May 20, 2021 • 23 mins
During this episode, Sharon and I talk about how practitioners make the business case or the use case for using DistantJob.
Sharon is an expert in all things remote work and remote management. His passion for placing full-time permanent, career-driven individuals in remote positions really comes through during the podcast.
Give the show a listen and please let me know what you think.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Music (00:02):
Welcome to RecruitingDaily's Use Case
Podcast a show dedicated to thestorytelling that happens or
should happen when practitionerspurchase technology. Each
episode is designed to inspirenew ways and ideas to make your
business better as we speak withthe brightest minds in
recruitment and HR tech. That'swhat we do. here's your host,
(00:23):
William Tincup.
William (00:26):
Ladies and gentlemen, this is William Tincup, and
you're listening to the Use CasePodcast. Today we have Sharon on
from DistantJob. We're going tobe talking a little bit about
his business. And we're gonna betalking about the use case for
DistantJob. So, Sharon, do us afavor and introduce both
yourself, but also introduceDistantJob?
Sharon (00:49):
Well, first of all, thank you, William, what a
pleasure to be on the show. Myname is Sharon Koifman, I run a
very unique recruitment agencythat specializes in remote
employees, I actually beenworking in the remote field for
for about 18, maybe even 20years by now. Where I've been
managing companies from allover, from my managing company,
(01:12):
all from my computer, withpeople all over the world with
products all over the world. Andat this moment, the company that
I'm running for the best 12years, is focused on going to
the world and finding thetalents that would do that for
you. So it's strictly anywherein the world from taking
advantage of the massive pool oftalent of great people that are
(01:34):
out there, and they workremotely for your company. But
those are full time permanent,career driven individuals.
William (01:44):
Perfect. I love the setup. So how did you get into
this? How did you, how did youstart DistantJob?
Sharon (01:49):
So I started, I used to own a web hosting and
outsourcing company where I hadtwo offices in India and a bunch
of employees there. And it wascalled Empire Host and and I was
providing the usual design,sometimes even building software
for individuals. And he make andmake great sense when a real
(02:10):
estate company would come in andsay, Hey, Sharon, build me a web
design, you seem prettyaffordable solution. And I would
go about doing that. But everyonce in a while I would, I would
get a suffer company, a companythat their core skills were to
build that type of product. Andthey would outsource to me
because it was cheaper. BecauseI was very good for the world of
(02:35):
India back then. Outsourcingclearly meant India and the 15
years ago, India were thepioneers in that industry. And,
and I realized very quickly thatthey're outsourcing not because
it's to their benefit, it'salmost a business sin, they're
giving their the sole product tosomebody else because it's
(02:56):
cheap. And I realized all theyreally want is to find amazing
people that are affordable. Theydon't need that management
operation, they will do it muchbetter. And when I sold the web
hosting and outsourcing company,I started DistantJob based on
that, and I focused on justfinding amazing talent that work
(03:18):
directly for the client. Andthough in my opinion, is a far
better solution for thatoffshore model. That, that we're
that today is pretty known foreveryone.
William (03:32):
I love that and companies that you work with
what's this? Let's let's talk alittle bit about your clients.
What what type of industries oris DistantJob kind of helping?
What type of job classes,geographies, let's get into kind
of how and where you helppeople.
Sharon (03:49):
So the, the majority of my clients are small to medium
sized technology companiesusually range between 3 million
to 50 million or I would say,from 10 employees to about to
about 100 employees. Those arethe usual companies that we
target. They are technologycompanies or they have a
(04:10):
substantial technologydepartment. It seems like any
company today, we used to workwith Warner, the big ladder
company, the biggest laddercompany in the world. And but
really what we're working withtheir e commerce department, so
anybody who is building adigital product, we are the
(04:31):
solution for them.
William (04:33):
I love that. I love that. How do you? I mean, as you
studied the market, how do youcompare yourself to or? Or who
do your customers and prospects,who do they compare you to?
Sharon (04:45):
So it's very hard because we're the first I should
have mentioned in the beginning.
We're the first remoterecruitment agency in the world.
There is a lot of companies thatprovide freelancers and their
marketplaces like Upwork, orFiverr. And there's plenty of
recruitment agencies out therethat slowly because of COVID are
(05:07):
transferring into the remoteworld. And that's usually where
our clients comparison, ask, howare we doing compared to those
type of companies, but I don'tknow. Too many companies or big
branded company that is really aspecialist remote recruitment
agency like us. We're the first.
(05:28):
And I like to think maybe Icould be delusional or maybe not
as humble, but I think we're thebest.
