Hiring is never an easy task, but when hiring a remote dev team for your custom software needs, the process gets even more complicated. Assembling an excellent remote dev team takes more than two to tango.
Finding a remote software developer with expertise in programming languages, frameworks, and databases while sharing the same organizational values is an uphill battle for HR managers.
Eventually, it boils down to the available job. Hiring remote dev teams requires an extra pinch of salt. Why? While social skills such as communication and collaboration are critical, technical knowledge forms the backbone.
So, before opening your recruitment Pandora box, know the roles and responsibilities of the software developer position and plan your hiring process. In this article, we look at how HR managers like you can ace remote dev team hiring.
1. Use pre-employment skill assessment
Pre-employment skills assessment tests give HR managers a time machine. This machine gives insight into a candidate's future within the business, providing insights into how they will perform.
For hiring remote dev teams, HR managers rely heavily on pre-employment tests such as Devskiller, which does not allow unconscious bias to creep into the decision-making process.
While it's a good pre-employment skill assessment, focus on Devskiller alternatives to gain in-depth insights into a candidate's suitability for a particular software development role.
Making these assessments an integral part of your hiring process reduces the cost of bad hires. Pre-employment tests from TestGorilla and Codility evaluate the candidate's coding skills and real-world job performance.
2. Write an appealing job advertisement
You may be under pressure to start the recruitment process straight away. But when it comes to your job ad, don’t rush. Why?
Your job advertisement attracts potential candidates and highlights the standout points of your business or project. When creating a job post, here’re a couple of essential tips to follow:
- Explain the value of your project and how your business helps customers.
- Take advantage of the high-caliber talent and reasonable rates on remote job boards.
- Choose platforms having a flourishing community of members.
- Add testimonials from your existing team members.
- Build your social network presence by making your requirements known on LinkedIn.
3. Interview the right candidates
After screening candidates through the application tracking system and using a pre-assessment skills test, it’s time for you to interview the right candidates. Ensure your screening process is thorough so that you interview candidates likely to make a difference to the dev team.
As an HR manager, create a structured process to set a professional stage, as your remote workers are likely to expect that process. After your initial screening process, conduct a video interview to understand whether a candidate is a good fit. These video interviews flag insurmountable language or cultural barriers.
Involve someone from the development team, as they can judge a candidate’s suitability for the role. Next, conduct a technical screening to weed out copied resumes that exaggerate a developer’s skills and experience.
4. Evaluate their skill set
Use the interview as an opportunity to assess the candidate’s qualities. Look for someone with a high level of motivation.
As remote workers do not enjoy the buzzy office environment and lack the cushion of working and discussing issues with each other, you require someone who is self-driven and a go-getter.
Such developers complete their work with minimum supervision.
Next, evaluate their problem-solving skills as developers often face situations where their code fails to deliver. Rather than holding up work, developers must be able to sort problems independently without depending too much on their managers.
Being self-aware is another skill to look forward to. Developers who know where their skills lie and what their weaknesses are can easily integrate into your company’s culture and contribute to the best of their abilities.
As an HR manager, you don’t want to hire overconfident developers who deliver botched-up codes with errors.
5. Look for a project or experience history matching your goals
Do you want to hire a remote team who requires month-long training before they start working on live projects?
Probably not! Such teams burden your company with an extensive training program. Ensure your new hires get up to work in the minimum possible time. One way to reduce this training time is to look for developers who completed projects that match your company’s goals and organizational culture.
The probability of getting the business objective right is high. Just because a developer is a Java expert does mean they’re adept at grasping your business objectives. On the contrary, a Java developer who works in an industry similar to yours is more likely to understand your business objectives.
Keeping track of these minute details helps you hire productive and qualified developers who ensure the timely completion of projects.
6. Conduct paid programming sessions and make an offer
After completing the interview process, conduct paid programming sessions to evaluate a candidate's coding and programming abilities.
These paid programming sessions are often the last step in the hiring process, as they give you a fair idea of what developers can achieve. Remote workers usually give these tests online.
Next, make an offer to the teams who pass the paid programming test. Most HR managers hire a development team for a three-month trial period and, after assessing their skill set, extend their offer.
How to manage dedicated remote dev teams
While hiring a remote dev team is tough, managing them is equally challenging. With 35% of employees being offered remote work on a full-time basis and 23% offered a part-time work-from-home option, it is essential to manage the dedicated remote dev team you just hired.
Some steps to manage a remote team are:
Properly onboard your remote team
Mastering the onboarding process is essential for hiring an engaged and dedicated remote team.
According to research, companies with an excellent onboarding process improve retention rate by 82% and productivity by 70%. Conversely, poor onboarding lowers your remote team’s confidence and increases the risk of finding new employment.
Rather than following the age-old onboarding processes, think out of the box and look for new onboarding procedures that connect new hires with your company.
Master the art of communicating with employees
As developers in the remote team are likely to be available in different time zones, ensure regular communication through synchronous and asynchronous meetings. This increases workplace collaboration.
Building a culture where your remote employees feel comfortable sharing their viewpoints and concerns helps you build a strong work culture. Some ways to improve communication with your remote team include:
- Scheduling meetings in advance
- Making a personal connection with all team members
- Conducting frequent face-to-face meetings
The golden rule for remote dev team communication: Never assume, always ask, and when you’re in doubt, talk with your remote team.
Remove inner micromanagement
Effective remote teams work independently to complete workplace objectives.
After your remote dev team understands the basic guidelines, the tools you use, and your organization’s working procedure, keep track of their activities but never micromanage them.
Spoon-feeding them at every stage and trying to make them do things your way is the best way to decrease their productivity. Keep in mind that:
- You hired them (at least trust your decision!).
- Nobody can work productively when someone constantly manages.
- You make them feel undervalued and stressed.
- Not everyone is productive at the same time. Some developers may work at night, while others prefer morning work.
- Micromanaging leads to employees looking for a better alternative.
- Manage your teams as well as the tasks using the Agile way.
- Invest in project management software such as ActiveCollab to improve team collaboration and facilitate communication using the chat feature.
- Use scrum methodologies.
Hiring a remote dev team like never before
While we can’t emphasize more: Never let your project’s objectives and employee productivity hamper your hiring process.
Because Robert Half once said, “Time spent on hiring is time well spent.”
Keeping these lines in mind, create a strategy for hiring your remote dev team in mind. Using the right hiring tactics and strategies empowers HR managers to unlock new levels of success and drive innovation in the modern workforce.
So, don’t hesitate to embrace this new working method and hire the right team by recognizing your requirements.
When you hire the right dev team, you automatically open the door to productivity as these professionals execute your projects.
The better your developers, the faster your project moves along. A great and dedicated team requires minimal support and guidance.
Are you on board in the revolution of hiring a remote dev team?
Author’s bio:
Priya Jain has been copywriting professionally for over eight years. She has attained an engineering degree and an MBA. She teaches math, spends her time running behind her toddler, and tries new recipes while she isn't writing. You can find her on LinkedIn.
