Last updated on July 7th, 2024 at 10:48 am
Even as more and more people are able to work remotely, whether you have an office or employees scattered everywhere, knowing who you are working with is essential.
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Even as more and more people are able to work remotely, whether you have an office or employees scattered everywhere, knowing who you are working with is essential.
The interview process only reveals some of the things your new employee can and can’t do. Online questionnaires before interviews can be easily skewed. You need to take it upon yourself to take a deeper look into who you are hiring.
If you aren’t sure where to start with this process, we have a few suggestions for vetting your potential employees. Read on to find out more.
1. Background Checks Tell the Truth
A comprehensive background check can confirm or deny what your potential employee has told you. If your business is run entirely online with remote employees, most of your questions and interviews will be conducted via digital paperwork and calls, so have a way to double-check the information you receive. Even in-person interviews won’t give you the full picture.
When you choose to do a full background check, it will let you check and confirm a few things, including:
- Confirmation of identity: social security number, address history.
- Public records: county and statewide criminal, court, and public records.
- Verifications: educational and professional attributes features on the resume
You’d hope that someone wouldn’t lie to you, but it is important to check. If you find something unsavory or someone has lied, you can quickly sort the situation out before hiring the individual.
2. Trial Work To Check Work Ethic
Especially important if it is a highly technical or specific job, give your potential employee a trial run. If they have succeeded in impressing you on paper, see how they work on the job.
The probationary period allows you to watch your candidate carefully, and it’ll also show off how much they truly want the job. Consequently, you can see how your working relationship could develop.
If a person doesn’t seem to fit in, or they seem out of their depth, you can nip things in the bud. Trials can be as short as a day or as long as a month.
3. Create Scenarios
During the trial period, you can create a problem for your new employee to fix. Test their ability to problem solve and fix things in a logical fashion.
This trial works especially well for IT jobs and anything that involves technical precision. It’s a low-stakes way to check the newbie knows what they are doing. Set the rules and, if needed, a time frame for the task to be done.
Nobody is perfect. They may make some mistakes during these drills. However, it’ll provide you with an opportunity to observe your newbie under pressure, see how they react, and gauge if they are the right fit for your company.
To Conclude
It can feel like a bit of overkill occasionally, especially if you have a candidate who seems perfect, but checks are essential. You need to be able to trust your employees, so it’s better to find out quickly if they are who they say they are.
Background checks and preliminary tests of skill are only some of the ways you can vet a candidate. The best thing to do is find what works for your team. Sometimes a test might have to be creative when dealing with remote workers, or they may not work at all. This depends on the job in question. Whatever you need to do, vet each individual thoroughly but fairly to find the best employee you possibly can.
Kirk is a writer who specializes in dissemination of cyber security information & news.
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