William (05:35):
I love that. I love that. I love it. How do you, I
normally ask us towards the endof the show, but it's probably
pertinent towards the beginning.
How do you, when I ask pricing,I don't want to know the dollars
and cents, it's more of thephilosophy, how do you work with
clients.
Sharon (05:52):
Um, it is somewhat straightforward. Like a local
recruitment agency we we get, weget the job description. If you
don't have a job description, wework with you to make a job
description. But here's where wetake it to the next level, when
when we get some of theinformation about what the
client needs, we still sit thereand find out about the clients
(06:15):
culture, the clients processes,what makes it exciting because
we are selling to the candidatesas much as we selling to the
client. So we really want tolearn the intricacies of what
makes our clients company workand what makes it exciting. And
we turn out the job description.
And to almost be some art, we'rereally excited about making our
(06:36):
job description, funny andenticing that people say, I want
to work for that company. Andthen after that we go and we
solicit individuals, usually inestablished companies across the
world, which is a hugedifferentiator from those
marketplaces where it's passivepeople trying to get a job.
(06:58):
Here, we solicit the best andthe smartest. And then we entice
them with the concept that theyget to work at home. And a lot
of people in the tech industryI, I would say a lot of nerds
are in love with the idea ofworking from home. They don't
have this need for this socialexperience that comes off as you
give them the same pay the sameexperience, and they don't need
(07:21):
to be stuck in traffic for twohours? They will take it. So we
get this, we get a lot ofresults. doing that. And after
that, we take it to the nextlevel by providing an impeccable
HR service, not only we makesure that we take care of, we
take care of the salaries oftime making sure that people get
(07:42):
paid well. And we remind theclients about vacations, about
national holidays, about raises,about bonuses, we pay attention
to the mental health of theindividual. We also let the
client know about the workingcondition to they are now with
COVID. We tell them how theircountries are doing in relation
to COVID. So which will couldpossibly affect the mental
(08:07):
health of their employees. So wego above and beyond also not
just finding amazing people butmaking sure that they stay
around feeling motivated andexcited about working for the
company.
William (08:21):
So two two questions.
One is going to be aroundonboarding. But the other is
when clients start with thisjob, where are they generally?
What's the what's the start offplace? Where Where do they start
working with you, and fix thatand then move into other
services that you have.
Sharon (08:38):
So they start at the beginning is the recruitment
process. And nothing. We don'tget into the HR Of course until
they give us the jobdescription, we send them a CV
with full description about thequalification of the individual
and our full evaluation. Theclient goes, I want this person,
(08:59):
that person and this person Iwant to interview and it's a
back and forth until they decidethis is the right person. And
only then we start we startcharging the client.
William (09:10):
I love that. Okay, so your clients have asked you I'm
sure about onboarding especiallyas it relates to remote work.
And and and things like that. Sohow do you how do you consult
with them? Or what what is youradvice to them about onboarding
remote employees?
Sharon (09:27):
So, so the advice is a big thing Look, I don't know if
you know William, I'm I'm also abest seller writer, when it
comes to to remote management.
So So I did write an entire bookabout it, but I sit with my
clients and if they're notexperts in remote management, I
sit and I teach them and I, allfor free, all part of the
(09:48):
service to make sure. Because ifthey are good remote manager
managers means that there'sgoing to be a lot more business.
If they hate the experience,it's a lose lose situation. So
the first advice that I mean,there's, it's, we don't have
enough time for all the advicein the world, right? Because
this is, at least I need to sitwith somebody for an hour. But
(10:10):
the first thing that I ask theclient to think about is, what
is their processes? What do theylike in their office experience?
What is that, that they, thatthat they do, that makes them
that makes them feel likethey're in control, and their
culture is good and operation.
(10:30):
So for example, if somebodysays, I like to visit each one
of my employee every week, andlook at their work and chat with
them, and motivate them andinspire them, I take away the
fear when they when you go toremote and tell them, you can do
exactly the same thing. Don'tchange it. This works for you.
(10:53):
There's a lot of things in theoffice that don't work. There's
a lot of distractions, there's alot of bureaucracy, there's a
lot of politics, but the thingsthat you like, if you're the
type of manager that goes aroundand inspires and motivate and
train and fixes things. Withevery individual, once a week or
once a day, you need to keep ondoing this. And you need to turn
(11:16):
on your zoom, you need to makesure that it's face to face, you
can do it by phone. But youvisit every person or every
person in your team throughzoom, and do the same
experience, it's really not abig difference. The end of the
day, you want to replicate yourpositive experiences in the
(11:37):
office, right into the remoteexperience.
