We Hire People We've Never Met - Remote Recruitment Explained - No Office Podcast ep. 77

How do you hire for a fully remote team without making costly mistakes? What surprises people who switch from office life to remote work? And how can you trust someone you've never met in person? Find out all about recruitment and onboarding in a remote-first company!

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1. Introduction: Why is remote recruitment an important topic?
- Where did the idea for this episode come from?
- Our recent experiences with hiring.
- Why hiring for a fully remote company is a unique challenge compared to traditional office-based recruitment.
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2. How is remote recruitment different from traditional hiring?
- Advantages and disadvantages of hiring for a distributed team:
- Access to candidates from anywhere in the world.
- Possibility to hire people from smaller towns or different countries.
- Support of local communities and diverse backgrounds.
- Remote work attracts people who value flexibility and work-life balance.
- You can immediately see if the candidate is able to communicate clearly in writing, organize their work, and use online tools effectively.
- No need to arrange in-person meetings (no travel, no logistics).
- → There is an entire chapter about this in Michał’s No Office book.
- What do we pay special attention to when screening candidates?
- Does the "remote work" itself attract more candidates?
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3. Essential skills and qualities of a candidate for a remote company
- Must-have traits: independence, written communication skills, self-discipline.
- Additional competencies: ability to work asynchronously, time management, proactivity.
- Is remote work suitable for everyone?
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4. Our step-by-step recruitment process at Nozbe
- Recruitment stages at Nozbe:
- Detailed job description.
- CV and cover letter — assessing the candidate's willingness to invest time in a personalized application.
- Submitting applications to Nozbe.
- Gathering additional info via Google Forms.
- First video call with the direct supervisor.
- Trial task — we used to pay for this, but over time we stopped (candidates increasingly used AI tools).
- Job offer and final interview with Michał.
- "Live" meeting with a team member to verify cultural fit.
- Onboarding and a three-month trial period.
- Using Nozbe app to manage the recruitment process:
- Separate project, sections, tasks.
- Submitting applications directly into Nozbe from recruitment services — a big time-saver.
- What candidate information do we collect and evaluate?
- CV — skills and experience.
- Personalized cover letter.
- Quality of written communication.
- Engagement, responsiveness, proactivity.
- During the video call — energy, values alignment.
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5. Onboarding new team members — what does it look like in practice?
- Thoughtful and gradual onboarding:
- Slack first (social aspect) + access to key Nozbe projects.
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6. Evaluating performance and building trust in a remote team
- The most common question in interviews: How do we monitor team members’ work results?
- What do we base our trust on — control vs. trust?
- True quality of work reveals itself over time ("learning by doing").
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7. "Culture shock" — how do people with office experience adjust to Nozbe?
- What surprises new hires from traditional companies:
- Lack of constant control.
- Asynchronous communication.
- Respect for time and focus.
- Friendly atmosphere despite not seeing each other daily.
- Does anyone ever quit because they miss an office?
- Hasn't happened so far…?
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8. Why do we sometimes decide to part ways?
- Signs that remote work may not be the right fit — rare thanks to our complex recruitment process:
- Trying to cheat or being frequently absent.
- Poor task communication — not commenting or providing updates.
- Example situations where we ended collaboration?
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9. Integration and building relationships in a remote team
- How we help new people feel part of a distributed team:
- Well-prepared onboarding materials.
- Comprehensive documentation.
- a dedicated person - mentor.
- Warm, welcoming atmosphere.
- Company retreats and team meetups — how they impact relationships:
- Nozbe retreats — once a year the whole team meets in person (on the company’s dime).
- Funny or surprising moments when meeting colleagues face-to-face for the first time after months of online work.
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10. Summary and key takeaways
- Most important lessons from our remote hiring experience.
- Tips for other remote companies planning to hire.
- Invitation for listeners to ask questions or share their own experiences.