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4 Essential Tips for Virtual Recruiters

Steve Lowisz
Recruiting remotely offers a lot of opportunities, but also a lot of challenges.

Sure, you can access candidates around the globe, and recruit for companies anywhere.

But on the other hand, building relationships is harder when you can’t meet in person. And how do you really get to know a company’s culture if you never have the chance to visit the office?

Here are four key tips to help you on your way to recruiting success.

Meet Candidates Where They’re At 

It’s getting harder and harder to find qualified candidates for open positions – especially highly-skilled roles. However, many recruiters make it harder for themselves by not looking in the right places.

Your best bet for finding virtual candidates is finding the places where they spend time online. Everyone spends time somewhere on the internet, whether it’s LinkedIn, Twitter, Reddit, Discord, or another online community.

Oftentimes, joining a group dedicated to certain professions or industries on Facebook or LinkedIn can be a great way to find professionals in your target niche.

Fine-Tune Virtual Onboarding 

Finding and hiring a candidate is great – but if your onboarding gives a bad first impression and they quit two weeks later, you’re back to square one.

Virtual onboarding poses even more challenges than an in-person process. Work with hiring managers to evaluate every step of the onboarding process.

Does it help new employees get acclimated? Do they know what to expect the first day, week, and month on the job? Does it give them an on-ramp to get to know other people at the company and start building personal connections?

Get on the Same Page With Expectations 

Whether it’s virtual or traditional, one of the most common pitfalls in recruiting is the mismatch between your expectations and the hiring manager’s.

Talk to the hiring manager – what are the top 5 skills, traits, or certifications that are most vital for the role? How do they define success? What made the last person in this role so successful?

The more detail you can get about what they expect and why, the more likely you are to make an awesome hire.

Experiment With Approaches from Competitors 

There’s nothing wrong with taking a page out of your competitor’s book! Every search, company, and talent pool is different and requires a different approach to achieve the right results.

Research what your competitors are doing to get new ideas. How are they advertising job openings? What candidates are they targeting? Are their job descriptions written differently than yours? What perks do they emphasize?
There’s always something to learn from our competitors. It’s not about copying anyone’s approach, it’s about putting your own spin on new ideas and gaining inspiration. 

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