5 Steps to Show Off Your Remote Company Culture
Whether it’s a brick and mortar biz or a virtual one, every company has a company culture. The thing is, when you have a traditional office where employees come in and out every single day, it’s relatively easy to convey your company’s message to job candidates. When you have a remote company, it can be more challenging to get your company’s message across.
Here’s how to show off your remote company culture to job candidates—in five simple steps:
1. Be transparent in job postings.
If you want to find qualified job candidates, then you’ll need to be totally transparent in your job postings. “Good writing is crucial for the job posts,” says Rhiannon Ruff, vice president at Beutler Ink. “We have excellent writers on our team who we draw on to make sure that we’re being clear about what the role entails, that it is 100 percent remote, and to give a flavor of our team’s personality and culture. Fitting all that into one short job post is tough, so we look to each of our skill sets to make it happen.” Letting job seekers know the particulars of the position (i.e., the flexible work schedule) can help you attract the talent that your company deserves.
2. Lead by example.
You can give job candidates a glimpse into your remote company culture during the job interview process. “First of all, we use our product—a virtual team office—to screen and interview recruits,” says Cliff Pollan, CEO of Sococo. “This instantly conveys the importance of ‘remote-ness’ in our culture.” This can give final-round job candidates an idea of how your company functions, from tools used to processes and workplace policies, too.
3. Talk the talk.
Having a dedicated, productive team is the hallmark of a company’s success. That’s why you should have your remote employees talk about their experiences working with your company as a way to not only get your company’s information out there, but to potentially recruit new candidates, too. “Perhaps the most important way we communicate our remote culture is through our existing employees,” says Coby Chapple, product designer of GitHub, Inc. “We encourage all GitHubbers to engage with the community in whatever ways they can, whether that’s attending local meetups, speaking at conferences, or writing blog posts and articles to publicly share the way we work. We believe that if we can all collectively do a good job of conveying our values within the communities our people are already involved in, then it will mean that when it comes to the recruiting process there’s a much better chance that candidates will already have a good insight into our values by the time they’ve submitted their resume.”
4. Blog about it.
You can write your way to remote recruiting success by using your company’s blog. “We’re very open about it on our blog, and that’s where most of our new employees find us, so it’s pretty front and center,” says Alex Turnbull, founder and CEO of Groove. Your blog is prime real estate for your company to talk about its flexible work policies, the success of your remote company, and its plans for the future, among other topics. You can also have other remote employees talk about how working for your company has helped them not only in their careers, but to achieve work-life balance, too.
5. Open up the application process.
Sure, you could mention the fact that your company is 100 percent remote on your website. Or you could take it one step further and open up the job recruiting process to anyone, anywhere in the world—truly showing your remote company culture. If your team is comprised of workers from Bali to Boston, China to Chicago, you’ll show potential job seekers that your company is dedicated to finding the best talent, no matter where they are located.
“We allow candidates to apply no matter where they are located,” says Sytse “Sid” Sijbrandij, CEO of GitLab. “Our handbooks are online so applicants can study them. Our interviews are through Hangouts. We’ve not met most of our new employees in person before they joined.” By offering fully remote positions, you’re ensuring that you’ll attract top-tier talent and also build the best remote team possible.
Don’t let the fact that your company is remote stop you from spreading your company’s culture. Put some of these tips into practice, and you’ll definitely find the best staffers out there who will believe and respect your remote company culture as well.
By Jennifer Parris | Categories: Build a Remote Team
