Remote Me!

I thought I would share a somewhat recent experience I had which illustrates that thinking about the person instead of the candidate can lead to unorthodox recruiting practices with better-than-expected results for everyone.

A while back I was working with a candidate for a hard-to-fill technology role who was then living in the Midwest.

After all recruiting process was pretty much said and done and an offer was made, he decided he didn’t want to move to the San Francisco Bay Area because of the cost of living. (Which isn’t an uncommon response to get from candidates when you present a final offer).

And I got to thinking… can this role be remote? And after talking through it with the hiring manager, the answer was “yes,” the role could definitely be remote. Then I got to thinking some more… I already had relocation expenses approved even though he doesn’t want to move to the Bay Area.

And then I got to thinking a little bit more how I believe that companies and individuals can help each other grow together and that sometimes a company should go out of their way for a candidate/employee (especially when the role is hard to fill and/or you can’t compete with other companies in terms of salary.)

So I called the candidate and told him the good news about being able to work remotely but then I asked “on a scale of one to ten, how much do you like living where you are now?” The answer was a 7.

(And a 7 is no good in my book!)

I then asked him, where would you want to live that would get you at least to a 9?

He said Portland. (I’ve never been but I trusted that he knew what would make him happier.)

So I said “well, guess what? I want to get you to a 9 out of 10, so would you let us help you get to Portland?

He said “What?!? You would do that? How does that benefit you?”

I said “Well, I think by helping you live somewhere where you are happier we all win, wouldn’t you agree?”

Long-story-short, he’s now a rockstar performer that has referred us out to many of his friends with similar skillsets, all while pedaling up and down the streets of Portland in pursuit of the perfect artisanal double red ale.  

I guess the whole point I’m trying to make is that we should step back now and again and think about candidates as human beings instead of positions to fill and see what we can do to help them achieve not only their professional aspirations but their personal ones as well.