William (11:40):
Yeah. And what I've also learned from other experts
like yourself, is you want toset them up for success, as you
would in the office. Theheadquarters, you want to make
sure that if they're home based,you want to make sure that you
set them up for success there aswell.
Sharon (11:55):
Absolutely. They're like, first of all, the the the
science, the research is showingthat people that work remote are
more productive. They'rehappier, they're more
independent. There is no reasonto fear remote. Besides that
it's completely, beside thatit's new. People have been
(12:15):
working in the office, theyassociate office with
productivity with a nine tofive, they've been doing this
for hundred, a hundred years forat least one and a half
centuries. Right. And now youtell them no, you can get the
you can achieve everything athome, just use proper
technology, and you canreplicate the positive things.
But it's the biggest obstacle isthe fear. Is that this is not
(12:40):
something that I'm used to.
Because the science shows thatpeople, the remote work workers
are more productive.
William (12:48):
I love this. So because you're an expert, I got to ask
you a couple just basic things.
What do we get wrong with remotemanagement? What's in the top
three things that we just needto fix immediately and we can
get into the some of the deeperstuff in next calls and next
podcast. But what what are justyour basic advice for people
that are scared or the justnever done it? Even though we've
(13:09):
been through COVID? Maybethey've just done it at gunpoint
and not done it well. What arethe three things that you
usually advise people?
Sharon (13:19):
So the first one is actually what I just talked
about is that you got to removethe fear. You got, you cannot
come to this feeling like you'relike you said, a gunshot. The
reality that you must do this,you you need to come into this
thinking that, hey, I can makemy company better. I there's
(13:40):
there's just too many timeswhere I that I sell my service
to a to some CEO and he'sexcited, Wow, this is great and
everything. And then hedelegates it to the CTO and the
CTO is dreading the experience.
And this is a guaranteedfailure, because he feels that
this doesn't make sense. At theend of the day, again, what you
(14:01):
need to do is just implement fewtechnologies and try to think
what is it that I like in myoffice, office work and you
absolutely need to insist toreplicate it with the remote.
And everything is replicable. Sothe second advice, there's
actually one thing that is notreplicable. And that is of the
(14:22):
hanging out and hanging out inthe at the water cooler or the
mental health. People, peoplekind of get to disappear to to
as I call remote la la land ifthere's not a manager that is
actually paying attention to thewell being of the people. So
this is that, in my opinion, theonly difference between office
(14:45):
management and a remotemanagement. And in theory, all
great managers in an officewould be amazing at remote, but
there's just too many, too manymanagers that got away. Not
being so great. And here they'repushed through, they're pushed
to their limits, and they haveto perform. And one of the
things that they don't do, thatweaker managers is actually
(15:08):
taking care of the mentalhealth, getting intimate with
employees get to know, buildthat culture, build that
connection, and in remote, youhave to do it. You cannot have
this out of sight out of mind.
You need to be proactive, andcheck in your employees on a
personal level and on a businesslevel.
William (15:29):
I love everything. And again, we could spend an hour
just talking about this. Yeah, Iloved I loved your note earlier
about commutes. Because I thinkpeople will rethink not just the
big cities, but just, they'regoing to rethink commutes. In
terms of the jobs and the jobsin the future, it's especially
like in places like the SanFrancisco or LA, or New York,
(15:52):
where commutes are an hour, hourand a half. You know, one way
that's, that's that's, that's abit much. Now that they've
worked remotely for a year and ahalf, I think, I think it's
gonna be really the big rethink,is is kind of going to be coming
for a lot of candidates, butalso companies. You know I
equally hear that companies aregiving up their headquarters
(16:12):
space, or not renewing theirlease. So so on both sides, I
hear kind of both that. So Ithink we're we're all kind of
rethinking that. So withDistantJob. So the clients that
you have right now, again,you've explained kind of the
process of most starting them,and then where you'd like to you
(16:33):
take all your clients, what whatdo you think that we won't go
out flying cars wise, but whatwhat's the next 18 months? For
the future of DistantJob? Whatdoes that look like for you?
Sharon (16:47):
It's already been happening. The future is
started, the future startedwhen, when people start getting
remote a little bit better. Imean, one of our biggest
obstacles has always been thatpeople just so afraid of the
remote concept. And you'rementioning San Francisco, San
Francisco, is by far our mostchallenging region because they
(17:09):
invested two decades or evenmore to get people to Silicon
Valley to say that if you wantinvestment, and if you want
great jobs, and if you wantanything to do with technology,
you must come to us and evenwhen I talk to people in Silicon
Valley about remote employees,they want those remote employees
(17:30):
to work 10 minutes away fromthem so they can get them to the
office anytime that they want.
