Are you a remote-first company, or looking to launch one, but seem to be coming across several problems when recruiting remotely and hiring your ideal talent? Want to know how to beat all the most common challenges to remote recruiting?

It is no surprise that many companies struggled during and after the 2020 pandemic. But it was a different story in the tech world. Many tech companies experienced unprecedented growth between 2020 and 2022. And how do we keep up with this massive growth? – Hiring! 

Unfortunately, this means there is a global scramble for top tech talent, leading to an increased number of challenges you will face when recruiting remotely. 

But, don’t panic! At RecruitmentJunky, we’re experts in recruiting remote talent, and can guide you through these challenges and the solutions to overcome them.

Current challenges to recruiting remotely

The good news? You’re already on the right track! Companies that are embracing remote working are already opening up their talent pool to a wider range of applicants. 

But let’s talk about the current challenges you will need to overcome. Here are the main roadblocks you’re likely already facing to hiring remote talent:

• High application numbers
• Salary inflation* / Increased competition for top talent*
• A shortage of available talent in your niche*
• Lengthy hiring processes
  
• Effective remote onboarding/training

(* = We have found these factors are especially true in 2022 when hiring tech roles such as front-end developers, DevOps and cybersecurity specialists, and knowledge workers in tech businesses such as business analysts, project managers and marketers.)

Solutions to recruiting remotely

So now you know the blockers, you can work on each one to improve your talent attraction. As experts in remote recruitment, we know there are 3 main solutions to fight for the best talent.

1. Be competitive 
2. Be faster 
3. Be direct 

How do we know this? Because we do it ourselves and with our remote partners every day! Let’s discuss a few ways you can implement these solutions in your business, no matter the size.

🥊 How to be more competitive:

You’re now competing for talent with local, national and global companies. So it’s no wonder that salaries are increasing as companies try to out-bid each other for talent. In fact, the hiring appetite for tech roles has never been higher – especially tech jobs that support remote working – where you need to be quick to implement changes and get agile responses. In 2021, there was a record average salary increase of 9.5% across major tech hubs.

So you have three choices:

1. Pay a genuine, market-leading, competitive salary.
2. Create an amazing benefits package to supplement an average salary.
3. Look to recruit in different regions where your current salary is competitive.

All three are angles you can take, but it will depend on your budget. As a startup or scale-up business, you may not have thousands to put into salaries. However, after the pandemic, there are numerous other benefits that employees are now looking for. Here are just a few:

• Remote working (hurray – you already do this!)
• Flexible working hours (or having core hours)
• Physical and mental wellbeing support
• Generous annual leave allowance
• Learning and development opportunities
• Shared company values (environmentally friendly, diverse and inclusive, etc.)

Our advice? If you can’t compete with the top salaries…be in the top 1% of flexibility and workplace trust.

🏃‍♀️ How to be faster:

On one end of the scale, you might have too many general applications. On the other hand, you might not have enough applications from the RIGHT talent. Being fast helps with both of these challenges. Simply put, speed is your best weapon when recruiting remotely. You need act fast to:

• Find the best talent. (If there is a shortage of talent in your niche, such as the number of candidates who have your ideal tech stacks, you need to find them quickly.)
• Beat your competition. (Let’s be honest: candidates apply to many roles all the time. You need to act fast before another company contacts them! That means being quicker to put together job descriptions and job ads.)
• Sift through numerous applications and screening candidates. (Remote roles are highly popular, so you’ll normally get a fair few applications on any job ads…but not all applications are equal or what you’re looking for. Utilising speed means you won’t get dragged down in the screening stage.)
• Not lose candidates in an necessarily long hiring process. (Being fast when hiring is the best way to keep candidates engaged.)
• Retain talent once they join your company. (Effective onboarding is vital to making candidates feel welcome. There’s no point acting speedily for the first 90% of your hiring process, and then having a lackluster, slow or complicated onboarding. And don’t fall into the mistake of thinking onboarding isn’t part of recruiting!)

Want to be faster?

Get a strategic recruitment plan in place. It will direct your recruiting efforts in line with your business, keep you focused on the end goals, and streamline your processes. You’ll know exactly who needs to be involved, what tools will be used, how much time is needed, and how much it will cost.

Similarly, you need to really think about the candidate experience when going through your hiring process. Do they need four interview rounds (plus a screening call at the beginning)? Or can you:

• Combine calls / remove redundant interview rounds (especially if a candidate is having the same conversation three times with three different people. Simplify it and include all three hiring managers on the same call)
• Include tests immediately before interviews (not as separate events)
• Shorten the time between interviews (such as reserving set time off each day for interviewing, so candidates don’t have to wait days or weeks for their next interview)

All this will to reduce your time to hire.

🎯 How to be direct:

Don’t use every platform in a spray-and-pray approach to recruiting. You also can’t rely on just sticking a job ad online and crossing your fingers.

Our top advice to finding off-market talent is to use headhunting (we’re experts in it). This allows you to find your ideal talent and go directly to them with your job. Even if they’re not actively looking for roles, if you’ve followed the first two steps, you’re normally onto a winner if you’re a good recruiter!

Don’t have the time, expertise or resources for this? We recommend you do plenty of research (sorry!). You need to find out where your target candidates are, and go to them. The same way you wouldn’t send a tweet to your grandma if she didn’t have the internet – use suitable, targeted platforms where your candidates really are. Post a job ad on a generic job ad website may get you a result eventually…but you’d then be failing on step 2 of acting faster!

And let’s not even get started how being direct will improve your remote interviews or salary negotiation tactics!

So, now you know the challenges you may face and the solutions for them, but are you still struggling? Leave the hard work to us and email us to see how we can help you – info@recruitmentjunky.com