by Kevin Roth

You just found the IDEAL candidate for a role that you’ve been trying to fill for months. You craft a perfect message, re-read it 10 times, send it and the response comes…

“Is this in the city? I just couldn’t make that work full-time”

Initial reaction?

Devastation. Agony. Defeat.

Before you throw your laptop out the window, let’s stop and think about this. Yes, when you started the search you had every intention of needing this person (and your whole team) in the office every day. But that was pre-COVID. If we have learned anything from the past 2 months, it’s that some people don’t skip a beat from home.

That doesn’t mean you tell every candidate they can work remote.

Make them earn it.

And there’s no better time to test them than right now. You essentially have no choice. Most commuters will be working some sort of flex schedule the rest of the year. So how about this in response to the original question?

“It will likely start off remote depending on COVID and then a few days per week in the office as we transition back. If you’re able to show in that time that you can be effective in either setup, we’re open to being flexible.”

Be progressive, think outside the box and do what it takes to land top talent.