It is without a doubt the mostchallenging culture. I don't
even bother right withCalifornia. Like my salespeople
know, you know, we like the EastCoast because of it. No
disrespect to the west coast butthe West Coast, they have a lot
of a lot of evolution to do inthis concept. But, but getting
(17:53):
to, but getting to understandremote is a major obstacle and a
major evolution in everythingthat we everything that we've
been doing till now. I mean thatwas the biggest challenge the
challenge for me is not to findamazing candidates that's what
we do incredible it was actuallyconvincing the client. Hey, you
(18:15):
should and you can get amazingpeople that working in a
distributed because until untilthen everybody was thinking
freelancers non-committedemployees outsourcers they were
not being thinking about careerdriven, fully focused, fully
integrated people because forthem, it means they need to come
to the office. So this is thisis what changing in the future.
(18:39):
I guess people are finallystarting to get it it's very
good for my business I'm notgonna lie to you.
William (18:48):
Well, they're they're also facing an exodus in
California. A lot of people aremoving both in LA Southern
California Northern Californiathey're moving inward a little
bit not all the way on the EastCoast but they're moving to
Denver and salt lake and evenAustin. They're moving inward a
little bit which is creating youknow kind of an interesting. I
don't think i don't think landprices are gonna go down in
(19:11):
California anytime soon. But itis everything kind of yeah never
exactly they'll probably raisebut but it is creating kind of
and interesting dynamic. Interms of these other cities that
you know become are becomingmore of a metropolis with it
with this type of talent. I knowduring pre show we talked about
DistantJob being you know aservices play. And that's really
(19:32):
you know, the core is obviouslywhat you care about. But you
also interact with a lot of techyeah and non stop right. So so,
or it being a services playmakes you a little bit you can
you can be objective about thetechnologies that your clients
use. Yeah. Do you do you findyourself making recommendations?
(19:54):
Like you found something thatreally really works and and and
do you find yourself making, ordo the job clients ask you for
recommendations aroundtechnology?
Sharon (20:04):
Not really, right? So we have. So to be honest, I'm
already rusty. I was a techie.
I'm an engineer. But I no longerdeal with that. But we have some
brilliant techies in thecompany, that still sometimes
give advice. But I really,really believe that the best,
the best ideas and the bestmanagement and the best strategy
(20:24):
has to come from the companyitself. From my clients. I need
to cater to their needs, I needthem to work. I need the I need
them to work by their system.
And my job is to educate themand teach them how to replicate
this in a remote environment. Idon't I don't. A lot of a lot of
(20:46):
the remote people, when you goto the remote conferences, and
some of my colleagues aretalking about the big change. I
don't believe in it. I believethat this people have built
beautiful companies, they havecreated certain amazing culture,
amazing processes that turnedthem into the massive beast that
they are, right. I mean, you canleave a few a few things behind.
(21:09):
But my job is to replicate thatexperience in remote, which I
believe it's so easy with justjust a few smart technologies.
William (21:18):
That is wonderful.
Okay, last question. What elseshould the audience know about
DistantJob that we haven'talready kind of talked through?
Sharon (21:28):
What else we should know, I already I think I think
the most important aspect andthe end, the biggest. And the
biggest differentiator when youtalk to a remote recruitment
agency, instead of anoutsourcing company or
marketplace, is that this arepeople that want a real job.
These are people that thatjoined, join, because they're
(21:52):
excited to work for you as aclient. If you going if you
coming into the DistantJobexperience, and you're thinking
this is just going to be anothernumber on the wall, right? It's
just going to be just anotherindividual, another individual
that I'm outsourcing or maybe Iuse interpret temporarily,
(22:14):
you're going to fail at oursolution. Because this people
need more from you. They need tohave a real employment
experience. So you better beequipped.
William (22:24):
My friend, this is wonderful. Thank you so much.
And now that I know that you'rea remote management expert, I am
going to tap that. Because I getquestions all the time, and then
you would be perfect to talk tofolks.
Sharon (22:35):
I would be happy to answer any question.
William (22:38):
Awesome. Thank you so much for your time, and thanks
for coming on to Use CasePodcast.
Sharon (22:43):
William, that was a lot of fun.
William (22:44):
Thank you. And thanks for everyone that listens to Use
Case Podcast. Until next time.
