Working from home is now the reality for millions of people around the world. But though many of us would like to return to the office, we need to embrace the fact that remote work is going to be a long-term norm.  

This is because it could be a considerable time before enough of the population is vaccinated to allow office workers to return en masse, while many companies may choose to reduce their overheads by moving permanently to remote working.

We’ve highlighted some of the ways recruiters can embrace the norm of working from home. This includes addressing the loss of the competitive environment you get from the office and taking a more data-driven approach to recruiting.

 

Address losing the competitive environment of the office

Recruitment is a target driven environment, one where you’re encouraged and inspired to compete against your colleagues. You message them, call them, and speak to them face-to-face in the office, driving one another to achieve greater success.

Working from home removes you from the office environment and this is something you have to address as part of embracing remote working.

While you can still communicate with them digitally from home, some of the camaraderie you get from the office will be lost. One way of addressing this is to use performance dashboards.

Performance dashboards are a way of showing if people are achieving their goals and hitting their targets. They feature a range of metrics, including:

  • Individual performance
  • Pipeline figures
  • Sales forecasts

You could have a live feed of these figures, so people can pit themselves against their peers throughout the day.

And while they aren’t a replacement for the hustle and bustle of the office, they do visualize performance. This is a great way to regain some of the competitive edge that’s lost without being able to see your colleagues face-to-face.

 

Make sure you have the right home office setup in place

It’s not just physical interaction with your colleagues that’s lost when you work from home. You also lose the physical office, which is assembled and maintained in line with the needs of your company.

While your employer doesn’t lose responsibility for ensuring you have the right work environment in place (they still have a duty of care to you and the business) some of it passes to you.

This means you need to make sure you embrace this reality by being proactive about getting the most productive workspace in place that you can.  

We don’t need to waste any time addressing your personal productivity. You’re a professional who knows how to work in the best way possible. However, not everyone is an expert in office ergonomics.

Some of the things you require for your home office setup are straightforward:

  • Connectivity
  • Comfort
  • Self-health

Some of the solutions are obvious. You need a reliable internet connection, you must have a desk and chair that lets you sit comfortably, you should take regular breaks.

But there are additional things you should request from your employer as you embrace working from home. For example, it might be a good idea to ask for a SAD lamp, as you may not get as much natural light in your home workspace as you did in the office.

The point is if there’s something that will help you to work more effectively then you should ask for it. It’s not simply in your interest to get it but it’s also in your employer’s interest to provide you with it.

 

Use solitude to take a more data-driven approach to recruiting

We don’t need to tell you that industry knowledge is one of the most important parts of recruitment. You need to know what industries and roles are on the rise, so you forge relationships with the right people and recommend the correct candidates,

It can be difficult to find quiet moments to try new things when you’re in an office and this is understandable. With so much going on, it can be difficult to put your energy into exploring new ways of doing things.

Working from home removes the blur of background noise from your colleagues, giving you the chance to try out some new approaches. We recommend that one of these is using a more data-driven approach, one informed by SEO.

SEO (search engine optimization) is a term you may already be familiar with, particularly if your area of recruitment includes digital marketing. Essentially, it’s the terms people are searching for. Why does that matter to you? Because it shows you what jobs and industries are on the rise.

There are lots of elements to SEO. The main one that can help you as a recruiter is keyword research. Let’s take the example of digital marketing. Say you search for “digital marketing jobs” using a tool like Ahrefs. These are some of the keywords you get:

 

Credit: Ahrefs

This highlights a few interesting things, such as regions where digital marketing jobs are popular. Unsurprisingly, New York is the most popular area in the United States. However, what’s interesting is Houston and Dallas have the same number of searches. This means it may be worth exploring if Texas is one of the upcoming hotspots for digital marketing jobs.  

This is just one example of how you can use SEO to inform your work. Without the noise of the office, you can embrace this as one of the benefits of working from home and use SEO to develop a more data-driven approach to recruiting.

Addressing the loss of the office, setting up your home workspace, and taking a data-driven approach to recruiting are three ways you can embrace working from home.

We’ve explained why they matter and what you can do to tackle them. All you need to do is put our suggestions into practice and then reap the benefits of doing so.


Authors
Stevie Nicks

Like his namesake, Just Another Magazine Digital Editor Stevie Nicks is passionate about music and writing about it. He's a free spirit, but one who takes a lot of pride in his strong work ethic, so you may find some articles on here under his name with some great career guidance and money-making tips.