you can do early on is create a clear online presence that describes the culture, benefits, interview process, and daily work of employees. The interview process should continue to exemplify this open and refreshing approach as both parties investigate if this is a good match. Finally when a candidate starts as an employee there won't have been any surprises along the way and the trust earned during the process will result in a productive long term partnership.
Successful remote cultures are built on shared values. You don't have an office or a specific location subculture that tends to "govern" your talent pool so your values tend to be the glue that connects the broader te...
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Successful remote cultures are built on shared values. You don't have an office or a specific location subculture that tends to "govern" your talent pool so your values tend to be the glue that connects the broader team on a deeper level, promoting teamwork. Ensure that when you're recruiting, the candidate is excited about working remotely (shared value), engaged in the product your business offers and aligned with your defined company values.
Remote has a special place in our hearts at Nira. We’re a fully remote team with folks based all over the world. We love working remotely! And we love helping our team (plus everyone else!) have a better experience working remotely. Nira is a product that helps any team - remote, distributed or in an office - find information across the company, faster. Read our Remote Work Report