The first few weeks and months of a new employee’s time at a new company can be make or break. Depending on the support and resources they receive in their new role, new hires will do a gut check to determine whether they’ve made the right career move. This is why candidates increasingly want to know about onboarding programs before they hit the ‘Apply’ button.
But what about candidates looking for remote work and flexible job opportunities? Do you have training programs especially designed with remote talent in mind?
The flexibility to work remotely part time or full time is quickly becoming a top consideration for candidates looking for a new job.
- In a recent survey by The Muse, more than half of Muse users specifically search for jobs outside their home area.
- 89% of Muse users would consider moving for the right company and role.
- And 70% of Muse users who applied for a job because of what they learned about an employer through The Muse believe that their employer accurately represented their culture during the hiring process.
But just because they want to work remotely doesn’t mean they aren’t looking for the same training and onboarding programs as their in-office counterparts, especially during their first few months in a new role. As part of the remote job seeking process, candidates want to know how they’ll be supported and how they’ll collaborate ongoing with their teams.
Promoting your remote worker training programs is just one way to attract talent to your remote job opportunities. We highlight more ways in our Rally Ideabook: 15 Strategies to Attract Remote Workers, sponsored by The Muse, and share how your Recruitment Marketing strategy can appeal to remote talent. You can also watch the webinar: 3 Strategies to Attract Remote & Virtual Talent, featuring Amy Winebright from Dell Technologies and Kiley Rumpf from DigitalOcean, to hear about the smart ways that they attract remote talent.
Since onboarding is so important, especially to remote workers, let’s look at how companies are incorporating their remote worker training programs into their Recruitment Marketing strategy, and demonstrating their dedication to inclusive, remote-friendly work cultures.
How work — and onboarding — is done remotely
Web development company Automattic, which owns WordPress.com, maintains a fully remote workforce spread out through more than 60 countries. The company aims to provide as much detail as possible to candidates interested in open roles.
Automattic’s careers home page is titled “Work With Us,” and includes information on everything from the types of talent they are looking for to details on annual company get-togethers and the development process for the features they launch.
Automattic’s careers website describes the onboarding process for remote workers.
Included on this page is also a section on the training program that new remote employees go through when joining the organization. Each new employee spends time working as part of the customer support team for WordPress.com so they can learn the ins and outs of the company’s top product before taking on their new responsibilities. Providing these initial details keeps candidates from guessing how they’ll spend their first few weeks, and gives them a look into how they would be expected to quickly dive in to learn how the company operates and how they can support product offerings.
The nitty-gritty of onboarding when you’re remote
Application automation provider Zapier, which is another fully-remote company, communicates their remote training through a blog post written by a remote employee — who has already been through the training program so they know better than anyone else!
In this blog post, Zapier offers in-depth details on how the company uses list management software program Trello (which is owned by Atlassian and is also killing it at the remote worker game!) to provide support to new remote employees.
Zapier remote employee, Joey Blanco, writes a blog post about how the company onboards and trains fully remote teams.
The Zapier blog goes on to detail just what happens when a new remote worker comes on board. Training is provided to show remote workers what they can expect during their first few weeks and how they’ll be guided through what’s known as “All-Hands Support Training.” Even aspects like how the team celebrates the early successes of new employees tells potential candidates how they can contribute to the company from the get-go and how their work will be rewarded.
The blog post doesn’t shy away from the challenges that come with training a remote workforce, either. Zapier keeps it authentic by letting candidates know that they’re continually working on reducing those obstacles.
Equipping remote candidates with the information they need before making a decision to apply can tip the scales in your favor! Whether it’s a blog post, a section on your careers site or an employee stories video, showcasing your remote worker training programs is a surefire way to grab the attention of remote talent who want to feel supported in their new job opportunity.
Learn more ways that you can effectively promote your remote work culture by downloading our Rally Ideabook: 15 Strategies to Attract Remote Workers and check out our Rally Webinar: 3 Strategies to Attract Remote & Virtual Talent. You’ll see real-world examples from companies that are leading the way in attracting remote candidates and will learn new strategies for how you can implement similar initiatives!
The Muse is a sponsor of Rally. Their support helps us to provide educational resources and events on Recruitment Marketing.