HomeKnow-HowHow to hire the right talent for your startup remotely

How to hire the right talent for your startup remotely

The current worldwide pandemic has definitely impacted our personal lives, but also our professional ones. Companies have had to go full-time or partially remote to minimise contact and avoid having crowds of people at the office. Some hiring processes might have stopped, but others are still running, as evidenced by the activity on our EU-Startups Job Board. To help you through this online process, here are some tips on how to hire the right talent remotely.

Decide which remote situation you want to hire for

One of the most important things when hiring remotely is thinking about which kind of team you want to build: a full-time remote, part-time or flexible schedule from time to time. It’s important to have this planned out and make it clear on the job description so that you get the right talent for the right position. For example, if you’re looking to hire someone fully remote, it might be a good idea to consider a professional that has had the experience of working remotely before. If you look at work-from-home as a perk, then you probably won’t need that experience. 

Tackle the job boards specialised in Europe-wide jobs or remote work

When a professional has worked remotely before or is looking for a job that allows them to work remotely, they know where specifically to look. Facebook groups are one of the places to be, but so are sites like remote.co and We Work Remotely, as well as the EU-Startups Job Board, to name just a few. By posting your openings in pages like the ones mentioned above you will be tackling the right target. That does not mean that you shouldn’t open a position on Linkedin or similar platforms, but if you do, make sure to highlight that you’re looking to fill a full or part-time remote job. 

Pay close attention during the interview process

There’s a chance that during the application process you will end up exchanging some emails with the top candidates. Take notes on how quickly, clear and professional they communicate during the procedure. When working remotely, communication is very important, therefore if during the application process any of the candidates take a few days to reply, don’t communicate correctly or they need reminders or follow-up emails, chances are they are not fit for a remote position. 

Figure out which time zones to hire in

Another important thing to keep in mind when building your team: time zones. It might not be a big deal for some more independent jobs, but a must in others that require constant team collaboration. If the position is only open to a specific time-zone or times-zones, it’s important to mention so in the job description. If, on the other hand, the open position is not tied to any time-zone or zones, or it’s not a requirement, we recommend to write down “open worldwide” or similar. 

Put top candidates to the test 

Most application processes require some kind of test at one point or another, but when hiring remote it goes further than the professional delivering a good final product. Apart from the person being able to perform well on the job, you have to make sure that they do so remotely. For this reason, it might be a good idea to create a test in which candidates need to interact with the integrants of the team they would join. This way you will get to test both: their ability to do the job, and how well they interact with their potential team members. 

Culture

Company culture is becoming more and more important these days. Of course, salaries are important, but now, more and more professionals look out for the company’s environment, perks and flexibility. In remote companies, this culture has to cross the office walls, borders and jump into the digital wave. It’s important that you hire professionals that fit your company culture and values. 

Conclusions and next steps

Remote work was something that seemed like a future possibility last year, but the current worldwide pandemic has sped up the process. Remote work is here to stay and with it comes hiring remotely. Not everyone is cut out for remote work, that’s why it’s important to go through a detailed hiring process to make sure that you get the right professionals for your team.

Don’t forget, if you’re a startup or scaleup that’s currently hiring, you can join the EU-Startups CLUB to get unlimited job postings on the EU-Startups Job Board (which usually cost 75€), as well as other benefits like unrestricted access to our weekly European funding overview, 5000+ articles and the startup database.

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Anna Font
Anna Font
Anna is a Freelance Content Marketer based in Barcelona, specialising in content marketing for B2B startups. She's a bit of a startup nerd, interested in remote work, and passionate about photography and everything travel related.
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