Hire remote workers? Here’s what to include in your job posting

PHOTO: Andriy Blokhin | adobe stock
As the CEO and co-founder of a small, 100% virtual company focused on the remote workspace, I have viewed thousands of remote job postings and written dozens of my own. Since launching our business in 2007, I have seen remote job postings expand to virtually every industry, I have watched on-site businesses shift to hybrid employers who also offer home-based jobs, and I was amazed that flexible employment has become a pervasive necessity in the 2020s. In fact, over 36 million US professionals are expected to be working remotely by 2025. This is a 87% increase in the telecommuting workforce quota over pre-2020 figures, according to Upwork’s Future Workforce Pulse Report.
With an increased demand for remote work, there is an increase in remote job postings, many of which are from small business owners taking on permanent remote positions for the first time or hiring managers who are curious. to know how to highlight their remote job offers. a saturated market. Whether you are a C-level executive or a recruiter, if you want to improve the quality and traction of your remote job postings, be sure to include these five essentials:
1. A simple and searchable job title
A remote job posting should be customizable, but not to the extent that its personality punch negates its accessibility and readability. Sure, you can score some interesting points and raise a few eyebrows if you post a vacancy for a tech assistant or a people whisperer, but will you get the right kind of attention over a user-friendly job posting for a? technical support associate or a Human Resources Director?
Rather than using a buzzword of the minute that reads gimmicky and empty instead of informative for the title of your remote job posting, keep it simple and searchable. When writing remote job postings, use the three I’s for keywords – industry standard, inclusive, and informative – so you don’t miss out on qualified candidates who otherwise wouldn’t know how to search for or recognize the job. post mentioned.
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2. Appropriate terminology for remote work
Remote jobs are occupations that have no location requirements – meaning they can be performed outside of a centralized on-site workplace, such as a high-rise building. traditional offices. However, not all remote jobs are created equally in the amount of flexibility they offer the worker, so different terms are used to describe the various degrees or styles of remote working.
Including the correct terminology in your job description will clarify the job requirements and help ensure that the right candidates apply for the vacant position from the start. The following examples of remote working terminology are among the most common descriptors of flexible arrangements and working styles:
- Remote: Work that does not occur in a typical professional location, such as a brick and mortar cubicle or office. Examples of common remote work sites include homes, coworking centers, coffee shops and cafes, libraries, colleges, hotels, and parks.
- Distributed: Refers to a company policy that allows its staff to work from different physical locations.
- Teleworking: Perform work from another location using technology. The principle of teleworking is anchored in the reduction or elimination of travel time.
- Teleworking: Often used as a synonym for telecommuting or telecommuting. In modern remote job postings, telecommuting is typically associated with remote jobs in government.
- Home: Work performed primarily from a worker’s home; depending on the job requirements, homework may include on-site duties and / or travel.
- Virtual: Work carried out via a network. Virtual workers can remotely access everything they need to do their jobs.
- Work at home: Although this is an explicit type of work, it is important to note that most remote job postings labeled as “work from home” do not require a business trip or on-site presence at a job site. location of the business. Working from home is generally considered to be totally remote.
- Work from anywhere: A working arrangement in which the worker is not limited by location and can perform their duties from any location they choose. When âwork from anywhereâ appears in a remote job posting, it often indicates that the employer is accepting applicants outside of the company’s home country. The phrase is also associated with the working styles of digital nomads who work remotely while traveling.
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3. Clearly defined job terms
The flexibility of remote jobs extends beyond the workplace of professionals to also cover their way of working. In addition to specifying the usual job requirements, such as training, certifications, levels of responsibility, core competencies and work experience, setting expectations for key mandates of a remote position will eliminate the candidates whose career goals do not match the job requirements while also saving you time during the recruiting process. When writing your remote job postings, be sure to provide answers to these questions:
- What is the employment status of the job offer? In other words, is the vacancy a permanent position, a temporary job, an entrepreneurial role or a paid internship?
- Does remote work require a hours part-time or full-time, or will the lessor have autonomy and will he be able to set his own hours?
- Does the employee have to work during business hours for a time zone and, if so, will you accept applicants from a different time zone if they agree to make themselves available to work during the required hours?
- Is Trip obligatory? If so, how often?
- How much time, if any, will be spent on the site at the headquarters of a company or in a satellite office? For example, will the employee be required to attend an orientation, training or face-to-face meetings? If so, are on-site appearances only required during the onboarding phase, or does the recruiter also need to attend periodic staff meetings or company functions?
- What are the Physical demands of the role? Physical demands can include activities such as lifting boxes for shipping, sitting or standing for long periods of time, or going to clients’ homes or offices.
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4. Expectations for the reporting process
Effective communication is one of the fundamental principles of successful remote working. Part of facilitating good communication between remote teams involves implementing practical and engaging reporting processes that ensure leaders, managers and the teams they oversee maintain dialogue, workflows and two-way feedback methods.
Enabling these strategies within remote organizations is facilitated by business communication platforms, customer relationship management (CRM) technologies, video conferencing, and project management software such as Slack, Basecamp , Weekly10, Asana, Microsoft Teams and Zoom. In your remote job postings, indicate which software will be required to use and whether prior experience with such tools and applications is a required or preferred qualification.
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5. Information on salary and benefits
Including salary and benefits information in a remote job posting seems like an obvious addition, but employers are still wondering if these details are really necessary. While some employers believe that disclosing this information weakens their bargaining power during the hiring process, there is some evidence that adding salary and benefits information to a job posting is a good idea. boon for recruitment. Statistically, salary and benefits are the top two factors that job seekers look for in job postings, according to a Glassdoor survey.
Conducted by The Harris Poll on behalf of Glassdoor, the survey asked more than 1,100 American adults about what they consider to be the most valued features of a job posting. Glassdoor found that 67% of job seekers immediately analyze job postings for salaries and 63% check them for benefits postings. Because job seekers look at salary and benefits information first, demonstrating the value they place on transparency from potential employers, companies that include details of salaries and benefits in their reports. Remote job postings have a competitive advantage, which can be particularly powerful in a remote, crowded job market. .
This is not to say that employers must provide a specific and minimalist salary amount for their remote vacancy. Instead, the job posting may include an annual salary or hourly brackets with a caveat that final pay will be determined based on the candidate’s qualifications.
Regarding benefits, remote job postings should not only list typical employee benefits such as health care coverage, retirement compensation, reimbursement of travel expenses and paid time off, but also name specific remote benefits such as home office allowances, employer-provided software accounts, work vouchers and wellness club memberships to promote an active lifestyle in the often sedentary nature of remote work.
Final thoughts
For hiring managers and small business executives, even experienced ones, writing remote job postings that attract the right talent for the right reasons can sometimes seem like a challenge, especially in a job market teeming with vacancies and jobs. of candidates. By including essential remote job posting components such as a simple, searchable job title, appropriate remote work terminology, clearly defined job terms, reporting process expectations, and information on salaries and wages. benefits, leaders of remote workplaces can improve the quality and traction of their remote job postings. and confidently expand their distributed teams.
Laura Spawn is the CEO and co-founder of Virtual Vocations. Alongside her brother, Laura founded Virtual Vocations in February 2007 with one goal in mind: to connect job seekers with legitimate telecommuting vacancies.