How to Hire for a Remote IT Position
Given that one in four of the workforce today is working remotely, there is a good chance that you’ll end up hiring remote workers for your tech teams at some point. By 2025, 36.2 million Americans will work remotely. That’s an 87% increase from pre-pandemic numbers.
With these statistics, it seems clear that IT teams will increase the number of remote workers they have this year. How can you hire complex knowledge workers in the IT space when you may never get to meet them in person?
Tips for Hiring Remote IT Workers
Many companies fail to change their hiring process to accommodate remote workers. But the reality is that the strategies you use to find in-office talent are different from what you should employ when seeking out remote IT teams.
First, you should always around for face-to-face contact during the interview. This doesn’t have to be an on-site interview, thanks to video conferencing. However, you should make sure your interview process includes a screen-to-screen visit. Your IT remote workforce must be self-motivated to be productive and still collaborative even when working from home. The new hire must fit in culturally even though they’ll get to know the existing team through these remote tools. All of these requirements speak to one or more video interviews as a necessity for your IT remote worker. It’s the only way to be sure they’ll fit your team even when working from afar.
Second, make sure you recognize that the skills your remote IT worker will need are different from in-person or on-site job seekers. Remote workers will need both a high level of technical skill but also the ability to stay self-directed when working from home. Look for candidates that have a track record of remote work and can illustrate a high level of responsiveness; often, you can ask the candidate references about this characteristic. Stick to behavioral questions that provide you with real-life examples of how the candidate successfully worked independently. Look for examples of motivation and organization.
Third, the skills assessment on an IT candidate is even more important if they’re working remotely. If you hire an in-house employee and they don’t have the skills they need to do the job, there are people around in the office to teach the person what they need to know. It’s much harder if the employee is working remotely, of course. While you can teach skills to the remote worker, it’s harder to hand-hold from afar. So, using skills assessment in the area of IT can help you figure out the candidate’s strengths and weaknesses right out of the gate.
You need talent, and we have the connections!
The Custom Group of Companies provides our clients with top-notch IT candidates, both remotely and on-site. Talk with our team about how we can help you source, screen, and hire to fill your IT hiring needs.
