There is so much talent out there, you just need to find it

I’ve worked with remote teams across Africa, Europe, America and Asia and have been hiring remote product teams over the last 3 years. Here are is a checklist to help

Know what you want (and write it down)

You are the hiring manager! It is your role to shape the macro and micro aspects of the role.

For example, if you need a new Product Manager:

  • Is it a technical, design, operational or a general role?
  • What kind of sector experience would you like?
  • How senior is the role?
  • What kind of background experiences should they have?
  • Are there any deal breakers?

The Job Description (JD) must be reasonable - sometimes the “perfect” person doesn’t exist within your budget or may not exist at all! Work with your HR team to improve your thinking before publishing the role. Find inspiration in job listings if you need to.

As you go through the interview process think carefully about the trade offs between different aspects of the role. For example, if you want a generalist PM what is the balance between new product development and strategy or commercial acumen and operational experience. Understanding your preferences will help you select the best candidate.

Source candidates

Use your HR team and personal network to find suitable candidates - the more the better!

Filter and screen

Now that you have a virtual pile of CVs, you need to find the best candidate.

Your approach may change depending on the seniority of the role. Usually my steps are review > telephone screening > homework > 2nd round & approval.

To review the CVs, I follow this process:

  1. Review each candidate (CV + cover letter)
  2. Decide whether they meet the quality bar of the JD - you’ll find this increases as you review more CVs
  3. IF yes, add the a “to interview” folder. IF no, discard
  4. Repeat steps 1 and 2 until you end up with 3-6 CVs and then order best to worse
  5. Start with 30 minute phone conversations with the top candidates
  6. IF candidates pass the phone screening, THEN assign homework. IF not, then pause the conversation with them. You may still come back to them late depending your circumstances

At the end of the process you should have a better understanding of each candidate and understand your preferences. However, you need to validate whether your gut feeling is right. Do this by setting the candidates some homework.

Practically assess skill levels (aka set homework)

By now you should have around 5 good quality candidates for your role.

The simplest way to differentiate is by setting them a homework task. Recently some companies have set very high bars in this area for their candidates with complex tasks or even business development. Avoid this type of abusing of power and focus on the role itself.

Usually I pick an open ended problem which allows the candidate to investigate the processes within the role and share some of their market knowledge. I try to limit the time spent by constraining the slides or word count needed to answer the problem.

If the homework if up to scratch, a final stage interview is completed which includes a conversation about the task and their world view.

By now you should have enough insight to hire the best remote employee for the role.

Close with the best possible offer

Finally, I would recommend putting your best foot forward when making an offer to the candidate (with agreement from HR of course!). You should be confident that your selected candidate can do the job and you want to close them quickly. Remember highly skilled workers may have other offers on the table.

Good Luck!