Music (22:51):
You've been listening to RecruitingDaily's Use Case
Podcast. Be sure to subscribe onyour favorite platform and hit
us up at recruitingdaily.com.
Welcome to RecruitingDaily's Use Case
Podcast a show dedicated to thestorytelling that happens or
should happen when practitionerspurchase technology. Each
episode is designed to inspirenew ways and ideas to make your
business better as we speak withthe brightest minds in
recruitment and HR tech. That'swhat we do. here's your host,
(00:23):
William Tincup.
William (00:26):
Ladies and gentlemen, this is William Tincup, and
you're listening to the Use CasePodcast. Today we have Sharon on
from DistantJob. We're going tobe talking a little bit about
his business. And we're gonna betalking about the use case for
DistantJob. So, Sharon, do us afavor and introduce both
yourself, but also introduceDistantJob?
Sharon (00:49):
Well, first of all, thank you, William, what a
pleasure to be on the show. Myname is Sharon Koifman, I run a
very unique recruitment agencythat specializes in remote
employees, I actually beenworking in the remote field for
for about 18, maybe even 20years by now. Where I've been
managing companies from allover, from my managing company,
(01:12):
all from my computer, withpeople all over the world with
products all over the world. Andat this moment, the company that
I'm running for the best 12years, is focused on going to
the world and finding thetalents that would do that for
you. So it's strictly anywherein the world from taking
advantage of the massive pool oftalent of great people that are
(01:34):
out there, and they workremotely for your company. But
those are full time permanent,career driven individuals.
William (01:44):
Perfect. I love the setup. So how did you get into
this? How did you, how did youstart DistantJob?
Sharon (01:49):
So I started, I used to own a web hosting and
outsourcing company where I hadtwo offices in India and a bunch
of employees there. And it wascalled Empire Host and and I was
providing the usual design,sometimes even building software
for individuals. And he make andmake great sense when a real
(02:10):
estate company would come in andsay, Hey, Sharon, build me a web
design, you seem prettyaffordable solution. And I would
go about doing that. But everyonce in a while I would, I would
get a suffer company, a companythat their core skills were to
build that type of product. Andthey would outsource to me
because it was cheaper. BecauseI was very good for the world of
(02:35):
India back then. Outsourcingclearly meant India and the 15
years ago, India were thepioneers in that industry. And,
and I realized very quickly thatthey're outsourcing not because
it's to their benefit, it'salmost a business sin, they're
giving their the sole product tosomebody else because it's
(02:56):
cheap. And I realized all theyreally want is to find amazing
people that are affordable. Theydon't need that management
operation, they will do it muchbetter. And when I sold the web
hosting and outsourcing company,I started DistantJob based on
that, and I focused on justfinding amazing talent that work
(03:18):
directly for the client. Andthough in my opinion, is a far
better solution for thatoffshore model. That, that we're
that today is pretty known foreveryone.
William (03:32):
I love that and companies that you work with
what's this? Let's let's talk alittle bit about your clients.
What what type of industries oris DistantJob kind of helping?
What type of job classes,geographies, let's get into kind
of how and where you helppeople.
Sharon (03:49):
So the, the majority of my clients are small to medium
sized technology companiesusually range between 3 million
to 50 million or I would say,from 10 employees to about to
about 100 employees. Those arethe usual companies that we
target. They are technologycompanies or they have a
(04:10):
substantial technologydepartment. It seems like any
company today, we used to workwith Warner, the big ladder
company, the biggest laddercompany in the world. And but
really what we're working withtheir e commerce department, so
anybody who is building adigital product, we are the
(04:31):
solution for them.
William (04:33):
I love that. I love that. How do you? I mean, as you
studied the market, how do youcompare yourself to or? Or who
do your customers and prospects,who do they compare you to?
Sharon (04:45):
So it's very hard because we're the first I should
have mentioned in the beginning.
We're the first remoterecruitment agency in the world.
There is a lot of companies thatprovide freelancers and their
marketplaces like Upwork, orFiverr. And there's plenty of
recruitment agencies out therethat slowly because of COVID are
(05:07):
transferring into the remoteworld. And that's usually where
our clients comparison, ask, howare we doing compared to those
type of companies, but I don'tknow. Too many companies or big
branded company that is really aspecialist remote recruitment
agency like us. We're the first.
(05:28):
And I like to think maybe Icould be delusional or maybe not
as humble, but I think we're thebest.
William (05:35):
I love that. I love that. I love it. How do you, I
normally ask us towards the endof the show, but it's probably
pertinent towards the beginning.
