Tom Fallowfield 💡 Profile picture
Apr 5, 2022 30 tweets 7 min read Read on X
I've been building a REMOTE DEV TEAM since 2015.

It took me from being a cash- and time-poor #freelancer to something I can call an #webdesign agency.

But the process is far from straightforward.

Here's everything I've learned about remote hiring 🧵👇

#buildinpublic
✅  Be very clear about what you’re looking for

This sounds obvious but the first time I did this I made the mistake of just shortlisting loads of candidates without being highly specific about what I was looking for.
And whatever else is on your list, add these items

1️⃣  Reliability. Obvs.

2️⃣  Communication skills.

Doesn’t matter how good someone is if they can’t communicate well enough with you, your team, and your clients, it ain’t gonna work.
3️⃣ Adequate equipment to do the job properly.

A good enough computer, connection, work room etc. etc..

Figure it out in advance.
✅  Respect your applicants. Create and share a clear protocol.

Tell people in your first contact with them how you plan to conduct the hiring process.

Respect their time - you’re likely to piss off good candidates if you forget that they’re busy people just like you.
Relationships should be mutually beneficial & respectful.

So ❌  DO NOT allow the availability of plentiful skilled foreign labour at low rates (by your standards) give you a power trip.

This leads to the worst kind of neo-colonial attitudes & will make you a terrible employer.
✅ Resumés are meaningless. Create a test.

Interviews can tell you whether or not a person can communicate, and MAYBE whether they’re going to be fun to work with.

But for determining skills and abilities, they’re useless.

So set them an arthurian challenge. 🗡
But ... ❌  DO NOT be tempted to let candidates loose on client work (even if you’re paying them).

For all you know they might wreck something, possibly your reputation. 🚨
Dan Norris (wrote 7 Day Startup and launched WPCurve in a week: v inspiring guy) talked about creating a dummy website similar to his clients’ sites and having candidates log in and perform various tasks on that as an aptitude test.
✅  Accept some level of risk – but always protect your interests

Even after 1) checking someone can communicate and 2) putting them somehow to the test, you still don’t know very much about this person.

There is still a good chance that they’re not the right fit.
And there is a chance (very small) that they might be actively dishonest.

Tread carefully, especially at first, and protect yourself. I’m thinking about client contact info.

And I’m thinking about server and service passwords.
✅  Create a corporate culture you feel proud of

If you’re transitioning from a 1 person company to a 2 person company then for the first time you’ll have to think about “culture”. It’s down to you.
How you behave towards your team not only creates the atmosphere in which you must all exist during your working days, it permeates your client relationships and your supplier relationships as well.

This is your legacy. Consider it.
✅  Build the relationship

Your relationship with a remote worker needs to be built up gradually, but this process takes place over strange, de-humanising platforms like video, text chat and project management software.
You are aiming for a situation – and this won’t happen overnight – where you can trust each other with money, client contacts, server credentials etc., and where you know that you can depend on each other when the pressure is on.

This cuts both ways.
In the early days a big risk is that your new worker will ghost you.

This is rude and annoying but sometimes people find it easier to just vanish (and lose their job) than to ask difficult questions or admit that they don’t know how to do something.
You can mitigate this risk by being super-approachable yourself and by fostering a culture where people are open and safe to expose their vulnerabilities.

This takes bravery and hard work - emotional work.
It will pay off in lasting relationships and non-asshole behaviour all round.
✅  PAY (and I can’t stress this enough) ON TIME. EVERY SINGLE TIME.

In all relationships, but especially in trans-continental, electronic ones, you’re only as good as your word.

And if that goes that you’ve lost everything.

Don’t make excuses.

Pay on time.
There have been times when the rest of my life has been collapsing around my ears and I’ve had to sell investments at the bottom of the market in order to keep to my word, but I did it and so must you.
This is about self-interest sure, but it’s also about not being an asshole.
As someone’s boss your scope for making someone’s life undyingly miserable is pretty much as high as it’s ever been (kind of like being a parent).

Don’t forget that and don’t abuse your power.
✅  Practicalities

Decide in advance – so you can answer questions – how you’ll handle practical issues such as

👉 Hours. Do you care, or will it be results oriented?

👉 Public holidays. Obviously they’re different in different countries.
But to avoid misunderstandings your employment contract (did I mention that? you’ll need one) should stipulate exactly which days are to be worked and which not.

👉 Sick leave. It's a thing.

👉 Annual leave.
👉 Payment frequency (I suggest weekly for the trial period to build mutual trust then monthly or twice a month to keep tx costs down)

👉 Payment method. I’ve used worldremit.com (not affiliated).
Works great but once on a work trip to Hong Kong I found out (on pay day) it didn't work from there.

I had to trek across rush hour HK at the last minute to find a remittance centre which would take my money.

Closest I’ve come to missing pay day & not a nice moment.
✅ Systematise

A good motto: "Don't a dick to your future self".

Document everything you learn. You don't know when you'll need it.

The legend of #buildinpbulic @arvidkahl talks about it brilliantly here so I won’t repeat what he said:

thebootstrappedfounder.com/standard-opera…
@arvidkahl In conclusion – don't be an asshole. But you knew that.

That's it from me. Thanks for reading!
If you enjoyed this thread:

⚡️Follow me @tomfallowfield for crazy website optimisation tips and a light sprinkling of mellow "humour"

⚡️RT the hell out of this bad boy - your followers need to know this stuff

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