​Virtual Branding and Onboarding: Things to Consider

Excerpted from a webinar facilitated by MATRIX in December 2020. Click here to watch the full recording of the webinar.

For better or for worse, remote working has permanently altered the hiring landscape. Hiring managers must face new realities when it comes to sourcing, interviewing and hiring top candidates.

Justin Thomason, VP of Recruiting at MATRIX, and Tamara Davis, VP of Talent Acquisition at Brinks Home Security, took a deep dive into the benefits and obstacles they have encountered in this new hiring landscape and offered tips on how hiring managers can function better within the world of remote work in 2021 and beyond. Below they discuss their experiences of making branding and onboarding successful remotely.

JT: Now that we don't have the ability to bring people into the office to interview them, to show off the space, to let them meet other employees - how are you coaching hiring managers to sell their opportunities to job candidates?

TD: Think about remote candidates in a similar way you think about relocation candidates, who may not come in until the very final interview. The same strategies apply. So, it's still continuously being deliberate on what your company has to offer holistically, whether you're in or out of the office. And how they're going to continuously be engaged, virtually through culture and engagement and events. And then share with them what we expect when they finally come in. Give them an open-door preview as to what the work will be every day, day in and day out.

We've even done one-offs where we've done a virtual tour of the building. Here's a link to our office. Here's how it's set up. So they feel like you're in the office, but not in the office, but still getting the engagement and that you will be there one day.

JT: Let's talk about remote onboarding. One of the biggest challenges of our new world here in remote hiring is this onboarding piece where you even mentioned some companies have people come in and pick up their laptop or their equipment. Other companies don't have that at all and are having to ship everything. From a security standpoint, authenticating everything can be challenging. Ongoing, companies that have a clear strategy to onboarding will have a lot more success in being able to hire and secure talent.

With the amount of hiring that you guys have done this year, how have you been able to coordinate onboarding to ensure that your new hires have the equipment and tools they need to be successful on the job from day one?

TD: Well, I think the way you first must look at it is it's not acceptable to have them wait. We've got to figure out how to get them their equipment. I'm big on operational excellence. There are lots of things you can do that get you streamlined to move fast. And not just onboarded with equipment. How do we orient them into the organization? How do we have virtual orientation for all of this and make sure they feel part of the organization and not just ‘here's some equipment and you're off to the races.’