Technology and a global economy are accelerating the changing workforce, an ever-increasing number of workers seeking some level of remote work. Staffing agencies must understand the changing landscape and invest in the technology to embrace and thrive in the changing global workforce. While some jobs aren’t fit for remote work, plenty are. Developers, designers, marketers, writers, accountants, customer support specialists and countless other roles are all well suited to remote work.
There are even remote workers in positions you might not expect, such as project managers, lawyers, and recruiters. Sometimes, the best talent lives far from your clients’ locations. By embracing a remote (and even global) workforce, a staffing agency can find the best talent regardless of where they’re located.
Top Factors to Consider for Remote Hiring
Communication
Strong communication is needed to successfully recruit, assign and place remote talent. Your clients should have a system in place to hold virtual face-to-face interviews, check ins and more. Video conferencing allows for effective and connected communication rather than a phone call or email.
Recruiting
It is almost necessary to invest in remote job boards. Staffing agencies should consider that top talent is currently searching for the best remote jobs and they will need to stay up on the latest innovations.
Company culture
While it may not be feasible to implement remote work, it is important to be equipped with tools and activities that allow remote interaction with peers.
If remote workers are clustered in a certain geographic area, it can be helpful to offer access to co-working spaces with reliable WiFi and a sense of office and community.
With the right culture, technology and processes, staffing firms can capitalize on remote hiring – driving success for their firms, their employees and their clients, too.
Remote Employee Search
Having a way to document the decision-making process helps bring clarity about potential candidates. It can be helpful to create an internal scorecard to become hyper focused on what you’re hiring for and stick to the company mission. The “scorecard” can incorporate core values to evaluate candidates against prominent ones such as leadership, role-related knowledge or cognitive ability.
Defining the company’s version of remote work ahead of time will help alleviate pain points in the future and make job listings easier to write. Plus, the process is appealing to top talent.
Operational components to define:
- Do you want the candidate to be in specific time zones?
- Do you have a specific expectation of how much time should be spent online?
- How will your processes be documented and organized?
- How much of the role is expected to be independent and what “top-down” processes and procedures are to be maintained?
Clients will need to create a game plan to determine the recruiting budget (job boards, social media ads/boosted posts, membership in various job communities) and how they will be managing the hiring workflow (applicant tracking system (ATS), project management app, or email to manage the process). A remote hiring interview typically involves some sort of skills assessment test or project. Placing remote talent isn’t difficult, it just requires a bit of planning and creativity.
About World Wide Specialty Programs
For the last 50 years, World Wide Specialty Programs has dedicated itself to providing the optimal products and solutions for the staffing industry. As the only insurance firm to be an ASA commercial liability partner, we are committed to that partnership and committed to using our knowledge of the industry to provide staffing firms with the best possible coverage. For more information about Staffing Professional Liability Insurance or any other coverage, we have available to protect your staffing business, give us a call at (877) 256-0468 to speak with one of our representatives.