All of us at some point have been on the receiving side of job ads. Quite often, the source of irritation for many hopefuls is that the job postings are sloppily written, often missing relevant information or just including a lot of useless filler. This pushes potential hires away due to lack of information and many potential hires don’t even bother as the hiring notifications look unprofessional. Outside of this, other issues that can face job postings include posting where people may not see it and/or ignore it, mismanagement in filtering and sorting of those who do apply to leave a lot of talent falling through the gaps. So, if you’re going to search for hires, do it right. So, in this day and age, if you’re looking for a remote team, here is how to make proper job postings and hire remote developers.
Table of Contents
Get Every Fact Straight
As mentioned before, at every step, there are errors possible while searching for a job, but the main compounding error happens when they don’t specify what exactly they are looking for. It’s not enough to just say that you’re looking for a developer. You have to specify what languages the applicants have to know and based on the complexity of the job, you might also have to specify what frameworks and libraries that they have to know.
Present the Facts
This is the second part of the job postings that you have to take care of. The job postings must state all the relevant facts as discovered in the step above. Outside of just presenting the facts, formatting also matters. On sites such as LinkedIn, job descriptions are just copied and pasted but on other sites, an infographic or similar medium is uploaded. Regardless of that, some details are universal and should be included in the job description.
The job description should mention the company and role in the very beginning along with relevant contact details. Filler terms such as being a team member are a waste of both poster’s words and the reader’s patience. As such, outside of the data presented above, the only other things that should be contained are the job description, requirements, salary (including notes on taxes), how to apply, and the job duration (especially if the hiring was meant to be for a freelancing role).
In many postings, there is often an URL to a website to apply for the role or to a google form for filling in applicant details.
Make the Hiring Process Simple
Quite often, the hiring process is the most tedious and unpleasant part for both parties. For applicants, it is due to the many hoops that they have to jump through while applying. The worst offenders are the bigger companies that have 5 or more Google forms’ worth of pages to fill, often including details that are completely irrelevant and often including several different documents to be uploaded. This is for only the initial application process as post-interviews may require further paperwork.
Even when jobs are posted on platforms such as LinkedIn which can automatically add details from the user profiles, some posters still insist on making applicants visit their sites and jump through additional hoops. As such, a good policy would be to keep it as simple as possible. If it’s not posted on a simple platform, keep the necessary details within a single page of Google forms and let the resume do the heavy lifting.
Know Where to Post Them
As mentioned before, the above steps refer to just one site for obtaining freelance hires. However, in reality, countless sites exist for hiring freelancers. So, this step focuses on them. While it may seem contrary to what you would expect, do not go for just the biggest sites. These sites are overpopulated, over-competitive and generally, the environment is akin to a rat race. A lot of potential hires instead prefer new or more focused platforms for hiring as the focus is on talent rather than the bottom line. For instance, Optymize is such a site that is relatively new. Rather than trying to remove every applicant that doesn’t meet an elite criteria, they instead focus on the ones that apply and refine their presentation skills to help them secure roles that despite their talent, they would have been unable to do otherwise.
Filter Efficiently
The main job of HR and the tedious part for the hiring teams. Again, any job posting for any role requires a resume and so let the resume do the heavy work. Quite often, a resume by experienced applicants tends to be overpacked and difficult to read through. As such, they are often rejected due to members of HR not having the technical understanding to understand them. However, the other end of the spectrum is easier to reject as some applicants might submit what are essentially blank pages in terms of qualifications. As such, while some talent might get rejected, it is an effective way to cut the fat and let the talent who actually bother to fix their resume to an interview quicker.
Hold a Proper Interview
This is the high point of any job application. While the preparation by the applicants is not covered here, from the HRs side, make sure that the interview covers the relevant technical details, previous experience, etc. Outside of this, also mention the job details to the applicants such as that the job is remote, you are working as a freelancer, and any other similar details.
Handle Legal Details
After handling the interview, there is generally an offer letter provided. So, make sure that the offer letter contains all the relevant details on the job in question. Don’t miss out on the payment details, job details, and anything else relevant to both parties. As such, make sure that it covers everything.
