Sharon [00:00:00]:
While international hiring gives you access to so much more great candidates where they’re often working at lower salaries, It also comes with this massive pool of not so great candidates, which you must filter through. That’s why at Distant Job, we get to know you on a personal level and then go find similar companies internationally where we solicit their career driven, focused senior workers. Quality candidates, lower prices, and longer retention Sounds way too good to be true. But as the 1st remote recruitment agency being around for about 2 decades, not only we have the experience to do it, We guarantee to deliver these people within 3 weeks. So reach out to us at distant job.com to learn about our guarantee, about our HR love experience that can increase your retention, and how we can build you an amazing culturally fit digital team. See you on the other side.
Luis [00:01:16]:
Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to another episode of the distant job podcast. I am your host, Luis. In this podcast, that’s all about building and leading awesome remote teams. And my guest today is Alex Hernandez, the cofounder and Sales director of job gather. Alex, welcome to the show.
Alex [00:01:36]:
Thank you, Luis, for inviting me. I’m I’m really happy to To be here and I talk, a bit more about my my experience, and and and what I can know and what I can share about remote.
Luis [00:01:46]:
Yeah. It’s it’s great. It’s great having you, and I’m sure that we’ll have a lot of the of the stuff to to talk about. Right? And I’m especially interested in in the story behind, you know, the the founding of of job gather, but I’m also sure that you’ve talked about that a bunch. Right. So I want to start for something that maybe you haven’t talked that much about, which is, How is your or what is your origin story with with remote work? How has it how did you first Encounter remote work, and how has that shaped your career?
Alex [00:02:23]:
So, not long ago, Actually, like like most people, you know, really COVID really pushed me into this world. It’s it’s actually a funny story, and I’m, you know, I’m also gonna tell you how we founded job together because it’s really linked to to all that. So to to tell you a bit more about myself, I’m I’m French. I grew up in Lyon. I studied a bit in Madrid. And after my studies, I moved to London, did a job, Very traditional 9 to 5 or maybe more 8 to 8 more. We we suit and tie on, move to Paris. So really traditional career, I would say.
Alex [00:03:05]:
And a week before lockdown, I quit my job. I had enough on my on my previous job. I just wanted a trend. I wanted a new challenge. I never thought the challenge would be as big as As they actually turn out turn out to be, but, you know, I don’t regret anything, because what happened is, so the 2nd, 3rd week of lockdown, so, you know, less than a month after I quit, I got introduced To someone called Juan. He’s not Spanish. He’s Belgian. He lives in Brussels, and he was just coming back from from Bogota, Colombia where he used to work.
Alex [00:03:45]:
And, we talked probably for 2, 3 hours, twice on on Zoom, and We both had a really similar situation. We were both at a time 34, 33, 34. We both had a daughter, and we both had a really good job, and we both just quit that really good job. And we both agree that Today, most people are not really happy at work. And we also both clicked on, Let’s try to build something to help people find a mini meaningful job.
Luis [00:04:25]:
Yeah.
Alex [00:04:25]:
So after 2 Zoom calls without Physically meeting each other without really knowing each other, we just decided to launch a full remote startup together. As you can imagine, everyone around us were just telling us that we’re crazy, but we just believe it was the right thing to do. And, That’s how I actually started in into the remote world, by just, you know, partnering with someone I’ve never met before, And we still work together.
Luis [00:04:54]:
Nice. So I I I want to double click on on on something that that you figured out that most people aren’t happy, right, at at their work. Why do you think That is because that’s something that everyone knows and no one talks about. Right? It’s one of those things that that no one wants to talk about that. No one wants to admit that, to recognize that, But everyone knows it to be true. Right? You just all you need to do is go to work, and you understand that most people you interact that are doing their job, they’re not really happy. Right. Either they’re unhappy or they’re too tired to to have emotions.
Luis [00:05:31]:
So how did why do you think that is?
Alex [00:05:34]:
It’s it’s a really good point when you said people don’t really wanna talk about it.
Luis [00:05:39]:
Yeah.
Alex [00:05:40]:
There is something shameful about saying I’m looking for a job. I don’t know why, but that’s just how it is. I think one of the reasons is You can’t really talk openly about it with your current employer because things are starting to change, And employers are starting to accept that you will be in the company for 2, 3 years, and then you will move. But for a long time, that’s not something you could Openly talk about with your employer.
Luis [00:06:10]:
Yeah.
Alex [00:06:10]:
So it was a bit of a shameful thing to just I will just hide from my employer. I will just Update my CV, I would just try to apply without everyone knowing. Why do I think people are not happy? I think, you know, you as a person, you evolve. Okay? You, Luis, today, you are probably a different person to the Luis 10 years ago, 15 years ago, I’m very different to myself when I was 23, 24 when I started working 10, 12 years ago. And sometimes or maybe most of the time, the companies don’t really evolve. You know? So you just feel you’re not in the right place anymore. Again, for example, when I had my daughter 6 years ago, My way of of thinking, my way of thinking life, my way of thing my work life balance change. If my employer doesn’t see that or doesn’t understand that, I will not feel that connected to my employer anymore.
