How to Prepare for Recruiting and Onboarding Remotely


Hiring and placing candidates virtually isn’t something most of us would choose to do, but right now, we don’t have a choice. Non-essential travel and in-person meetings won’t be possible for the foreseeable future, so we need to make plans to adapt our hiring strategies ASAP if we want to keep placing candidates.

Even if you don’t have any jobs to work right now, virtual recruitment is likely to become part of our processes for the long-haul, so the sooner you’re prepared for it, the better.

So, how can we prepare as recruiters for the challenges of having to recruit and onboard remotely? Here are some tips that will help...

Know your candidate pipelines inside out

onboarding remotelyWhen you’re not able to meet with a candidate throughout the hiring process (or at all, for that matter), it becomes even more important than usual to know exactly where your candidate is in the hiring process and anticipate what needs to happen next to ensure everything goes smoothly.

You need to be on top of your pipeline to ensure you’re prepared for the additional virtual steps involved with each different stage of recruiting and onboarding remotely.

For example, at interview stage you now need to make sure the candidate and hiring manager both have everything in place to do a video interview.

So increase the number of outreach calls you make and keep detailed notes about your candidates in your CRM so you’re never get caught off guard or unprepared.

Make video screening part of your hiring process

Due to redundancies, you’ll be dealing with a higher number of candidates at the moment, so introducing video screening to your process will save you a lot of time in disqualifying unsuitable candidates.

Using video means you no longer have to wait until a candidate has the time to interview with you in person, as you can organise a quick online chat for whenever they have a half hour to spare. And if the call isn’t going well, you can wrap it up quickly without feeling guilty they’ve had to drag themselves all the way to your office!

Video screening will also help you assess your candidate’s video interviewing skills, so when the job market bounces back, you’ll have a pipeline full of candidates who are well versed in how to give a good video interview.

Perfect your video interviewing process and skills

recruitment software for BD-minIt’s not just candidates who need to adapt to video, you need to brush up on your video interview skills too. Record interviews through your CRM so you can re-watch them and learn how you can perfect your online screening tactics.

When you’re no longer face to face with a candidate, it can be difficult to assess personality as you lose some of the energy, mannerisms and body language you’d normally pick up on. So ask your candidate behavioural questions and encourage them to back up their answers with solid examples to get a realistic picture of who they are as an employee.

Showing your candidate that you’re listening to them is important, especially when you’re communicating using video. In person, it’s easy for a candidate to recognise that you’re listening and interested in what they’re saying, but it’s not so easy on camera. So practice active listening to show them you’re engaged with the conversation. This will them encourage the candidate to speak more and help you get to know them better.

Create a virtual onboarding program

If you’re an agency recruiter, a ready-made virtual onboarding program will be very appealing to your clients and if you’re in-house, this is something you’ll naturally need to work on to continue hiring into your business.

One of the most important things to ensure is that your candidate is well prepared for their first day in the new job, which can be tough when they’re onboarding virtually. Create training videos or online programmes so your placed candidate can get off on the right foot and adapt to their role quickly.

A new remote worker needs to meet the rest of the team, so use a video platform (like Zoom, Microsoft Teams or Skype) to introduce them to their new colleagues. Set up individual meetings with those they’ll be working closely with so they integrate into the team as quickly as possible.

To get your new start engaged with their work quickly, set up an onboarding project that they can immediately start working on. It’ll help them feel like they’re hitting the ground running and their team leader can start assessing their working style from day one.

To ensure your candidates ace their interview from their living room, download the eBook below to learn how to prep a candidate for a successful interview.

How to Prep a Candidate for Guaranteed Interview Success

Matt Jelley

Matt is a Senior Growth Specialist at Firefish. With bundles of experience in the recruitment sector, he's passionate about innovating recruitment with Firefish Software.

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