What to Look for When Hiring Remote Employees for Government Jobs
Hiring remote workers for government bodies can be nerve-wracking to say the least.
The high standards of public sector organizations means there’s very little room for error. At the same time, the remote hiring process can limit your ability to truly get to know candidates on an individual level.
Though a remote hiring process certainly has its risks and challenges, approaching it with the right degree of care and a clear idea of what you’re looking for can ensure you come out with a new hire who’s a true asset to your team.
In this guide, we’ll run through some of the key qualities and considerations every hiring manager should look for when hiring remote employees, and why they’re important when hiring for a government body.
Common Pitfalls when Hiring Remote Employees for Government Positions
Before we get into the positives you should be aiming for during the hiring process, it’s equally important to know what not to do when you’re looking to spearhead a successful recruitment drive.
Here’s a quick run-down of the most common mistakes and pitfalls everyone should be aware of when hiring remote government workers.
Not setting clear expectations: Though the world is a lot more used to remote working setups than it has been in the past, there’s still plenty of room for clashes with things like time zones, collaboration, and company culture. These aspects of the job need to be communicated clearly as early as possible to avoid conflict further down the line.
Not screening or using poor-quality screening procedures: Unfortunately, remote positions can attract unethical candidates and other bad actors who might slip through the net. Fair Credit explains, “While background checks serve an important role in vetting job applicants, they can contain just as many costly errors as credit reports”. When hiring for a government position, it’s especially important to apply a thorough screening process, and also to ensure any background checks are done using a reputable provider.
Racing to the bottom: Hiring for a remote position gives you access to a huge pool of talent. If you’re a hiring manager with a strict budget, this freedom can make it tempting to set your sights on candidates from a distant geographic region and hire at the cheapest rate possible. It’s true that there’s plenty of great workers out there who will work for a lower salary band than you may be used to. However, it’s important not to let the prospect of cheap talent detract from your real priority: finding the person with the perfect skills and experience for the job.
What to Look for When Hiring Remote Employees for Government Jobs
Though you’ll know exactly what you need when it comes to demonstrable skills and experience, there are certain broader qualities that can go a long way in remote government roles. Here are some of the best to look out for…
A Results-Oriented Work Style
In a remote-first working setup, managers have limited capacity to monitor peoples’ work and make sure they’re on the right track.
With communication usually kept to a few formalized meetings dispersed through your teams’ calendars, you’ll need someone who can demonstrate a results-oriented approach to their work, and a drive to deliver what’s required of them by a certain deadline without a line manager to guide every last bit of their process.
By proactively looking for people who are happy to go it alone and deliver results in a way that works for their own style of remote working, you’ll lay the foundations for a worker-manager relationship that doesn’t rely too heavily on strictly-defined processes and can function seamlessly across regions and timezones.
Remote positions can attract unethical candidates and other bad actors who might slip through the net.
Analytical and Communicative
Government jobs are fairly unique in the kinds of soft skills they require of all workers.
On the one hand, modern government bodies need to leverage far-reaching and reliable datasets to justify the decisions they make and forecast the impact of what they do. At the same time, government organizations are often required to interact with the public, communicating effectively with people from all backgrounds, and presenting information in a way that reflects positively on the organization itself.
Your remote employees don’t have to be experts in data mining or public relations. However, finding people who can demonstrate both strong communication skills and a knack for examining data will ensure they come to the job with solid foundational soft skills and make it easier for them to understand the wider objectives of your organization.
For more support, check out this great guide from HiPeople looking at “how to assess communication skills in an interview and why they are crucial for hiring the best talent.”
They Track Their Own Progress
Across all sectors, professionals who are especially detail-oriented and hold themselves to high standards tend to thrive in remote positions.
Though excessive perfectionism can hurt more than it helps, if your candidates hold themselves to their own set of standards that go past what their organization or management are asking of them, you’ll rarely have to worry about monitoring their output or intervening with their work.
One of the best ways to vet candidates for this in the interview stage is to specifically broach the topic of KPIs, looking to find out how they’d organized their personal goals in previous positions, hear examples of KPIs they’d used in the past, and get a feel for their personal attitude regarding the cycle of setting and achieving benchmarks for success.
If they show a real passion for moving the needle forward, this is a great sign that they’ll perform in a remote working relationship.
They Can Perform When Tested
You can plan out an interview to be as detailed and rigorous as you like. However, the best way to see how someone will perform as a remote element of your team is to have them show you what they can do.
Before you start fielding candidates, make sure you have a test in place that covers all the most important traits you’re looking for. A challenging test task will help to weed out candidates who are qualified but not motivated, and give you a tangible simulation of what working with each candidate will be like.
When you’re armed with a tangible piece of work from your candidates and a sense of how well they perform on their own initiative, you’ll be able to make a final decision with more confidence, and onboard someone who’s able to hit the ground running.
Final Thoughts…
Though there are a lot of pitfalls along the way, developing a recruitment process that’s specifically aligned with a remote working environment and the standards of your organization can help you find talent who proves to be a long-term an asset to your team.
We hope this guide has helped you better define the standards of your recruitment drive, and find a great match for your team’s needs and objectives.
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