june2021 - 27

FEATURE
employees who are best suited for
working in an office environment.
When hiring remote employees, you
need to first start with redefining
the job description and the type of
candidate you are looking to attract
for that position.
Your job description should
highlight key attributes that a
remote employee would need to
have in order to be successful,
including organizational skills,
time management, and the ability
to work with less direct supervision.
Remote employees also need to be
excellent communicators. Working
remotely routinely requires employees
to proactively communicate in
a variety of ways and to be able to
successfully communicate asynchronously
with your co-workers
as you both may not be working
the same hours.
The job description should not
only note that this job is for a remote
position,
it should also describe
how your firm handles managing
remote employees, whether there is
any required travel to your offices,
and any additional perks specific to
remote work, such as a stipend for
their home office. Having your job
description focused on how your
company handles remote work will
allow potential employees to get a
sense of what to expect when working
remotely for your company, and
make it more likely to attract the
employees you are trying to hire.
TIP #2:
BROADEN YOUR
SEARCH
CHANNELS
When finding potential
remote
employees for your firm, it's important
to look beyond your normal search
channels. If you typically post on
traditional job boards or recruit
through local headhunters, you will
need to change how you advertise
your remote position. Those more
traditional channels will likely yield
local candidates, but does not get
your position out to those looking for
remote work.
Posting your position on remoteonly
job boards, or using social media
to get your position out to various
groups or individuals across the
country can yield better results and
broaden your search base. A search
channel that you might not think to
utilize is networking with your peers
-- one of the best ways to find remote
employees is by talking to other firms
and firm leaders. With firms looking
to hire across the country, you may be
able to find qualified candidates who
might not have been a good hiring fit
at another firm.
Maybe a firm is only looking to
hire in-office positions, but during the
search, the firm may have found some
qualified candidates that could only
do remote work. By discussing your
hiring needs and preferences with
other firms and their leaders, you may
be able to find talented candidates
that fit your firm better.
In my firm, we have hired exceptional
candidates I found by talking
with other firm leaders. While you
may think another firm is not just
going to hand you resumes of qualified
candidates, the reality is that every
firm is different, and every firm's hiring
needs are also different. With this
approach, you'll get the added benefit
of having that firm qualify a candidate
and understand what that candidate
is looking for.
TIP #3:
UP LEVEL YOUR
INTERVIEW
PROCESS
In trying to find and identify the
right employees for your firm, your
interview process needs to change
to ensure that you are bringing the
best talent into your firm that can
succeed in a remote environment.
Beyond the normal interview questions,
your interview should also
cover several other items:
* How will this candidate function
without direct supervision or having
an immediate supervisor always
available to answer questions?
Remote employees may be working
hours that are different from each
other and, as a result, good remote
candidates should have the ability to
complete their tasks without someone
always checking in on them. In
addition, they should not leave work
items to the last minute in case they
run into issues and their supervisor
isn't immediately available to help.
* What is their remote work environment
like? Having a dedicated space
to work every day that is mostly
free from distractions is important.
Another aspect to their environment
is security, as they will likely be
handling confidential information.
Having a workspace that is in a
common area or can be accessed by
roommates, for example, may not be
the best situation for a good remote
work environment.
* Do they already have experience
working remotely? While they may
not have worked in a remote position
before, they may have had experience
working from home, if only
occasionally. Understanding their
prior experience may give a glimpse
into whether these candidates would
be good fits for your remote positions.
These additional interview questions
are important because the
answers can help determine if the
potential hires would work well in a
remote position. Not everyone is cut
out to work remotely, so by focusing
part of your interview on these areas,
you can gain necessary insight into
whether they would be a good fit in
a remote position.
EVERY FIRM IS DIFFERENT
Hiring for great talent is hard in
general, but can be harder when
trying to hire for remote work. However,
by redefining your job description,
broadening and focusing your
candidate search, and expanding
your interview process, your firm
may find better candidates and better
success in your hiring process.
Remember
that
every firm
is different, so hire candidates
based on your own set of core
competencies and strengths. ■
Josh Lance, CPA, CGMA, is managing
director of Lance CPA Group and head of
accounting at Practice Ignition. He is an
adjunct faculty member at Northwestern
University and University of Vermont.
JUNE 2021 ■ www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com
27
http://www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com
june2021

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