Hiring Remotely? Five Ways Mid-Size Companies Can Compete with Tech Giants
Today, it’s not uncommon for technology companies to launch without a centralized office. Browse online job postings and you’ll see thousands of scaling startups in the U.S. hiring exclusively for remote roles.
The prevalence of remote models - combined with extreme demand for technical talent - means many candidates now expect to be offered a remote position. If it’s not immediately offered, they’ll likely find a startup job somewhere else. Combined with the largest skills gap in U.S. history - it’s reported that there are five available jobs for every one software developer - competition has never been more fierce when hiring technical talent. A remote policy is no longer a nice to have; it’s an expectation. Startups that don’t prioritize remote working models may find themselves quickly falling behind in their ability to attract and retain talent.
FAANG: Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, and Google.
This can be a daunting reality for scaling companies: even if you offer a remote or hybrid model, knowing that tech giants largely offer it as well may make you feel apprehensive. Especially in a tough economic climate, we are starting to see a trend of tech talent preferring to work for large organizations over startups due to job stability.” So the question remains: how can scaling startups compete with Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, and Google (FAANG) on talent acquisition?
1.Understand what candidates are looking for in a remote startup environment
It’s likely that you’re hiring Millennials and Gen Zs for existing roles. If you’re not in one of those generations - or even if you are! - can you confidently guess at what they want from their career?
According to research conducted by Deloitte, young workers today are feeling burned out. They’re facing financial anxiety, taking on second jobs, and feeling less able to “keep up” than ever. All of this is leading to them looking for more purposeful and flexible work.
Unsurprisingly, these factors have led people in younger generations to want a role with better pay. Perhaps less expected, however, is that they’re also interested in less popular benefits: mental health care, four-day work weeks, and to work for a company that cares about personal and global topics.
As of 2021, half of survey respondents reported feeling professional burnout.
2. Showcase your startup’s values and culture
For as many as 16% of remote workers, loneliness is the biggest challenge with working remotely. Over the last 30 years, more and more residents of the U.S. have started to live on their own. Today, about 38% of the U.S. population isn’t living with a romantic partner during prime working years. Combine that with working for a remote startup, and it’s no wonder why people may begin to feel disconnected.
4/5 job seekers say it's important to understand a company's culture before accepting a position.
By showcasing critical elements of your company’s core values and culture upfront, you have a unique opportunity to stand out against bigger players. It’s important to note that for many, especially in the remote environment, they may actually prefer a smaller company. It may feel like they have more of an opportunity to get to know their colleagues and build real connections.
Below are a few ways you can demonstrate culture.
How you foster connection across the company
When recruiting for technical roles, demonstrate how your remote team has maintained and shaped culture, especially if there’s been a transition from in-office. Culture is often deemed “supplementary” when recruiting for a new role, causing it to be overlooked. But this is at odds with its importance from candidates: according to a recent GlassDoor survey, 77% of respondents consider a company’s culture before applying to a job there, and 56% say culture is more important than salary when considering leaving or joining a company.
Here are a few ways you can promote connection across teams and departments:
Do you organize weekly all-team meetings where everyone can get together?
Host lunch and learns with a paid meal?
Randomly pair up team members in 1:1 coffee dates every week?
Let candidates know this up front! Helping candidates visualize their day to day can increase the likelihood they accept the offer. And culture is perhaps the most important aspect of a role for doing that.
Startup culture begins with defining what yours is so you can clearly communicate it to candidates
How teams communicate and collaborate remotely
While it helps to show how the entire company communicates and builds relationships, it’s critical to demonstrate how the candidate would engage with their team on a daily basis. These are the people they’re going to be in the trenches with: their manager, coworkers, and any direct reports.
Even before the interviews begin, at which point the candidate should be meeting with members of their team, you can highlight how you encourage open communication. For instance:
Does everyone have clear responsibilities?
Do you make use of Agile, Waterfall, or some other engineering workflow?
Will the candidate have the opportunity for one-on-one meetings with their manager?
Depending on the role, you can also dig into more granular detail. For example, if you’re interviewing a design candidate, you may want to speak to how they work together with developers.
Share your company values
Believe it or not, a number of independent surveys in 2022 found that Gen Zs and Millenials wanted to work for a company making an impact. Many of them feel so strongly about this they’re willing to turn down jobs that don’t align with their values. And this is only more true for those in positions of leadership: as many as 46% - or half - of Gen Zs or Millennials in senior positions have rejected a job and/or assignment based on their personal ethics.
Not only is understanding your values and clearly communicating them appealing to candidates, it’s also useful for you. Sharing your values will help the candidate get a sense of whether they’re excited to work for you (and if they’re a good fit). Similarly, it will also help you identify whether this person would be a good culture fit. If they align with your vision and values, it will help build enthusiasm around projects and increase the likelihood that they’ll stick around.
Question to ask yourself: Do I have a clear sense of what my company stands for just by reading the open job description?
