On a good day, hiring people for your team is a challenge.
A quick look at some articles I’ve written on interviewing further confirms how tricky this can be.
How Not to Prep for an Interview – Part 2
Now Not to Prep for an Interview – Part I
Senior Years but Junior Experience
References Used to Mean Something
And that is just what I’ve written about on this site alone and not in my book – Code Your Way Up.
So now take all that knowledge and apply it to remote interviewing in hiring people who are going to be 100% remote – possibly in different cities and timezones – because the rules on being remote while having to be local are going out the door (as they should).
What’s a Manager to do?
The landscape has changed and so to must your approach.
- You need to have a very clear expectation of why you need this person. What value are they going to bring, how are they going to help the team?
- When looking for a new person, you will need to start earlier than you think because you will most likely be interviewing people a few times as you assess their team fit and knowledge in a new setting (not everyone has a whiteboard)
- How will you validate their skills with what they say they can do (this is more on the interviewee who presumably wants the job)
- Will you ask them to be on video?
And when they Sign-on?
- How will you train them when they get here? Remember they are alone in a room, how are you going to make them feel part of the team and learn who everyone is?
- How will you get them their equipment? Will you ship it to them or force them to come in and get it?
- Can they buy their own?
The hiring game is evolving and as managers, the first step is realizing what you did before no longer applies. You still need the best people, now you need to figure out the best way to attract and onboard them so they aren’t sitting at home, browsing Netflix waiting for work.
