Remote work has become increasingly popular over the last 15 years, and will only increase in wake of Covid-19. Hiring remote developers and engineers might be a great option for your business: you can reduce the cost and need for office space, create more of a flexible work-life balance for your employees, and be confident in the research that has shown remote workers have high standards of productivity.
Nevertheless, the hiring process can still be a challenging, technical, time-consuming endeavour. Whoever is hiring will have to be confident in their knowledge and ability to pool in the best talent and find the right candidate. At Invatechs, we're dedicated to giving you the skills and tools you need to make your business the best it can be. Today, we're going to give you the ultimate guide on how to hire remote developers and engineering teams, with top tips along the way.
THE HIRING PROCESS
Advertising the role(s):
The recruitment process will already be a time-consuming one, and descriptions about a generic developer or engineer will not be helpful in streamlining potential candidates. You need to be aware of the specific technical requirements and skills needed for the position and list them in the advertisement; it will save you and candidates time if there's transparency on what is required. If you're unfamiliar with the specific technical or software knowledge and experience needed, educate yourself! Or collaborate with a peer who knows what's needed when you're advertising the role.
You'll want to be conscious of the language you're using as well. That's from how you pitch the role, name it, and detail the requirements. Let's break down the basics:
When you're naming the job title, reference the specific type of developer or software developer you need, for example, UI/UX designer, iOS Engineer, app developer, API developer, etc.
The job description should have all the details you need but remain concise. You can structure the advertisement around bullet-points or a narrative style; a mixture of the two is usually the most successful formula. Beyond that, you'll want to let candidates know why you're the right company for them, including information about your reputation, goals, benefits, salary, and why they'd be joining a quality team.
Be specific when it comes to job requirements, it will let applicants know if their suitable and experienced enough for the role. This should include the duties and roles apart from the engineering/software work, such as working with other clients, presenting pitches, carrying out consumer research, etc. Candidates will also need to know what software training is needed, for example, Java, Python, C#, Android, etc.
There are several job boards and forums you can post your advertisement on that will reach far and wide. This includes freelance marketplaces like Fiverr, Lorem, Gun.io and Codeable. You’ve also got popular job boards like indeed, flexjobs, Trio and LinkedIn. Just remember to specify that the role is for a remote worker in the job description.
Who is right for you:
You know your company better than anyone else and what you're looking for. Still, there are some key elements to bear in mind that make a great developer and a strong engineering team. You need to remember that remote workers require a great deal of discipline to meet their deadlines, micro-manage their work and stay productive throughout the day. Discipline isn't the only skill though. You'll need a worker with communication skills that can update you on their progress, reach out to other potential clients, and express their ideas fluently in both writing and verbal forms. When you're hiring a remote worker they're responsible for your business as much as they're responsible for the work they have to complete. They have to be mature enough to carry that responsibility; that means having the confidence to complete tasks to a high standard on their own, establish and communicate realistic timelines and reassure yourself and your team the work is safe in their hands.
This means your applicant has to be more than a skilled engineer; they need to have discipline, great communication skills, a high level of maturity, and the initiative to follow-through. You'll also need to be conscious of your limitations as an employer. If you're a start-up choosing a developer comes with extra pressures financially and for the prospects of your business. If you're hiring a freelancer you'll need to keep in mind the commitment they already have to other projects and how willing they are to emotionally engage in your work. You can rest assured there are talented, capable developers, young and old across the world. The perfect candidates are out there for you, now you just need to hone in on finding them.
Filtering through candidates:
So you've got your applicants, CVs, and cover letters. Once you've read through all of the material, you'll want to select your top 10 candidates. Those candidates should have all the skills and meet the requirements we've touched upon in this article. Here are some tips to consider when you're looking through applications:
Have they read the job description? If their skills don't match what you're looking for, they haven't got the years of experience behind them or their time-zone is incompatible with your working location, they're not the right candidate for you.
Has their cover letter grabbed your attention? You can tell from a good cover letter that the candidate knows the specifics of the role, your company and can successfully sell themselves to you. A strong cover letter is one of the best ways for a candidate to stick out amongst the competition.
Are they the right type of worker for you? Are they a recent graduate or established in the field? Will they take on a full-time role or a contracted freelance role? These are all criteria you'll need to consider when you make your final list.
Interviewing candidates:
You've filtered through all your applicants and you're on the final stretch of the recruitment process, now it's time to interview. Job interviews around the world have moved from office space to a Zoom call, and conducting a remote interview will be a bit different from an in-person interview process. We've got some suggestions and methods for how you can organise your interviews.
A short presentation from a candidate is a very useful way of learning a lot about them. That will include their communication skills, their enthusiasm, personality, technical ability, and how well you can build a rapport with them.
The technical interview gives you the opportunity to learn more about an applicant's specific skills, discover what projects they've done, how they managed them and overcame particularly difficult situations. This is their opportunity for them to show off what they can do and how well they can articulate their capabilities. It's a chance for them to combine their technical skills with their flare and excitement for the role.
A code challenge is one of the best ways you can evaluate a candidate's coding capabilities. Set them a task that could last between 30 – 60 minutes to see how they structure, write, test, and document their code. This will give you some great insight into how practical and hands-on the can be with your development projects.
Devise a way to test and score candidates. This will be a useful reference for when you're making your last choices on who to hire.
When you've completed the interview process, the final decision on who to select is yours. Using the guide we've outlined for you in this article can serve as a useful check-list for how to go about the recruitment process and decide upon which applicant really stood out amongst the field.
THE PROS AND CONS OF REMOTE DEVELOPERS
With all this in mind, you might be asking yourself what the pros and cons of hiring a remote worker look like. As more work moves out of office spaces and remote work grows, it can feel appropriate to worry that you're relinquishing some control over your workforce. However, multiple studies show that workers are ready to embrace remote working. Buffer.com reported in one of their studies in 2019 that 99% of interviewees would like the ability to work off-site at least once in their career. Remote working gives everyone in your team the chance to cut-out the long commute and create a better work-life balance. You can approach monitoring workload and progress in the same way you approach work in the office, by overseeing the process, communication, and documentation of tasks. A tool like Monday.com or a Gantt Chart are great ways to oversee how everyone in your team is getting on. Remote workers can also be cost-effective: there's no need for office equipment, you can alleviate the costs of medical leaves and sick pay. Finally, more and more research is showing the impact remote working has on productivity levels in trends that have been growing from 2013 to 2020.
The world of tech and employment is continuously evolving, and keeping up with trends, information, tips, and techniques can be a big undertaking. That's why Invatechs works to evolve and support you in all your technical and Fintech challenges and find your solutions. If you need assistance with hiring a remote developer or engineering team, contact us today and let us help you unlock the potential of this new frontier of productive working.