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Am I the only person in the world who still loves
traveling (even for business)? Tell me that I have
to be at the airport two hours before my flight, give
me a three-hour layover and I'm a happy girl —
as long as I have my book and my iPod. I actually find
it a refreshing "downtime."
Unfortunately, I realize this is not the case for
most of the hiring managers I work with who do
more business travel than I. So, when it comes to
remote hiring, they usually do their fair share of
grumbling about it.
But there are ways to take the pain out of
hiring remotely. Here's how you do it:
- Pick a date, and get to work narrowing the
field to 3-5 qualified candidates. Choose a date
that's a few weeks out in the future to interview
your "final" candidates in person. (Naturally, the
sooner you can get there the better in this brisk
market.)
- Book a "suite" hotel. If your company
doesn't have an office in your remote city (and most of
you won't), book yourself into a hotel that has
comfortable and spacious rooms that would be
appropriate for interviewing.
- Fly the Day Before. Nothing is worse
than being travel worn before you start any meeting,
especially an interview. Fly to your remote
location the day before, check into your hotel and
get a good night's sleep (maybe even a swim in the
pool?). Be mentally and physically prepared
for the next (intense) day.
- Space Your Time Right. You can
interview all of your finalists in one day if you
schedule it right. Give yourself time for a
90-minute interview with 30 minutes between each
interview. So, if you have five candidates to see, your
day might look something like this: 8:30 a.m.; 10:30
a.m.; 1:00 p.m.; 3:30 p.m.; 5:30 p.m.
This is a rigorous schedule, I know, but I've
seen it work very successfully. Some hiring
managers I know swear by it. (P.S. Stick to the
schedule — DO NOT go over the allotted
times. If you have unanswered questions for a
candidate and want to speak further, make a plan to
call him after your day is over to finish the
conversation.)
- Write complete notes of your interview
and your impressions of the candidate. (If
you have to write down what they were wearing, hair
color, etc. as a reminder, do it.) These notes will help
you "reconstruct" the candidate and
conversation for the important evaluation
process.
- Take a break between interviews. A
short ten-minute break will get you refreshed
before your next interview. Take a walk around
the building, get a breath of fresh air, do some yoga
— whatever it takes to recharge your batteries.
Whatever you do, don't check voicemail or emails
between interviews. Let yourself be totally focused on
interviewing. Be fair to the next guy and be
mentally refreshed and focused on the day's objective
— a completed search and a new employee
hired.
Try these tips. We've seen them work again and again
to take the pain out of remote hiring. You can also use
these tips for your hiring at the home office
— they'll work great there too!
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