3. Focus on the career journey and professional development
A lack of learning and development opportunities were the second-highest reason Gen Zs and Millennials left their organization during the “Great Resignation.” This also aligns with what we hear from both hiring managers and candidates alike. It’s likely also even more critical for remote candidates, who get less exposure to higher-ranking staff and opportunities, simply because they aren’t in the office.
This shouldn’t be too surprising, given how quickly the tech sector is growing and evolving. Still, it should be clear that the perks offered pre-pandemic - nap rooms, pingpong tables, and beer on tap, to name a few - are no longer enough to attract candidates. Good talent doesn’t always want all the bells and whistles; often, simpler is better.
While professional development opportunities will look different for every candidate, there are some clues you can take from other company’s books on this one. Slack’s Rising Tides program provides sponsorship to high performers who have historically lacked access to this kind of support.
If you don’t offer this already, here are a few flexible options you can offer employees:
Reimburse employees for courses or certifications related to their role
Provide access to free online learning tools, like LinkedIn Learning (formerly lynda.com)
Prioritize manager mentorship, where employees receive 1:1 coaching toward their career goals
Once you have these worked out, share your company’s professional development opportunities with candidates in the job posting and on your website. You can also simply ask candidates in the initial screening call, or early in the process, about their career goals and professional development interests.
Question to ask yourself: Does my job posting have at least one professional development perk clearly outlined?
Providing skills training and professional development remains a top priority for retaining talent in 2022
4. Make virtual screening processes more human
Virtual screening processes - like answering standardized survey questions - can feel cold. As recruiters, though, we understand that sometimes you have to use them. So, if you use screening questions, try a quick 5-to-10 minute “virtual handshake” with each candidate in advance (there won’t be that many!). A virtual handshake is simple: just hop on a video call with the candidate for a few minutes, give them a wave and a smile, and introduce yourself. It’ll help humanize the process, make the candidate feel more at ease, and help your company stand out in interviews.
Once you’re past any initial screening questions, there are a few things you can do to make sure candidates get a sense of who you are and communicate that you’re interested and committed to foster an inclusive, warm culture.
Turn on your video
Use video in your calls wherever possible! While estimates vary, as much as 93% of communication is non-verbal, meaning you’ll lose a lot of context if you simply conduct phone calls.
Eye contact, smiling, and hand gestures all influence how people interpret and react to information, and this works both ways.
Ask the candidate about themselves
Especially for technical roles, interviews can be grueling, drawn-out processes. Sometimes, amid all of the screening questions and technical challenges, we forget about one of the most important aspects: getting to know who this candidate is outside of work.
Demonstrating interest in the candidate is simple, and it’s a surefire way to make the candidate feel like they’re more than just a number. It’ll also leave them feeling more positive and warm toward you and your company, a bonus if they’re interviewing with multiple companies.
Hold “culture interviews”
For candidates that go further in the process, you should hold a culture interview. If you aren’t familiar with this, essentially this means sitting the candidate down (virtually) with a few members of your team. You can do this all at once as a group, or a couple at a time.
The culture interview should be an opportunity for the candidate to:
Get a sense of the personalities and working styles of the people they’ll be working with
Get them excited to work alongside these people
Envision themselves as part of the team
Respect their schedule
When organizing interviews - especially if you have a number of them - make sure to get their input on their availability. A common complaint from job seekers is that scheduling is one-sided. Most likely, the person you’re interviewing is currently in another job. Showing courtesy around their schedule can give you bonus points in their eyes.
Respecting their schedule also applies to how long the interview process itself is. It’s not uncommon for interviews to stretch over months with little communication in between. Try to hold yourself to a maximum amount of time that a candidate is in the pipeline. If you can’t, make sure you’re transparent and communicative with the candidate about the slowdown.
Question to ask yourself: Thinking back to my last interview, can I name one thing this candidate was interested in outside of work? // do I have a good sense of who this person is outside of work?5. Let candidates know how to prepare for remote interviews
Let’s face it: technical interviews are stressful! If you’re not communicative with candidates, you’re creating unnecessary apprehension in advance (something that will probably feel like it doesn’t bode well to the candidate!)
Instead, send candidates an email one day to a few days in advance of their interview. This should be an easy-to-modify template so it’s fast for you to modify as needed. It should include:
The names and roles of the people they’re meeting with
Links to resources they should review in advance (e.g. your website, the job posting, etc)
What will be covered in the interview and whether there’s anything to prepare
If it’s a technical challenge, you should also let the candidate know what to expect in the challenge. Not only does this more closely align with the real workplace, but also incentivizes them to come prepared.
This helps candidates prepare and feel less nervous leading up to the interview. Even better, it showcases a supportive and organized company culture.
Question to ask yourself: If I received this email, would I have 100% of the knowledge I need to be successful?
Conclusion
For scaling startups, it can be daunting to think about competing with tech giants. But smaller organizations have different value propositions that can better align with candidates and highlight why someone would want to work for you. By focusing on your company values and culture, humanizing the interview process, and demonstrating your commitment to learning and growth, you can make your company stand out to candidates and win overtop talent.
