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How to hire the best remote workers There’s more to the post-pandemic labour revolution than just working from home, says Roxanne Calder. It’s also about people working for companies that are in a different country altogether
THE PANDEMIC had us all doing acrobatic feats. There was a swift somersault to remote working, which, for most of us, meant working from home. The common thought was that we would soon be back in the office when “the pandemic is over”. Not so, said Delta and Omicron, and remote working established itself as our new working norm but with a twist. Home can now be 12,000km away as we work from anywhere and, often, like in the gig economy, at any time. If you’re still reckoning with the concept of remote work, consider the statistics. After just one year, there was an 87% increase in people working remotely compared to pre-pandemic, and 56% of companies around the world offered some form of remote working. What of hiring for these remote positions? Pre-pandemic practices won’t suffice. It requires a backflip to reboot recruitment strategies. Remote recruitment must be innovative, entrepreneurial, fast, and must
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factor in retention. Here are some key tips for getting it right.
Remain realistic Remote recruitment offers a seismic opportunity to source talent further afield, including in emerging markets. However, it is still competitive, and regardless of the international sourcing pool, you can’t ask for the world.
of tasks, etc. Remote working job descriptions amplify and concisely speak of requirements, communicating clearly what success now looks like. New hires may be from different cultures,
Sensitivity, understanding, reserving judgment, and being attuned to your own cultural frame of reference can avoid misinterpretation and missed hiring opportunities Revisit job descriptions Business models have changed, and that means so too must job descriptions to harmonise with business objectives. Abandon dull job descriptions, bullets, lists
and English may not be their first language. Be creative in conveying the job description so the job is fully understood. A video of the job description as well as a written one may ensure this. Such strategies will improve retention.