Alex [00:07:16]:
You know? So they’re just some example of why, You know, people are not happy. Of course, you can add things like your manager might not be a good manager. You know? If you are being micromanaged, That might be a reason to wanna quit your job. You know? Maybe you don’t get along with your colleagues. You know? At the end of the day, You spend more time with your manager and your colleague than you do with your wife or husband. You know? That’s a fact. But but why do you
Luis [00:07:43]:
think that that that people Because stick, right, in in that situation. Because, again, it’s a very odd thing that you you’re not, You know, you’re not usually forced. Right? No one we’re not in a society where people come to your door, you know, come to your house, knock on your door, and say, okay. Now you’re working here. No. You have a choice, right, of where you work. You know? Sometimes you settle. Right? Sometimes you just need money.
Luis [00:08:09]:
You just need a paycheck And you have to settle, you know, probably more times than than than should be, but no one is forcing you to be a job. And yet People like you said, you know, you you hit it right on the nail. You figured out that most people, not some people, most people are unhappy, right, at their job. And that is a very weird situation to me. Right?
Alex [00:08:31]:
So for me, I see 2 reasons. You know? The first reason of course, it’s I think remote work makes makes all that changing.
Luis [00:08:41]:
Yeah.
Alex [00:08:42]:
But for example, if I take my example, when I started working 20 12 years ago, my, at the time, teachers were telling me, Your first experience has to be 3 to 5 years long. Otherwise, you will not find another job because jumping jobs looks bad. And if you only spend 2 years, that will look bad. You will not find another job. Things are changing.
Luis [00:09:07]:
Yeah.
Alex [00:09:08]:
I think especially because now more and more people, you know, have become freelancer, and it’s much more accepted to change jobs every 2 years. Yeah. But for a long time, that was something that was just not looking good on your. And the second reason that I see is, Let’s let’s take, you know, the boom of remote. Let’s take as, you know, COVID time. That’s really what really push, yeah, you know, remote.
Luis [00:09:35]:
Yes.
Alex [00:09:35]:
Of course. Before, I’ll take your example. Let’s say you live in Lisbon. Okay? And, I mean, Lisbon is a big city, but You if you wanted to change job because you had to go to the office 5 days a week, you had to find something else in Lisbon. And I would even say, Maybe not anywhere in Lisbon, not too far from where you live because you can’t really spend more than, I would say an hour and a half, you know, under the public transport. So maybe you were only tied to A quarter of Lease Bank, which basically was giving you not many opportunities. Now we’ve remote, and that’s, for me, one of the Amazing things of remote is today, you live in Lisbon if we keep the same example. But now you can Easily be working for a company in Lisbon, in Porto, in Madrid, in in in Frankfurt, In in LA or or or in Japan.
Alex [00:10:36]:
You know? So today, your opportunities are just Much more than what it used to be 4 years ago. You know? So I think that’s why it’s also becoming much easier For people, you know, to change jobs. And I’m I I just took an example of you being in a big city. Let’s say you live in a small town in the middle Of the countryside in Portugal Yeah. You know, your chance to change jobs are just almost zero. Not anymore.
Luis [00:11:05]:
Yeah. Exactly. That that’s a that that that that’s a good point. So let’s talk a bit about, your experience, right, in In in recruitment. Right? I know that doesn’t necessarily apply, right, to to job gather because job gather is a marketplace. Right? It it’s not a a recruitment agency. But I think that from just from the part of the people looking for remote people, Right. And also for the on the part of the people wanting, right, a a remote job, why personally fine? I I don’t know that if that’s your experience.
Luis [00:11:39]:
If it’s not, please let me know. But I I think it’s probably is. That there is a specific skill set, Right. That makes someone a good remote employee in in addition, right, to the skill set that’s specific to their occupation. So I I I guess that one of the things that I wanted to ask you is, how do you find how do you determine if someone is Going to be good at remote.
Alex [00:12:07]:
Yeah. That’s a that’s a good question. I don’t pretend to have the only solution. I will just share my my my experience on that since at together, we are completely fully remote company, and we have people in a lot of Some countries? Yes. I usually use the the the expression, you, need to Be a remote worker for the right reasons. Let let let me explain what I mean. If you are a remote if you want to apply for remote position and if you wanna work remote fully remotely Because you just, you know, wanna be hiding from from your manager and you wanna have your side Project that no one knows about and you still wanna have a salary, that will not work. You know? At the end of the day, When you sign for a company, when you start a a a contract, you know, with the company, it has to be a win win situation.
Alex [00:13:08]:
Okay? Today, Not the majority. Things are trending slowly, but today, more and more companies are offering a full remote position. That doesn’t mean they don’t have offices. That could mean they have an office. They just don’t force you to go to that office, which in my opinion, is a really good setup, what we call remote first. And to answer your question
Luis [00:13:31]:
And they expect you to work full time. I mean, not necessarily, you know, clock in the hours, but they expect the productivity that will be
Alex [00:13:39]:
What what if if I’m talking now as a as a full remote employer Yeah. You hire someone For a work, for a project. Exactly. We don’t care if the person start at 7 AM, 8 AM, 9 AM, or 11 AM. 1st of all, because if they are, you know, on the other side of the planet, they will work when you sleep, so it doesn’t really matter. But what why you hire people for are To just do a project. You know? And that’s why I really believe that contracts, the way we we know contract, Are really slowly shifting to a much more flexible and freelance sort of contract Yeah. Where you hire someone for a or or or 2 or 3 project.
