3 Best Practices of Great Remote Hiring Processes

Effective hiring processes that attract candidates who will be additive, culturally and professionally, are essential to any type of business. They’re especially true, and a bit more layered, for remote-first businesses like JDM.

Since our founding in 2017 as a remote-first, remote-only company, we’ve learned some valuable lessons about using the hiring process to establish cultural and professional alignment with our best candidates. This has positive ripple effects on retention, client satisfaction, team morale, and beyond. If you’re in People Ops, whether your company is in-office, hybrid, or remote, we have three takeaways for you to incorporate into your process.

1. Empower interviewers to discuss company vision, values, and personal experiences

From recruiters to hiring managers to executives, work to ensure that everyone participating in the hiring process can speak clearly to how the company’s values align with its actions, processes, and organization structure. Many companies list their values on their website, touch briefly on them in the hiring process, and leave it at that, but integrating values into the company’s day-to-day fabric will help the employer and prospective employee recognize whether the culture is a fit. 

Ditto with the company’s mission and vision; each interviewer should be prepared to talk about what they are and what they’re doing in their positions to advance them.

Perhaps the most impactful details interviewers can provide to candidates are what they genuinely appreciate about the company and what they are working on improving. This sets an expectation of cultural transparency and elicits questions or concerns from the candidate before any offer is made or accepted.

2. Prioritize clear communication

Anyone who has undergone their own job search knows the frustration of poor or infrequent communication from prospective employers. Uncertainty and ambiguity sit poorly with job candidates and reflect poorly on the companies involved, but there are fairly straightforward ways to provide a better, clearer process.

1. Use automation to confirm applications are received;
2. Use a self-scheduling calendaring system;
3. Schedule time each day to respond to candidate questions and make sure they are updated on any changes;  
4. Provide realistic timelines and an overview of the interview process (parties involved, timeline, any expectations of the candidate, etc.);
5. Be clear on exactly what the job entails and how performance will be measured. At JDM, we have biannual performance reviews, regular 1:1 check-ins with managers, and an alliance agreement that allows performance to be measured against goals set out by both the employee and employer, and we make sure to spell all of this out in the interview process.
   
   

3. Focus on fairness

Every so often, do a top-to-bottom analysis of your hiring process to make sure you’re keeping it as fair and equitable as possible and giving candidates enough information to know if they’re interested in working for you as much as the other way around.

Check to make sure you are:

• Interviewing in, not out — which is to say, looking for reasons you should hire them, which helps avoid bias and creates a more relaxing and positive environment
• Using the same set of questions and scorecards to evaluate each candidate
• Including questions that help you evaluate for alignment with company values 
• Incorporating skills tests and/or specific questions about achievements or skills that give you information about the candidate’s fit for the open role
• Providing unconscious bias training to everyone involved in the hiring process (and make sure the training is current, as DEI standards and best practices evolve quickly).

Last but not least, make sure you’re following up with your new employees a few months into their tenure to see if their interview experience aligns with their day-to-day role. Were expectations clear and accurate? Was the process relatively friction-free? Ask these questions while the hiring experience is still top of mind, and make sure you’re ready to act on anything that can be improved so you can keep raising the bar with each hire.

Contact Jordan Digital Marketing if you have any questions on the above - or, check out our job openings if you're interested in joining the team!