As more employers embrace remote workforces thanks to the pandemic, more recruitment efforts will take place remotely as well. Here are four hiring mistakes to avoid as you recruit new people to work from home.
1. Not having the right technology to manage the hiring process from start to finish.
It's impossible to effectively manage a recruitment process that happens 100% online if you're still using or keeping any sort of paper files.
At the very least, you'll want to have:
- An applicant tracking system (ATS) that can handle your organization's specific recruitment needs
- E-Verify set up so that you can confirm employment eligibility
- A background check vendor that can easily integrate with your ATS
Do you REALLY need an ATS? Yes.
Entrepreneur notes, "For starters, this type of software can help you automatically shortlist applicants that will simply not be a good fit for your company based solely on keywords found on their resume. Some of the core features of an ATS are interview scheduling, career page hosting, resume storage, and much more."
When thinking about your technology needs, don't forget industry-specific requirements.
For example, the Department of Transportation is incredibly specific when it comes to maintaining electronic files on new drivers.
Bottom line: Make sure you keep industry-specific requirements in mind when vetting technology and choosing an ATS and a screening provider.
2. Underestimating the importance of a positive remote candidate experience.
Just because the candidate does the interview from the comfort of their home, don't assume that a great candidate experience doesn't matter to them. We'd argue that there's even more pressure to deliver a fantastic remote candidate experience because that might be the only "taste" they get of your organization.
Think about it. If the person were coming into an office for an interview, they could "read the room" and gauge how happy or unhappy employees seemed. They could check out the food in the cafeteria. They could ooh and ahh over the office perks, like a candy station or free daycare. The virtual experience is going to be much, much different. So you need to rethink the remote candidate experience and make sure it wows and impresses in just the right ways.
3. Not conducting any sort of background check.
One of the benefits of remote recruitment is that it can go much faster. An interview with a promising remote candidate could conceivably be set up within the hour of the application being received. Just think of how fast you can fill that open position now! Why would you want to slow things down with a background check?
This is a short-sighted way to look at the hiring process. As Recruiter.com notes, "There is more to remote hiring than hosting Zoom interviews and shooting off a few emails. Because virtual hiring means there’s no opportunity to evaluate candidates in person, seasoned remote recruiters make use of a variety of assessment tools to ensure they make the highest-quality hires."
In addition to assessment tools, we'd argue that pre-hire background checks should be another essential tool in the recruiter's toolbox.
4. Not verifying someone's identity, past employment, and past education.
Bad actors LOVE the idea of working remotely since there's no on-site supervision. This gives them plenty of opportunity to do illegal things, such as stealing company data, impersonating folks from the C-suite, or making unapproved money transfers.
So while remote recruitment has many benefits, one of the downsides is that it's easier for fraudsters to slip through the cracks, provided you're not careful.
You should always know who you're hiring and confirm that everything they're saying on their resume is true. Doing a criminal background check isn't enough, either. Because what if the person has never been caught or any convictions were from a decade ago or longer? Or—even worse—what if the fraudster is impersonating a real person with real legit credentials? (This is known as a "synthetic identity," and it's one of the fastest growing forms of identity theft.)
Now more than ever, thanks to the rise of the remote workforce, there's an increased urgency to verify a person's identity, education, and past employment AND to do reference checks. Don't skip this critical step!
Need help with your background check process as you recruit talent for your remote workforce? Call Good Egg!
We get the challenges you're facing. Let us put together a custom screening solution that will meet these challenges head-on.
