How To Improve The Remote Hiring Experience For Candidates
6 minutes
27 May 2025
As the world moves towards remote work as the norm, we see a lot of companies today (especially startups) building remote teams that are fully distributed across different time zones. These decisions are primarily driven by the cost savings that having a remote team brings for the company. But at the same time, a question arises:
How to hire remote employees effectively?
To hire remote employees effectively, you can’t rely on traditional in-person hiring methods and expect them to translate well online. Remote work demands skills like written communication, time ownership, and async collaboration. You’ll need to evaluate those early on.
That means using real-time case studies, setting clear expectations during interviews, and building a structured feedback process, especially when rejecting candidates.
In this blog, we’ll walk you through how to improve every part of your remote hiring process from screening and interviews to feedback and onboarding, so you don’t just fill roles, you set people up to succeed.
Let’s start.
Creating The Right Assessment Framework
Assessing technical skills is the baseline for any role, whether on-site or remote. What you also need to check is whether someone can thrive without a manager sitting next to them.
Can they manage their time without reminders? Do they take ownership and follow through, or do they need constant supervision? Are they genuinely interested in the work, or just looking for the next paycheck?
These aren’t questions you can answer by glancing at a resume. You need to build an assessment framework that surfaces these traits early. Ask questions that help you understand how they handle ambiguity, structure their day, or how they’ve dealt with challenges in past remote roles.
Consider asking these:
Tell me about a time you had to manage a project with minimal guidance. How did you approach it?
What’s the biggest shift you've made in the way you work, whether due to a manager, team, or company change?
Even if they’ve never worked remotely, answers to questions like these reveal how they think, act, and collaborate in less structured environments. Focus less on how polished their responses are and more on how clearly they demonstrate accountability and self-direction.
💡 If you’re struggling to create an optimal hiring process for remote work, check out our tips on remote hiring and what mistakes to avoid.
Structure Interviews To Simulate Real Work
Once you've done the initial screening of candidates, it’s important to go beyond theoretical questions. Remote roles demand accountability and self-management, which aren’t easily assessed by asking about past experiences alone.
That’s why simulating real work is such a key part of creating a scalable recruitment strategy; it helps standardise how you assess the traits that matter most. Including real-time assessments that they have to solve on the call will help you evaluate how a candidate actually works. Consider the below questions:
Can they break down a problem under time pressure?
Do they ask clarifying questions?
How do they prioritise when multiple inputs are thrown at them?
Watching them in action gives you far more insight into how they’ll operate remotely.
We typically create tasks designed to test task prioritisation and time management – essential traits for remote success. Of course, we tailor the task to reflect the technical nature of the role, whether that’s analysing data, building out a campaign flow, or navigating a particular tool or software.
But the point is to evaluate their ability to focus, think independently, and deliver without constant guidance. These simulations don’t have to be complicated. They just need to reflect the kind of thinking and execution the job requires so that you can decide based on what the candidate does, not just what they say.
Make Your Hiring Process Feel Human
When your entire hiring process is remote, treating it like a checklist is easy. There is no physical interaction, just back-to-back Zoom calls; before you know it, it all feels transactional. But candidates can tell when they’re being rushed through a process. And that’s not the impression you want to leave.
Now, we’re not saying you must show up in a suit (a shirt over pyjamas works just fine!). What we are saying is: take the time to actually connect. Be present in the conversation. Ask thoughtful questions. Treat each interview like a real interaction, not just another slot in your calendar.
It’s a small shift, but it makes a big difference. Candidates remember how they were treated. And in a world where everyone’s a LinkedIn micro-influencer, word travels fast. One careless interaction can damage your employer brand more than you’d expect.
If you want to build a team that respects your culture, it starts with showing that same respect from the very first call.
Don’t Skip Feedback, Even For Rejections
This is one of those things you should always do, remote or not. Giving feedback when rejecting a candidate isn’t some “extra” task; it’s part of the job.
If someone has taken the time to apply, complete your tasks, and show up for interviews, the least they deserve is an honest reason for not moving forward. It’s respectful, professional, and it helps them grow. And that one small gesture can completely change how someone sees your brand, even if they didn’t get the role.
If the issue was a lack of technical depth, poor communication, or missing signs of accountability, just let them know. Be kind, but be clear. Most people genuinely appreciate knowing how they can improve, which reflects well on you, too.
Design A Thoughtful Onboarding Experience
By the time you’ve made the hire, both sides should have a solid understanding of expectations. Now it’s about setting them up for success, and that’s where remote onboarding can’t be an afterthought.
A well-structured onboarding experience builds clarity, confidence, and trust from day one. If you're still treating it as a checklist of logins and intros, here’s what we recommend including:
A clear success roadmap – Outline what excellent performance looks like at the 1, 3, and 6-month mark. Be specific. This isn’t just for tracking progress; it gives your new hire a north star from the start.
Tool access and usage guide – Don’t just dump a list of tools. Give them context. What each one is used for, who owns it, and any internal best practices you've picked up along the way.
A company playbook – Include your vision, values, and how their role contributes to the bigger picture. People are far more motivated when they understand the “why” behind their work.
If you want a more detailed version of this list, we put together a remote employee onboarding checklist that breaks down everything you should include – feel free to steal it.
Conclusion
When your company process feels real, thoughtful, and human at every stage, from how you run interviews to how you give feedback and onboard new hires, it shows candidates that you actually care.
That’s how you attract A-players. The kind of people who take ownership, stay accountable, and genuinely want to do great work aren’t just looking for a paycheck. These are precisely the kinds of people we help you find at GrowthBuddy. We match you with top remote talent who are skilled and align with how your team works and communicates.
If you’re hiring, feel free to reach out to us, and we’ll help you find someone great.