How To Recruit In A Virtual World

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How To Recruit In A Virtual World

Covid-19 has presented the business community with some unique challenges. The near-shutdown of the economy has destroyed many companies and adversely affected the way we conduct business. One of the most challenging areas business entities, executives and teams have had to face is working remotely.

In contrast to the pre-Covid-19 environment, many of us found ourselves in new territory, seemingly handicapped by the lack of human interaction. A sense of anxiety ensued whereby questions arose such as: How will we collaborate? How do we stay on task? How do we snoop on our subordinates (well, maybe not this one)? How do we recruit new talent without meeting them face to face?

As the old saying goes, “necessity is the mother of invention,” and in my case, the need to recruit virtually came four years before Covid-19.

In late 2015, I founded an on-demand photography platform called Shotzu. By the spring of 2016, we had landed Postmates as our first client, and in our initial test run, we were tasked with building a team of photographers in Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York to shoot images of food in local restaurants. I launched Shotzu with virtually no money, and I definitely did not have a budget to fly to each city to recruit and interview photographers. Furthermore, we needed them onboarded yesterday.

So, how did I solve this problem?

1. Identify the platform most frequented by photographers seeking work

2. Develop a system to identify the best candidates for Shotzu and Postmates

3. Streamline the onboarding process into a set of standard operating procedures (SOPs)

4. Make sure the process proves successful and is repeatable

Identifying the proper platform where photographers were actively looking for gigs was paramount. Shotzu needed a pool of talent large enough to have options, and the platform needed to cover the whole of the United States. After trying and failing with Instagram, reaching out to photography schools, and even word of mouth, we realized Craigslist was the best fit. Photographers were already searching Craigslist daily for one-off gigs. The platform had a domestic reach; it was free to post (at the time) and carried one unexpected benefit: Photographers searching Craigslist were very professional and used to selling themselves.

The reason the unexpected benefit was so important is that the photographers needed to represent Postmates and Shotzu in the field; therefore, we needed them to carry themselves in the most professional manner under circumstances that could be stressful.

The ability to be a professional became the basis for identifying the best candidates for Shotzu and Postmates, and it started with the initial response to our posts. Some people would reply with, “I can do this job for you. How much are you paying?” As you can imagine, this was not our ideal candidate. Our target hire had a reply that typically mentioned their prior experience, equipment list and portfolio and very rarely asked about pay. They were overdelivering on qualifications and not making it about the money, which is important because we wanted people who were passionate about photography.

Next, we would reply with the pertinent facts, the company they would be shooting for (Postmates) and the pay. At this point, some candidates would weed themselves out due to the pay, but the ones who were still interested received a reply with our photo guide to see if they could shoot to spec. Once we confirmed they could shoot to spec and through the tone of our multiple correspondences, we knew these facts about our new recruit:

1. They were passionate about photography.

2. They were professional.

3. They were patient.

4. They were qualified.

5. They put the work before the pay.

I realized this was our secret sauce. This process allowed us to recruit top talent with very little turnover. Once this method was proven to continually recruit top talent, we needed to turn it into a set of SOPs so that any employee could replicate this task virtually. Little did I know, “virtually” would be the key term.

Once I had mastered the art of recruiting photographers virtually, we were growing rapidly. With the increase in cash flow, I needed help fast, but the candidates still needed to be professional, passionate about their work and within our modest budget. So, I applied the same skill set I had acquired from vetting photographers and hired my first virtual assistant who lived on the opposite side of the country. She proved to be amazing, and her skill set and passion for her work added so many more SOPs and made Shotzu an even more professional outfit.

She eventually went on to become the general manager and used our secret sauce to hire her own virtual assistant who happened to live in the Philippines. The SOPs put in place were so successful that the people brought on board were almost overqualified for the position we hired them for. Therefore, as we grew, we could promote from inside our ranks. As a result, when my first hire and GM moved on to her next job, her assistant in the Philippines became the new GM!

Here are some takeaways to consider in order to recruit virtually:

1. Find a pool of talent large enough to provide your company with a multitude of qualified options.

2. Decide what primary asset your company is looking for in a virtual recruit (i.e., skill set, personality, culture fit, passion for the work).

3. Understand the culture of your company and determine if a recruit is a good fit.

4. Make sure candidates have overdelivered in proving they can do the work.

5. Recruit candidates who are overqualified. Being that they are acting in a remote capacity, they will need to work independently, be self-starters and possibly have intrapreneurial skills.

7. Once they have made it through the vetting process, hire them and watch your company grow!

Using this method of recruiting can help you make fewer mistakes in the hiring process and bring people into the company who you really enjoy working with.

This Article Source is From:https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinesscouncil/2021/06/02/how-to-recruit-in-a-virtual-world/?sh=21dc01dc6b56