How do you, when I ask pricing,I don't want to know the dollars
and cents, it's more of thephilosophy, how do you work with
clients.
Sharon (05:52):
Um, it is somewhat straightforward. Like a local
recruitment agency we we get, weget the job description. If you
don't have a job description, wework with you to make a job
description. But here's where wetake it to the next level, when
when we get some of theinformation about what the
client needs, we still sit thereand find out about the clients
(06:15):
culture, the clients processes,what makes it exciting because
we are selling to the candidatesas much as we selling to the
client. So we really want tolearn the intricacies of what
makes our clients company workand what makes it exciting. And
we turn out the job description.
And to almost be some art, we'rereally excited about making our
(06:36):
job description, funny andenticing that people say, I want
to work for that company. Andthen after that we go and we
solicit individuals, usually inestablished companies across the
world, which is a hugedifferentiator from those
marketplaces where it's passivepeople trying to get a job.
(06:58):
Here, we solicit the best andthe smartest. And then we entice
them with the concept that theyget to work at home. And a lot
of people in the tech industryI, I would say a lot of nerds
are in love with the idea ofworking from home. They don't
have this need for this socialexperience that comes off as you
give them the same pay the sameexperience, and they don't need
(07:21):
to be stuck in traffic for twohours? They will take it. So we
get this, we get a lot ofresults. doing that. And after
that, we take it to the nextlevel by providing an impeccable
HR service, not only we makesure that we take care of, we
take care of the salaries oftime making sure that people get
(07:42):
paid well. And we remind theclients about vacations, about
national holidays, about raises,about bonuses, we pay attention
to the mental health of theindividual. We also let the
client know about the workingcondition to they are now with
COVID. We tell them how theircountries are doing in relation
to COVID. So which will couldpossibly affect the mental
(08:07):
health of their employees. So wego above and beyond also not
just finding amazing people butmaking sure that they stay
around feeling motivated andexcited about working for the
company.
William (08:21):
So two two questions.
One is going to be aroundonboarding. But the other is
when clients start with thisjob, where are they generally?
What's the what's the start offplace? Where Where do they start
working with you, and fix thatand then move into other
services that you have.
Sharon (08:38):
So they start at the beginning is the recruitment
process. And nothing. We don'tget into the HR Of course until
they give us the jobdescription, we send them a CV
with full description about thequalification of the individual
and our full evaluation. Theclient goes, I want this person,
(08:59):
that person and this person Iwant to interview and it's a
back and forth until they decidethis is the right person. And
only then we start we startcharging the client.
William (09:10):
I love that. Okay, so your clients have asked you I'm
sure about onboarding especiallyas it relates to remote work.
And and and things like that. Sohow do you how do you consult
with them? Or what what is youradvice to them about onboarding
remote employees?
Sharon (09:27):
So, so the advice is a big thing Look, I don't know if
you know William, I'm I'm also abest seller writer, when it
comes to to remote management.
So So I did write an entire bookabout it, but I sit with my
clients and if they're notexperts in remote management, I
sit and I teach them and I, allfor free, all part of the
(09:48):
service to make sure. Because ifthey are good remote manager
managers means that there'sgoing to be a lot more business.
If they hate the experience,it's a lose lose situation. So
the first advice that I mean,there's, it's, we don't have
enough time for all the advicein the world, right? Because
this is, at least I need to sitwith somebody for an hour. But
(10:10):
the first thing that I ask theclient to think about is, what
is their processes? What do theylike in their office experience?
What is that, that they, thatthat they do, that makes them
that makes them feel likethey're in control, and their
culture is good and operation.
(10:30):
So for example, if somebodysays, I like to visit each one
of my employee every week, andlook at their work and chat with
them, and motivate them andinspire them, I take away the
fear when they when you go toremote and tell them, you can do
exactly the same thing. Don'tchange it. This works for you.
(10:53):
There's a lot of things in theoffice that don't work. There's
a lot of distractions, there's alot of bureaucracy, there's a
lot of politics, but the thingsthat you like, if you're the
type of manager that goes aroundand inspires and motivate and
train and fixes things. Withevery individual, once a week or
once a day, you need to keep ondoing this. And you need to turn
(11:16):
on your zoom, you need to makesure that it's face to face, you
can do it by phone. But youvisit every person or every
person in your team throughzoom, and do the same
experience, it's really not abig difference. The end of the
day, you want to replicate yourpositive experiences in the
(11:37):
office, right into the remoteexperience.
