Hiring for fully remote roles? Here are 12 things to keep in mind

The Covid-19 crisis has brought sweeping change to so many aspects of our lives, where we work being one of them. Whatever the situation at your own organisation, there could be an interesting shift among many employers to increase hiring for fully remote jobs – jobs that lack a set location and can theoretically be done from anywhere in the world. But what should you consider when planning and hiring for roles that will be based remotely 100pc of the time?

1. Which roles will work best fully remote?
Certain roles, such as developers, computer programmers, web designers and digital marketers, can be done completely remotely. Indeed, many ‘knowledge worker’ roles can be done just as well, if not better, from home or remotely. The pandemic has proved that.
So, objectively think about which roles in your team, both current and future, could be well suited to having no set location. Generally, it’ll be those that involve a high degree of screen time where human interactions can be facilitated over the phone, video or chat technology.
2. Assessing your employer value proposition
The perks and benefits that you offer to remote employees may have to differ from those offered to people who are always based in the workplace, or even hybrid employees. For example, you might support your remote workers by helping them to achieve the right set-up in their home office.
Alternatively, perhaps you could consider providing perks that will enable your remote workers to more easily de-stress, such as virtual yoga classes or meditation apps.

3. Evaluating the most important skills
Working remotely requires a different skillset to working in an office. It’s also important to keep in mind that those skills won’t necessarily be the same from one role to another. It’s therefore crucial to carefully consider these differences in required skills throughout the planning and hiring process, from the initial definition of what you’re looking for in an ideal candidate to writing the job description and interviewing candidates.
The most effective remote workers tend to be strong self-starters who are punctual and responsive, have a positive attitude, value results over process and are good problem solvers.
4. Changing up your interview process
It’s not enough merely to know which skills the candidate will need in order to work well remotely. You’ll also need an effective way of remotely assessing whether they possess those skills and are the right fit for the remote role you’re hiring for.
That might involve giving the candidate a test project or asking questions designed to tease out whether they have what it takes to be a remote worker, such as ‘what do you like about working remotely?’ and ‘how do you intend to collaborate with colleagues when working remotely?’.
You may need to use video technology exclusively when interviewing a candidate,...