Need More Talent? Here Are Some Ways You Can Attract Remote Workers
The signs are everywhere as businesses compete for workers. With so many vying for the limited amount of talent available, it is crucial for you to expand your search outside your immediate area. Today’s workers want more from their careers: more flexibility, more challenges, and more meaning. Candidates increasingly look for jobs with the option to work remotely, and you significantly increase your chances of landing top talent when you target remote workers.
Advantages of Hiring Remote Workers
When you broaden your search area and open up job opportunities to workers beyond your city, state, or country, you significantly increase your chances of finding unique candidates with the experience and skills that will benefit your company the most.
Hiring remote workers allows you to diversify and enlarge your company while keeping your overhead low. Remote workers work from home, and even if you require occasional meetings on-site, you can maintain a much smaller office presence and save your company a lot of money in the short and long term.
Diversity and inclusivity are more emphasized across industries, and the consensus is that including a wide variety of talent benefits you and your business in every way. Whether your business is local or global, an inviting remote worker policy includes this valuable segment of job seekers and ensures that your company’s employer brand is more diverse.
Strategies for Attracting Remote Workers
Now that you know the benefits of hiring remote workers, it’s time to start attracting them.
Make Sure Your Employer Brand “Speaks” Remote
If you want candidates interested in remote opportunities to find you, you must let them know. This does not mean just stating “remote work optional” in your job ads. You must incorporate your remote-friendly culture throughout the hiring process, beginning with your careers page on your website. There are many ways to do this, such as:
- Highlighting locations that support remote employees
- Indicate positions that are remote-eligible
- Testimonials from remote workers within the company
Be Authentic
Make sure that the culture and values your employer brand presents match the real-life experience of working in your company. Candidates expect some things to be different in remote work but connecting those dots between ideal and actuality is crucial.
One way to accomplish this is with a dedicated remote worker experience. Centralized onboarding and support networks for remote workers help remote workers feel like part of the team from the start. Targeted perks also help remote workers feel included.
Perk Up Your Benefits
High-skill workers choose remote positions for various reasons, many of which concern the benefits. While traditional benefits such as health insurance, paid time off, investment opportunities, et cetera, still hold an important place at the table, other perks are becoming as crucial to attracting and keeping remote talent.
Many remote positions already offer employees a shorter work week or the flexibility to schedule their hours as they want. Other unique benefits and perks include:
- Free travel credit
- Mental health days
- A well-being allowance
- Unlimited sick days
- Childcare benefits
- Stock ownership
- Free lunches or snack box subscriptions
- Fitness classes or membership paid by the company
Take the time to learn what your ideal remote candidates would look for in their job benefits and include them in your job ad.
Attract Talent by Fostering Talent
Many employers note that the job applicants do not have the hard skills and experience required for the roles. That does not mean that the right candidate for your job isn’t out there. Getting the attention of top remote talent means reaching out to them.
The first way to do this is to be open to fostering new talent. Many remote workers may be the perfect fit for your company culture and goals but may not have all the skillset or experience your job ad demands. Including an option to skill or reskill candidates will encourage more remote workers to apply.
Include and Educate
You’re already halfway there if your employer brand is optimized for attracting remote workers. Incorporating remote culture throughout the hiring process will keep your candidates actively engaged. You also want to include content anyone who engages with your brand can see and learn about this aspect of your company culture.
One way to do this is curated content, such as dedicated office pages for your remote audience and written and visual content designed to inform, educate, and build inclusiveness for remote and on-site employees.
Conclusion
Whether your company already supports a remote culture, or you are thinking about attracting remote talent and building this type of work culture, you need to begin by making your employer brand remote-friendly. With the proper foundation and the key strategies above, you can build an inviting remote culture that attracts top talent and helps you stay ahead of the competition.
