The last two months have probably been the slowest in terms of driving your organisation forward and attracting new talent.
With full lockdown in place, many organisations found it difficult, or even impossible to recruit, with no real plan or process on how to do so remotely.
A robust onboarding process should be at the heart of every financial business that wants to grow by attracting and retaining the best talent. Unfortunately, coronavirus aside, lots of organisations fail to onboard sufficiently. New employees can become quickly detached from their role if they don’t feel assimilated, with 33% of employees leaving new jobs within the first six months.
The physical distance created by social distancing measures have made recruiting and onboarding challenging – but not impossible. Now that the economy is moving again, financial organisations must have the right talent in place to get through the next few months.
In this article, I will share with you the best-practice tips for recruiting and onboarding the financial talent you need – remotely.
Video Interviewing
The first stage in the remote recruitment process is interviewing via video. Most hiring managers prefer face-to-face interviews, as it is easier to strike a connection with the candidate. But video interviewing can be just as effective if you look after the following points:
- Provide a transparent framework – before the interview, send the candidate a document detailing what the interview process will look like, how long you expect it to last and give details of anything you need them to prepare. Video interviews can be more nerve-wracking for candidates, so helping them feel as prepared as possible will lead to a more successful interview for both of you.
- Tweak your interview style – video interviewing calls for a slightly different manner than a regular interview. The interview might be somewhat less formal; no doubt there will be a discussion of the current strange situation we are all in. It is normal for video interviews to be slightly more chatty and less formal.
- Overcommunicate – it can be harder to strike a connection through a screen, so you might have to emphasise your words more than you typically would or use your hands more to aid communication.
After a successful video interview and an accepted job offer, its time to start the onboarding process.
Remote Onboarding
The first stage in your remote onboarding procedure should be to get the new employee to sign a virtual contract. There are different services you can use to do this, such as HelloSign and Adobe Sign, which are easy to use and legally binding.
Keeping in contact with your candidate between the job offer and their official start date is crucial to forming the basis of a strong and trustworthy working relationship.
Next, these are the essential points to implement throughout the remote onboarding process –
- Provide your employee with the right equipment and collateral to do their job. Depending on when your organisation is planning on fully opening up again, your financial employee will need a work laptop or PC, a strong internet connection (if their domestic broadband is not secure you might need to provide a mobile broadband device), access to physical or online files and folders (such as Dropbox), a work phone and SIM card.
- Provide a welcome pack – this should include their contract, an outline of their role and responsibilities, and company information. You can also add any branded collateral you have such as notebooks, pens or even mugs and t-shirts. Being sent a welcome pack with these items makes employees start to really feel part of the team.
- Again, keep in contact regularly during this stage to make sure they have everything they need to get going on their official start date.
Your Company Culture and Induction Phase
Once the day comes for your new employee to start work, it is essential to help them understand your company culture and to give them a robust induction.
Demonstrate a strong company culture by getting the new employee involved in team social media, get existing employees to add them on LinkedIn, and involve them in work messaging groups, to reduce the risk of them feeling lonely or abandoned.
Ensure that you introduce and include the new hire in plenty of video calls both with members from their team and higher management; this will help them feel welcomed.
Have regular reviews during the early days; at week one, week two and after the first month. This will help them air any concerns they have, and you can check that they are off to the right start. The last thing you should do is to speak to them on their first day and then leave them to it. Communication creates strong bonds; it helps employees feel secure and thus more confident in their role – which is what your onboarding process should aim to do.
Finally
With lockdown measure lifting and workplaces in the U.K. tentatively opening up again, the economy is finally moving again.
If your recruiting needs have changed recently, and you need talented finance candidates to get through the next potentially tricky period, we can help. Call us on 01282 930930 or get in touch by clicking here.
Thanks,
Rachel
About Rebus Financial Recruitment
Rebus Financial Recruitment provides a specialist and focused recruitment service to its customers, which historically range from a wide variety of organisations including SME’s to large PLCs.
We strive to offer both the client and candidate a seamless recruitment experience. Using our expertise, we get to the heart of employer and employee needs; and, in doing so, we match the two perfectly. To find out more, get in contact with one of our team today, or you can call us on 01282 930930.
