There are two parts to your question. I will answer the second one first.

Remote hiring isn't as remote as it once was. After rule in age of telephones, Skype, and FaceTime, you can spend a lot of time with someone evaluating them even though they may be in another city.

As for best practices, the most important practice to be established is determining what it is you really need to hire to be satisfied with your new employee. Remember, every criteria you add to the mix reduces your pool of potential solutions to your problems.

Once you have a clear idea of what you really need, you need to figure out how you will assess for that experience. If you were going to ask other people to interview a candidate, you need to get them clear on what they are to interview about, and what they need to assess for.

Too often, colleagues take job hunters down rabbit holes that they don't deserve to be taken down. Everyone in your organization has to be clear about what they are part of the assessment process his head what they are to interview for otherwise you will turn off way too many people.

Many years ago, I listened to a training session done by someone who has speaking to the top .1% of all sales people who worked for the former Merrill Lynch. One tenth of one percent! He asked this question, "If I told you I could increase your business by 10% and it would only take 6 seconds in each call, would you do it?" You heard an audible murmur from the audience. These were extremely successful sales people being told they could do better and it would take a trivial amount of time in each call. He pointed to someone in the audience and said, "Time me." And then said, "Is there anyone else you know who I can be helping." You don't ask sit around referring your doctor or lawyer. You need to continuously plant the seed for referrals.

Think of LinkedIn as a place where you want to be hunted; the world of resumes and job boards as the place where you want to do hunting. By being "attractive" to employers and headhunters you are more likely to be reached out to, to appear to be the desirable "passive job applicant" and have opportunities presented to you, rather than you chase down jobs.