A recruitment specialist’s tips to find the perfect remote developer
TL;DR: Top 6 Tips to Find the Best Match in Remote Recruitment
Recruitment isn’t easy, and remote recruitment might be even more difficult. How to make sure it still works in times of big staffing shortages? The 6 most important tips are:
- Start with clarity, not job titles
Define what your business truly needs. Not just in terms of tech stack, but in responsibilities, team dynamics, and growth stage.
- Explore multiple hiring scenarios
Consider hybrid models: mid-level + junior, part-time tech lead + full-time developer, or internal redistribution of tasks.
- Look beyond technical skills
Prioritize adaptability, communication, and problem-solving, especially in remote settings where independence is key.
- Structure your interviews for insight
Use methods like STAR to uncover how candidates think, act under pressure, and reflect on their work.
- Communication: The make-or-break factor
Look for developers who can clearly engage in conversation and describe their problems and solutions.
- Think long-term
Build relationships. A positive experience today can lead to a perfect match tomorrow.
Tips to Find the Best Match in Remote Recruitment
Recruitment feels overwhelming, and remote recruitment can feel like an even bigger challenge. Especially when you’re trying to find the perfect developer for your team. You browse through profiles, conduct interviews, and still wonder if you’ve made the right choice.
The good news: it doesn’t have to be this complicated. Remote recruitment can actually help address staffing shortages — as long as you have the right approach and a clear understanding of what you’re looking for.
1. Start with Clarity, Not Job Titles
Remote recruitment often starts with the wrong question: “Who should we hire?” when it should be “What do we need?”
A common mistake is jumping to generic job titles like Senior React Developer without fully understanding what the role requires in your context. Hiring is like building a house. You wouldn’t start without a plan. Yet many companies try to hire developers without clearly defining what they need.
That’s why my first and most important advice is: invest time up front to define your actual requirements. Go beyond the obvious and think about the context. Don’t just “fill a vacancy”, solve a business need.
2. Explore Multiple Hiring Scenarios
Once you know what you need, you can explore different ways to distribute responsibilities across roles, timelines, and budgets. This often leads to better decisions.
You may realize that instead of one senior developer, you need a mid-level developer who can manage legacy code and mentor juniors. Or that a part-time tech lead can provide strategic oversight while a full-time developer handles daily work. Sometimes, internal resources already cover parts of the role.
Especially in remote setups, flexible hiring models give you a competitive edge
Our Process
This is why we begin our recruitment process with a deep-dive call to uncover real needs and avoid falling back on generic job titles. We then conduct a MarketScan, where we analyze talent availability, salary benchmarks, and fitting hiring models for clients in our locations (Lisbon, Portugal, and Chernivtsi, Ukraine).
Even if you’re not working with us, ask yourself these key questions:
- What stage is your business in: scaling, stabilizing, or pivoting?
- Which responsibilities are already covered internally?
- What urgent challenges should the new hire tackle?
- Can internal resources reduce the scope?
- What hiring combinations make the most sense?
3. Look Beyond Technical Skills
Technical skills are the baseline. But what makes a great remote developer is resourcefulness, flexibility, and resilience. The ability to figure things out is often more valuable than knowing everything upfront.
That’s why I evaluate candidates based on how they approach unknowns: How do they learn? How do they work through roadblocks?
The best developers I’ve worked with follow a method. For example: “First, I read the documentation. Then I search for similar issues. If that fails, I create a minimal test case. Finally, I ask for help. Clearly and with context.”
It’s not just about code, it’s about mindset. Remote developers must be self-sufficient, but also know when and how to ask for help.
4. Structure Interviews for Real Insight
Vague answers like “I’m good at problem-solving” don’t tell you much. That’s why structured methods like STAR (Situation, Task, Action, Result) are so helpful.
But rather than simply mention STAR, I guide candidates through it using specific questions like:
- What exactly was the situation? (Situation)
- What was your responsibility? (Task)
- What steps did you take? (Action)
- What was the result, and what did you learn? (Result)
This gives you answers like:
“During a client presentation, our demo server crashed. I had 30 minutes to fix it. I set up a backup environment, migrated essential data, and tested the setup. The demo succeeded, and I learned the importance of always having a backup plan.”
This doesn’t just give better information, it shows how a person thinks, reacts, and reflects under pressure.
5. Communication: The Make-or-Break Factor
I also pay close attention to how candidates communicate. Not just what they say, but how they say it. Can they explain technical ideas in plain language? Can they ask clear questions?
Here’s what I look for:
- Authenticity: Do they sound like real people, not rehearsed?
- Clarity: Can they organize their thoughts logically?
- Engagement: Do they ask relevant, thoughtful questions?
- Adaptability: How do they react to unexpected questions or issues?
The best candidates hold professional, natural conversations and explain their thinking with real examples.
6. Think Long-Term
Remote hiring isn’t just about filling a position. It’s about building lasting relationships.
We see this daily. Clients return to us for future hires or refer others. Developers come back for new projects because they trust our process.
If you’re hiring remotely, you have a few options:
Option 1: Do It Yourself
This works if you have internal expertise and time. You’ll need to:
- Create detailed job descriptions based on actual needs
- Outline potential hiring scenarios (recommended)
- Use multiple sourcing channels
- Build structured interview processes for both technical and soft skills
- Invest time in understanding and managing the process
Option 2: Work with a Recruitment Partner
Option 3: Hybrid Approach
Handle some parts internally, like defining requirements, while outsourcing sourcing and screening.
Whichever route you take, remember: the most expensive hire isn’t the one with the highest salary – it’s the wrong one.
Conclusion
I’ve been in this industry for over eight years, and SharpMinds has been hiring remote developers for more than 20. We’ve learned that trust, transparency, and consistency lead to better matches and long-term success.
By analyzing the market in Ukraine and Portugal and exploring multiple hiring scenarios, we help clients make informed, realistic decisions – and make remote work actually work.
Take the time to define your true needs. Prioritize adaptability and communication. Use structured processes to understand how people really work.
The right developer is out there, but only if you know what you’re really looking for.
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