Finding the right remote worker to fill in a vacancy requires time, effort, and money. If you choose the wrong person, you may end up wasting all these resources as you go back to step one of the recruitment processes. Hence, you’re expending double, if not more, of what’s necessary for hiring.

Just because someone has an impressive resume or performs well during video calls with the HR, it doesn’t always mean that they’re the perfect fit for the role either. There may be underlying issues, such as refusing to comply with authority or making exaggerated claims about their skills. These are things that you can glean during the job interview if you were know-how.

In this article, Remote Workmate aims to provide insight on how you can best evaluate candidates after the HR screening interview. We hope the tips below help you speed up your hiring process while reducing the costs involved.

Assess their body language

A video call is a must when interviewing candidates online, as you can’t meet them in person. It’s even better if you’re able to record your conversation (but get their consent first) so you can review the video while comparing different applicants, else you’ll have to recall their behaviour best as you can.

Some aspects of body language you want to pay special attention to include:

• Eagerness
• Willingness
• Career objective
• Thoughtfulness
• Honesty
• Transparency

Eager people tend to lean forward and listen closely while restlessness and slouching mean lack of engagement. Sustained eye contact conveys sincerity while fidgeting suggests lack of confidence.

Check their communication skills

Communication is critical for remote work as each member of your team has to rely on tools and the internet to collaborate with each other rather than face-to-face talks. Prior to and perhaps even after the job interview, your interactions with the candidates will be minimal so you’ll have to evaluate their communication skills on that single interview.

Note their initial impression, especially their tone of voice. Did they sound consistent with what’s shown on their resume? How did they verbally interact with you during the interview? Were they a good listener? Did they seek clarification for questions they didn’t understand? Were they able to answer the questions you asked? Weigh in factors such as these to see how they communicate.

Consider their enthusiasm levels

The person you pick for the position has to be excited to join your team and have a desire to grow more in their field. They must want to learn as much as they can about your operations and the company’s vision. They have to be capable of sharing ideas that benefit both themselves as an individual and the business as a whole.

If it seems like they were just going through the motions of applying, they might not care where they’ll get hired. There may be another company that they prefer and you’re only the second option. In case they’re selected by both companies, they’ll pick the other employer and you’ll be left looking for someone else.

Examine their social media activity

Social media presence is one of the many factors that modern employers look at today. This is because a large percentage of the workforce is made up of millennials who were born between 1981 and 1996. This group of individuals grew up using social media, which impacts their communication skills, among other things.

If you notice them posting complaints about previous jobs on Facebook, you may wonder if they’ll do the same with you. If they upload photos of drinking parties and out-of-town trips almost every day, you might have second thoughts about their performance and attendance. Think about how this links up with your conversation with them.

Speak to their references

If you’re able to talk to their references before the interview, you can go back to those conversations (via recordings) and see if what the candidates said are matching up. If not, you can call the references now and ask for confirmation or clarification about what the applicant mentioned before.

Speaking with their previous managers and colleagues can provide great insight on skills and experience of the candidates you’re considering. It’s quite easy for an applicant to claim that they worked on this or that project when it wasn’t actually the case. Also, it may be that the applicant failed to mention that they have a small background in a certain field relevant to the position.

Meet with the hiring team

When the role you’re trying to fill is part of a smaller department or team, you’ll have to involve the managers or those in a supervisory position who are familiar with the responsibilities that the successful candidate will have to perform should they get hired.

Note their impressions of each applicant as they might have noticed things that you weren’t able to. Cognitive biases also play a role in hiring decisions and what they may remember about the candidate may be different from yours.

Final Thoughts

There’s no fool-proof plan for post-interview evaluation. Each person and each organisation is different, after all. It’s a necessary step when you want to make sure that you’ll be recruiting the correct remote assistant though.

We at Remote Workmate are able to assist you with the initial steps of the recruitment process until after the interview. We make sure to endorse only the most suitable professionals for whatever kind of position you wish to fill.