It’s never been more important to learn how to successfully recruit and hire remote employees. We’re breaking it down to the basics today.
Remote work has really exploded in the last few months, out of unfortunate necessity. But don’t call it an overnight revolution; the trend of working from home has been on the rise for years.
In fact, in the last 12 years, remote work has grown by 159%1 and in 2019, it was predicted that 73% of businesses will have remote team members by 20282. Based on how things have changed in these early months of 2020, that number has probably been blown out of the water:
Today we’ll cover…
And how to hire remote employees in 5 steps using RingCentral Video as an example:
- Sign up for a video conferencing platform
- Start screening candidates
- Share the best resumes with your team
- Host group interviews to measure “culture add”
- Start securely onboarding anyone from anywhere
Shopping for a video conferencing tool? (Or just curious about what to look for?) Grab the free checklist to help you choose the right one for your team or business.
Benefits of hiring remote employees
While a lot of small businesses might return to 100% brick-and-mortar life when this crisis clears, others are watching their teams find a groove in remote work. There are some serious benefits to getting flexible on where your team works, like:
A more diverse talent pool
When you aren’t restricted to the 20-30 mile radius beyond your office doors, the world is your oyster! Recruiting remote team members allows you to build a more diverse team with great minds nationwide, or even globally, to take your business to the next level.
Employee retention
It can cost a lot to recruit new talent, and one key to people sticking around is overall happiness with their job. Giving your team a better work-life balance (even for the leaders) by offering remote work is just one of many ways to recruit, and keep, your best and brightest..
Improved agility
We’re seeing now just how important it is to be ready to work from anywhere. It’s impossible to know what’s ahead, but having a team that’s ready to go remote seems to be one way to hedge your bets when everything goes upside down.
More money in the bank, for everyone
Every minute counts when you’re running a small business. It turns out, giving your team more flexibility increases efficiency and cuts costs. Not having to fly candidates around to meet the higher-ups in your team is one source of savings, and don’t forget about other benefits like not needing to book up those conference and board rooms all day just for an interview. And in some cases, cutting out the commute means your team saves money, too. A real win-win!
Whatever your plans are for the future, knowing how to interview candidates and hire them remotely is a valuable skill to have as your business grows. Luckily, thanks to super-intuitive video conferencing software like RingCentral Video, these skills are easy to pick up.
How to hire remote employees in 5 steps
1. Sign up for a video conferencing platform
There are a ton of options out there—as a rule of thumb, look for time limits (some limit you to 40 minutes per call) and user limits. (Will more than a few people need to interview your candidates?)
For example, RingCentral Video is perfect for remote recruitment, and it’s easy to get up and running. RingCentral integrates with both Outlook and Google Calendar, so you can add the video meeting link to any invitation with one click:
2. Start screening candidates
With RingCentral Video, you can conduct one-on-one interviews from your computer, phone, or mobile device as you screen candidates in the early stages of the process. This might include meetings with both candidates and their references, to ensure the experience they say they have matches past performance.
With RingCentral Video, you can even do screen-sharing, so if you’re hiring for say, a creative position, you can have applicants share their portfolio as you chat!
3. Share the best resumes with your team
Once you’ve narrowed down the contenders, it’s time to get the team on board! You can share files easily and chat about them in real time in the RingCentral app—it’s a great way to share candidate resumes and talk about next steps in the process:
4. Host group interviews to measure “cultural add”
The age of cultural fit is behind us. It’s now time to look for cultural add in a candidate. One of the best ways to do this is through group interviews with select members of your team. RingCentral Video’s group meeting lets you have up to 100 participants on the Standard Plan, giving your team (both in-house and remote) the chance to sit in on these important sessions.
5. Securely onboard anyone, anywhere
Once you’ve chosen your new team member and they’ve accepted, it’s time for onboarding! RingCentral Video is a time-saver when it comes to face-to-face orientation with your HR team, since you can bring multiple new hires up to speed at once and easily share important training documents or videos for them to review on their own time. (Use this onboarding checklist to get started.)
(And if you’re looking for greater functionality, RingCentral Office also integrates with secure e-signature apps like DocuSign, so new hires can send back their signed offer letters and tax forms in a jiffy.)
When to hire remote employees: Now’s the time!
There’s never been a better time to flip the switch on remote hiring.
Be on the cutting edge of this growing trend and stay competitive as a small business with RingCentral Video’s free platform. You’ll expand the depth of talent on your team with a wider recruitment pool, while securely vetting and onboarding new recruits, wherever they live.
🕹️ Get a hands-on look at how RingCentral works by booking a product tour:
💰 You can also use this calculator to see roughly how much your business could save by using RingCentral to support your team’s communication with each other—and clients.
1flexjobs.com/blog/post/remote-work-statistics
2upwork.com/press/2019/03/05/third-annual-future-workforce-report
Originally published May 07, 2020, updated Jun 24, 2021