William (11:40):
Yeah. And what I've also learned from other experts
like yourself, is you want toset them up for success, as you
would in the office. Theheadquarters, you want to make
sure that if they're home based,you want to make sure that you
set them up for success there aswell.
Sharon (11:55):
Absolutely. They're like, first of all, the the the
science, the research is showingthat people that work remote are
more productive. They'rehappier, they're more
independent. There is no reasonto fear remote. Besides that
it's completely, beside thatit's new. People have been
(12:15):
working in the office, theyassociate office with
productivity with a nine tofive, they've been doing this
for hundred, a hundred years forat least one and a half
centuries. Right. And now youtell them no, you can get the
you can achieve everything athome, just use proper
technology, and you canreplicate the positive things.
But it's the biggest obstacle isthe fear. Is that this is not
(12:40):
something that I'm used to.
Because the science shows thatpeople, the remote work workers
are more productive.
William (12:48):
I love this. So because you're an expert, I got to ask
you a couple just basic things.
What do we get wrong with remotemanagement? What's in the top
three things that we just needto fix immediately and we can
get into the some of the deeperstuff in next calls and next
podcast. But what what are justyour basic advice for people
that are scared or the justnever done it? Even though we've
(13:09):
been through COVID? Maybethey've just done it at gunpoint
and not done it well. What arethe three things that you
usually advise people?
Sharon (13:19):
So the first one is actually what I just talked
about is that you got to removethe fear. You got, you cannot
come to this feeling like you'relike you said, a gunshot. The
reality that you must do this,you you need to come into this
thinking that, hey, I can makemy company better. I there's
(13:40):
there's just too many timeswhere I that I sell my service
to a to some CEO and he'sexcited, Wow, this is great and
everything. And then hedelegates it to the CTO and the
CTO is dreading the experience.
And this is a guaranteedfailure, because he feels that
this doesn't make sense. At theend of the day, again, what you
(14:01):
need to do is just implement fewtechnologies and try to think
what is it that I like in myoffice, office work and you
absolutely need to insist toreplicate it with the remote.
And everything is replicable. Sothe second advice, there's
actually one thing that is notreplicable. And that is of the
(14:22):
hanging out and hanging out inthe at the water cooler or the
mental health. People, peoplekind of get to disappear to to
as I call remote la la land ifthere's not a manager that is
actually paying attention to thewell being of the people. So
this is that, in my opinion, theonly difference between office
(14:45):
management and a remotemanagement. And in theory, all
great managers in an officewould be amazing at remote, but
there's just too many, too manymanagers that got away. Not
being so great. And here they'repushed through, they're pushed
to their limits, and they haveto perform. And one of the
things that they don't do, thatweaker managers is actually
(15:08):
taking care of the mentalhealth, getting intimate with
employees get to know, buildthat culture, build that
connection, and in remote, youhave to do it. You cannot have
this out of sight out of mind.
You need to be proactive, andcheck in your employees on a
personal level and on a businesslevel.
William (15:29):
I love everything. And again, we could spend an hour
just talking about this. Yeah, Iloved I loved your note earlier
about commutes. Because I thinkpeople will rethink not just the
big cities, but just, they'regoing to rethink commutes. In
terms of the jobs and the jobsin the future, it's especially
like in places like the SanFrancisco or LA, or New York,
(15:52):
where commutes are an hour, hourand a half. You know, one way
that's, that's that's, that's abit much. Now that they've
worked remotely for a year and ahalf, I think, I think it's
gonna be really the big rethink,is is kind of going to be coming
for a lot of candidates, butalso companies. You know I
equally hear that companies aregiving up their headquarters
(16:12):
space, or not renewing theirlease. So so on both sides, I
hear kind of both that. So Ithink we're we're all kind of
rethinking that. So withDistantJob. So the clients that
you have right now, again,you've explained kind of the
process of most starting them,and then where you'd like to you
(16:33):
take all your clients, what whatdo you think that we won't go
out flying cars wise, but whatwhat's the next 18 months? For
the future of DistantJob? Whatdoes that look like for you?
Sharon (16:47):
It's already been happening. The future is
started, the future startedwhen, when people start getting
remote a little bit better. Imean, one of our biggest
obstacles has always been thatpeople just so afraid of the
remote concept. And you'rementioning San Francisco, San
Francisco, is by far our mostchallenging region because they
(17:09):
invested two decades or evenmore to get people to Silicon
Valley to say that if you wantinvestment, and if you want
great jobs, and if you wantanything to do with technology,
you must come to us and evenwhen I talk to people in Silicon
Valley about remote employees,they want those remote employees
(17:30):
to work 10 minutes away fromthem so they can get them to the
office anytime that they want.
