Hiring Remotely

140 companies answer 6 questions

In our Hiring Remotely section you'll learn how best in class remote companies use their remote status to recruit the top candidates in the world. Discover how you can increase your applicant pool and find and interview the best candidates remotely.

What traits do you look for in candidates for a remote job?

Good communication, especially writing, is key! Most of our communication happens over chat so we look critically at their ability to explain complicated things clearly…

It is vital that our remote workers can complete their work to a high standard and on time. Our online testing and mock assignment are…

When we hire, we look specifically for people who share the same fundamental values as us. That’s not to say we look for people who…

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How do you conduct interviews for remote jobs?

We start by phone, then go to video chat. Lots and lots of meetings are usually necessary. Also, a trial period is a must.

We utilize different tools to conduct interviews. Skype is great for one on one interviews, but if you’re trying to organize a group interview with…

There is usually one hiring manager who leads the process and does all/most of the CV reviews and screening calls. We spend time on both…

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How do you convey your remote culture in the recruiting process?

We do what we can to be explicit in all our public job postings about which opportunities at GitHub are remote and which aren’t, but…

We bring it up right away. We feel it’s a selling point for attracting top talent.

The nice thing is that remote work is becoming more and more common. Lots of potential hires are attracted to remote jobs, and people experienced…

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What is your hiring process for remote workers?

We try to hire the best person for the job, whether they are local or virtual. A good culture fit is much more important than…

The process to become a full-time [A]gent has multiple stages and takes a long time. Our process weeds out people who are looking to quickly…

Often times, we seek out entrepreneurs. Self-motivation is crucial for remote teams – we aren’t there to micro-manage you – so that’s a huge factor…

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Do you use third party testing or evaluation services when hiring remote workers?

We don’t use these, nope.

We do background checks and some of our locations and business units use third-party assessments—for example, in our sales organization.

Yes, we do background checks on all our employees because we are in the information security space. We don’t use third-party testing.

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How do you conduct onboarding for remote workers?

Very deliberately. A big component is daily one-on-ones with a different team member to talk about the job, but more importantly, about the culture and…