How to Onboard New Remote Employees Who Live in Multiple Countries

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The world has changed forever after the pandemic COVID -19 in 2020. Now it's the turn of companies like yours to step up their game and align with that change.

Today's top companies have realized the benefits of remote working, and many of them that once only accepted face-to-face employees have finally moved to break any barrier. As a result, most candidates are aware of this reality, with 87% willing to accept remote jobs if they receive such an offer.

Similarly, when you start hiring remote workers for your company, you're likely to encounter many candidates based in other countries. How can you legally hire them if you don't have a local presence? Is this even possible? The answer is yes.

Let's go through the key steps so you can bring the best employees on board. Regardless of which country they come from, let's make use of the reality of remote positions to skyrocket your company among the best in the market. 

5 Steps to onboard the best remote international talent

1. Use a top-notch onboarding management software

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The first step is to use an e-recruiting system for remote employees. This software generates electronic data about the hiring and recruiting process, from the receipt of the resume to the final step of the hiring process itself.

The idea is that you keep track of everything relevant: goals, number of applicants needed, dropout rates, budgets, time, and so on. Once hired, they greatly simplify onboarding management and ensure that your new employees can hit the ground running.

When you've all these administrative steps up to date, it'll be easier for you to understand and optimize onboarding management, and you'll have a clear and defined idea of how to proceed with the following steps.

It's the first time a new employee becomes familiar with your company, brand, and work culture. This first experience will determine the future relationship between the employee and the company. Automated onboarding can ensure that your new employees have a consistently good experience. 

2. Use optimal media to show the culture of your company

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Let's say you're a professional looking to work internationally. You want to use a platform that shows all the details about the most prestigious companies and has no location restrictions. Which channel would you use? Bingo!

Many executives make the common mistake of posting on job boards that aren't appropriate when they're actually looking for experienced employees to work remotely. In other words, even if you post on traditional job boards, that doesn't mean you'll find the ones you're really looking for there.

One of the most common and effective channels to get a good employee on board is your company's social networks, from its website to its LinkedIn profile. Many candidates are tempted to work at a particular company because of its great work culture, which is spread through these channels.

It's very important that you're up to the task and can show your potential future employees the environment they'll be immersed in if they're selected. It's not about losing a good candidate just because the social networks aren't up to date, and in this way, you can maintain the values of the company in terms of brand. 

3. Build trust with a solid offer

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Keep in mind that applicants get more offers than you can imagine. Write and publish the offer that stands out from the rest and attracts their attention. This is how you write a high-quality offer:

• Use an eye-catching title: try to write in a way that will encourage candidates

• Describe your ideal candidate: tell the world what you're looking for and what the new employee's skills and values should be

• Briefly tell the story of the company: where it came from and what drives it. What's the work environment you support and share for all your employees?

• Describe the responsibilities and requirements of the job: education or certifications to obtain, skills, functions that must be performed

Also explain if you'll cover the cost of water, electricity, or internet while telecommuting to make it clear that remote work truly is special. In this way, your company builds trust with employees and ensures that everything is done in a clear and transparent system. 

4. Choose the skills that will succeed working remotely

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Having people from multiple countries on the team requires a very different set of skills. The hiring strategy already in place needs to be adjusted to find the ideal remote worker. Here are the most important of them:

• Advanced organizational skills: any remote team member has more autonomy and independence than a person working in an office. You need someone who won't be overwhelmed by the amount of work combined with all the distractions their home office can provide.

• Ability to be self-motivated: for some people, the physical connection and shared experiences are what they value most about their workday.

• Solid communication skills: your remote job candidate needs to be a good communicator and be able to convey input and concerns as if they were sitting across from the rest of the team. This is done in large part through the proper use of available internal communication tools.

• Innovating amid constraints: many spectacular new ideas are born while the team is apart, on a video call or frantically typing away in a group chat. You want to hire someone whose creativity doesn't depend on external factors, so they can flourish in other circumstances.

• Good knowledge of technology: although IT also offers support for remote teams, it's better to hire someone who can fix minor issues themselves. If someone has problems with technology, it's really not good for someone applying for a remote team position.

This way, you're not only attracting talent who can handle the technical side of tasks, but who also know how to resolve any situation that comes up while they're away, adapt, and grow in the position. 

5. Optimize HR to go the extra mile

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If you make an effort to find the right candidate, it'll go a long way to making them feel comfortable in your company. This always starts from HR; so you can:

• Stay in constant contact

• Send some of your branded products to their home to make them feel included: a card, a poster, an extra email

• Make sure your future team members communicate with applicants beforehand: targeted touchpoints usually work well.

• Send a packet of information about your company, with videos about your offices, webinars, and links to your blog and social media channels

• Especially in a mass recruitment, ask new applicants directly, "Who else would you like to talk to?" or "What other questions do you've?" so you can customize the process.

Imagine the difference when you're greeted warmly and made to feel at home at your new workplace, where you'll spend most of your time from now on. The role of HR in hybrid work culture is to make candidates feel engaged and motivated to start their new job, so make sure the department is really trying to stand out.

This may even set your company apart from the sad first days offered by other companies, where applicants have no idea who'll be on their team and what's expected of them until well into the first week. 

New employees, multiple countries, new success

​In short, put yourself in the shoes of all those star candidates looking for their dream job, regardless of distance or country borders. It's a new world and your strategies need to adapt to it. Remember this:

• Choose the best remote employee onboarding software and streamline the administrative process: spend time on the human aspects of recruiting and put the paperwork on the back burner

• Show the good work culture you've to offer through the best channels: move in the same world as your applicants and discard all traditional ways of advertising your project

• Write a clear, concise, and attractive job offer: mention all the aspects that make your project stand out from the others. Don't forget to mention the benefits you offer for telecommuting and the type of work

• Choose candidates who stand out not only for their hard skills but also for the soft skills that will help them manage the job independently

• Once you find that star employee, don't let them go: don't be afraid to compete shoulder-to-shoulder for the best

With these strategies, you'll be ready to compete for the employees who add real value to your organization. The ones who're worth improving for every day. Time is money, so don't waste it and start the best all-star recruiting process your company has ever seen.

Author's Bio:​

Guillermo is a Venezuelan SEO content writer currently living between Uruguay and Argentina. He is currently a head content writer for Skale. His articles have reached more than two million people across the Americas. He is a firm believer in love, dulce de leche and Kelly Clarkson.