<p></p><p class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="f1df"><strong class="markup--strong markup--p-strong">You work for a large, traditional publishing organization. What inspired you to start hiring remote employees?</strong></p><p></p><p class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="23a0">It’s an approach I’ve used in the past on a number of jobs. I’m in Hearst Digital Studios, which is a new initiative, so they’re open to this type of experimentation. I joined in April, and I brought on some people I had been working with on a freelance basis from past projects, then continued to hire remotely so my team was remote from the start.</p><p></p><p class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="f8d9"><strong class="markup--strong markup--p-strong">How did you convince your organization that this would work?</strong></p><p></p><p class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="d8f1">I made a presentation to the Hearst CEO early in the process. I introduced <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" href="https://www.powertofly.com/" target="_blank">PowerToFly</a> and the idea of having a remote team. I was pleasantly surprised that they were open to experimenting. It’s something I believe in strongly. It’s not about saving money. I believe this is a better model overall, and it’s more efficient. They gave me their full support.</p><p></p><p class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="23db"><strong class="markup--strong markup--p-strong">Did you have to make any changes to your organization or process to facilitate remote workers?</strong></p><p></p><p class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="3682">From the beginning, I tried to create a new process that was based on the idea that people don’t have to be in the building to get things done. For example, we use <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" href="https://www.atlassian.com/software/jira" target="_blank">JIRA</a>, which is a cloud-based service. It’s not behind a firewall, and you don’t have to be here in the building. Similarly, we use <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" href="https://www.dropbox.com/" target="_blank">Dropbox</a> for file storage and <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" href="https://slack.com/" target="_blank">Slack</a> for communication. These are all accessible from anywhere in the world.</p><p></p><p class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="b56d"><strong class="markup--strong markup--p-strong">What do you look for in a remote hire?</strong></p><p></p><p class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="c36d">I’m looking for people who are independently interested in the work and engaged without me having to constantly ping them. It’s hard to know what everyone’s working on at a given time. My goal is to find the people who will be more actively involved from the start.</p><p></p><p class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="a442"><strong class="markup--strong markup--p-strong">What’s your interview process like?</strong></p><p></p><p class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="1268">I don’t ask a bunch of tech questions that I know the answers to already just to quiz people. I’ve had great success with <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" href="http://www.powertofly.com/" target="_blank">PowerToFly </a>recommending people to me. I start with that recommendation, then I see if the person is independently interested. The traditional tech interview process is heavily quiz driven, and maybe some people are concerned with remote hiring because they can’t bring someone in the office to quiz them. But, it’s better to avoid that approach entirely. It’s better to find people who are engaged. What’s really important is when something new comes up, are the people on your team interested in jumping in and figuring it out?</p><p></p><p class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="8b6a">I conduct the first interview on IM (instant message), which I know is not a traditional approach. But, the fact is, we’re communicating all day on IM, so if they can’t communicate with me on IM from the start, it’s not going to work. If I find people who can communicate on IM, then they join the team on Slack and complete a task. If they do well, it’s a good sign it will work out.</p><p></p><p class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="715b"><strong class="markup--strong markup--p-strong">How do you keep your remote team motivated and connected to your team in the office?</strong></p><p></p><p class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="a29f">Since we’re a new division, we haven’t done any hiring in the office. The team <em class="markup--em markup--p-em">is</em> the remote team. I try to be responsive to the people on the team in the same way I would if they were in the office. We’re all working together, and I try to be online at all hours of the day and be responsive in that way to keep things moving. I don’t try to get everyone to work 9–5 EST to match my schedule in New York. Instead, I try to extend my time online.</p><p></p><p class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="3202"><strong class="markup--strong markup--p-strong">What are some remote worker red flags?</strong></p><p></p><p class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="88da">It’s a warning sign if I’m not hearing from someone regularly, or if there’s some task that’s taking longer than expected. I try to start off with trial tasks that are well defined; that way I can gauge if this new trial-er is meeting my expectations.</p><p></p><p class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="b982"><strong class="markup--strong markup--p-strong">What do you appreciate most in a remote employee?</strong></p><p></p><p class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="8a14">It’s not just about completing tasks, but thinking through the problem and asking questions to make it better. I’m looking for people who are asking questions even during the interview. With remote work, we can’t all bond as a team in the office, so there has to be that particular interest there from the beginning.</p><p></p><p class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="1c17"><strong class="markup--strong markup--p-strong">What are some unexpected perks of working with a remote team?</strong></p><p></p><p class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="e7f4">The big thing is that you can bring on people who work in different time zones pretty easily. Once you have the process setup, you can capture more productivity in each day — that’s the longer term goal. Ideally, if I’m finding people who are working on the opposite time zone as New York, we can get more work done on the off hours.</p><p></p><p class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="f0e6">I’ve had a lot of success adding more women. I know <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" href="https://www.powertofly.com/talents/68" target="_blank">Katharine</a> and <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" href="https://www.powertofly.com/talents/70" target="_blank">Milena</a>started <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" href="http://www.powertofly.com/" target="_blank">PowerToFly</a> because there isn’t enough representation of women in tech. But, it’s not just a political thing. I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the quality of people they’ve found. There are a lot of talented developers that companies are missing out on if they don’t add women to the team.</p>
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