It is without a doubt the mostchallenging culture. I don't
even bother right withCalifornia. Like my salespeople
know, you know, we like the EastCoast because of it. No
disrespect to the west coast butthe West Coast, they have a lot
of a lot of evolution to do inthis concept. But, but getting
(17:53):
to, but getting to understandremote is a major obstacle and a
major evolution in everythingthat we everything that we've
been doing till now. I mean thatwas the biggest challenge the
challenge for me is not to findamazing candidates that's what
we do incredible it was actuallyconvincing the client. Hey, you
(18:15):
should and you can get amazingpeople that working in a
distributed because until untilthen everybody was thinking
freelancers non-committedemployees outsourcers they were
not being thinking about careerdriven, fully focused, fully
integrated people because forthem, it means they need to come
to the office. So this is thisis what changing in the future.
(18:39):
I guess people are finallystarting to get it it's very
good for my business I'm notgonna lie to you.
William (18:48):
Well, they're they're also facing an exodus in
California. A lot of people aremoving both in LA Southern
California Northern Californiathey're moving inward a little
bit not all the way on the EastCoast but they're moving to
Denver and salt lake and evenAustin. They're moving inward a
little bit which is creating youknow kind of an interesting. I
don't think i don't think landprices are gonna go down in
(19:11):
California anytime soon. But itis everything kind of yeah never
exactly they'll probably raisebut but it is creating kind of
and interesting dynamic. Interms of these other cities that
you know become are becomingmore of a metropolis with it
with this type of talent. I knowduring pre show we talked about
DistantJob being you know aservices play. And that's really
(19:32):
you know, the core is obviouslywhat you care about. But you
also interact with a lot of techyeah and non stop right. So so,
or it being a services playmakes you a little bit you can
you can be objective about thetechnologies that your clients
use. Yeah. Do you do you findyourself making recommendations?
(19:54):
Like you found something thatreally really works and and and
do you find yourself making, ordo the job clients ask you for
recommendations aroundtechnology?
Sharon (20:04):
Not really, right? So we have. So to be honest, I'm
already rusty. I was a techie.
I'm an engineer. But I no longerdeal with that. But we have some
brilliant techies in thecompany, that still sometimes
give advice. But I really,really believe that the best,
the best ideas and the bestmanagement and the best strategy
(20:24):
has to come from the companyitself. From my clients. I need
to cater to their needs, I needthem to work. I need the I need
them to work by their system.
And my job is to educate themand teach them how to replicate
this in a remote environment. Idon't I don't. A lot of a lot of
(20:46):
the remote people, when you goto the remote conferences, and
some of my colleagues aretalking about the big change. I
don't believe in it. I believethat this people have built
beautiful companies, they havecreated certain amazing culture,
amazing processes that turnedthem into the massive beast that
they are, right. I mean, you canleave a few a few things behind.
(21:09):
But my job is to replicate thatexperience in remote, which I
believe it's so easy with justjust a few smart technologies.
William (21:18):
That is wonderful.
Okay, last question. What elseshould the audience know about
DistantJob that we haven'talready kind of talked through?
Sharon (21:28):
What else we should know, I already I think I think
the most important aspect andthe end, the biggest. And the
biggest differentiator when youtalk to a remote recruitment
agency, instead of anoutsourcing company or
marketplace, is that this arepeople that want a real job.
These are people that thatjoined, join, because they're
(21:52):
excited to work for you as aclient. If you going if you
coming into the DistantJobexperience, and you're thinking
this is just going to be anothernumber on the wall, right? It's
just going to be just anotherindividual, another individual
that I'm outsourcing or maybe Iuse interpret temporarily,
(22:14):
you're going to fail at oursolution. Because this people
need more from you. They need tohave a real employment
experience. So you better beequipped.
William (22:24):
My friend, this is wonderful. Thank you so much.
And now that I know that you'rea remote management expert, I am
going to tap that. Because I getquestions all the time, and then
you would be perfect to talk tofolks.
Sharon (22:35):
I would be happy to answer any question.
William (22:38):
Awesome. Thank you so much for your time, and thanks
for coming on to Use CasePodcast.
Sharon (22:43):
William, that was a lot of fun.
William (22:44):
Thank you. And thanks for everyone that listens to Use
Case Podcast. Until next time.
Music (22:51):
You've been listening to RecruitingDaily's Use Case
Podcast. Be sure to subscribe onyour favorite platform and hit
us up at recruitingdaily.com.
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