Alex [00:14:23]:
Okay? You don’t hire someone to just sit in an office and and pretend they’re working. Let me come back to your question earlier. How do I think a good remote worker should be? I think so. You should. A good remote worker should know why he wants to to to work remote to to to because he needs to or she needs to justify Yeah. Why? You know, they wanna work fully remote. A good remote worker should be autonomous Because a good remote company, in my opinion, is asynchronous. Yeah.
Alex [00:15:00]:
What does asynchronous mean? That means, You know, you the person doesn’t have to work the same hours as you. Okay? So the person needs to be autonomous. The person, you know, needs to be accountable. You can’t be behind the person all the time. The person is not sitting next to you. You can’t be checking their work, and you should be, you know, kind of checking their work. Okay? Otherwise, that’s called micromanagement, and micromanagement It’s not good. You know, it’s not it’s even worse in in the remote, you know, environment.
Luis [00:15:33]:
No. Yeah. You should be able to to close the loop. Right? I always tell my employees to to Close the loop. Right? When I give you a task, don’t expect me to to check if it’s completed. Come back to me and tell me, hey. I completed that task. Right? That closes the loop, and I know that you you done your part right, and and I don’t need to be micromanaging.
Luis [00:15:52]:
So so, yeah, completely agree.
Alex [00:15:55]:
That’s a yeah. Exactly. That’s a really good point. So the person needs to be a gentleman. The person needs to be accountable. Yeah. And, You know, the the person also needs to have the ability to just look for answers for themselves. That’s something I really realized when I was working, you know, back in the in an office that people tend to just ask a question all the time.
Alex [00:16:18]:
Mhmm. And when you say when you set up a limit, say, hello, guys. I can’t be bothered for the whole morning because whatever. I’m working on a project. People find the answers 95% of the time. In a remote environment, You know, that’s even no. That that that that’s even worst, you know, because Yeah. You know, it’s not like you’re gonna have the answer in 10 minutes.
Alex [00:16:38]:
It’s Your manager might be sleeping, you know, so you don’t will not have an answer for the next 8 hours. Yeah.
Luis [00:16:47]:
So No. I think that’s I mean, eventually, you’re you’re just going to have a a private company version of ChatGTP That reads all your Google Docs and all your Slack history and all your emails and just answers you. Right?
Alex [00:17:01]:
No. Exactly. And the last 1 I would say, a good remote worker should have a really good ability to communicate. Communication is key on the remote environment, because you don’t see the person. You don’t have, like, the small talk in the coffee machine, for example. So everything should be communicated. Everything should be, you know, documented, and good communication for me is one of the key pillar Office shown remote, working environment.
Sharon [00:17:32]:
It’s tough finding a great developer that is not only a magician with code, but also integrates into your company culture. And while international hiring gives you access to so much more talent often at a lower salary, It also comes with a massive pool of not so great candidates, which you must filter through. That’s why at Distant Job, We get to know you on a personal level and then go find similar companies internationally where we solicit their career driven, focused senior workers. And with our exceptional HR love experience, we also make sure these candidates last with you for the long run. Quality candidates, lower prices, and longer retention. Sounds way too good to be true. I know. But as the 1st remote recruitment agency being around for more than 2 decades.
Sharon [00:18:19]:
Not only we have the experience to do it, we guarantee to deliver these people within 3 weeks. So reach out to us at distantjob.com to learn about our guarantee, about our HR love experience, and how we can build you an amazing culturally fit digital team. See you on the other side.
Luis [00:18:37]:
Yeah. Let’s double click on some of those characteristics. Right. I I totally agree on on the what are your reasons, right, for working remotely. If someone comes to me and say, oh, I want to work remotely because, I want to travel, and I’m like, okay. That’s not you know, I appreciate that you want to travel, but that that’s not a good reason for me to hire you. I’m happy that you Travel, but I I hope that you’re applying for a job because you like doing this work and you want to do it at this company. Right? Well You know? The don’t use my, you know, don’t use my business as a vehicle for your travel fix for your travel fix.
Luis [00:19:17]:
Right?
Alex [00:19:18]:
But
Luis [00:19:19]:
But more than, you know, more than that, you talked about the autonomy. Right? How do you Test for autonomy during the hiring process.
Alex [00:19:31]:
So it’s it’s difficult to test. You know? And and and, of course, it’s it’s easier to actually test that when the person actually started working. Usually, what I the question I would ask is To try to understand in the previous job, whether it was remote or whether it was they’re just on-site, you know, it doesn’t really matter, The project, the people who are working on. You know? And if I can feel that the person was really owning the project, leading the project, delivering The project, you know, just alone and or managing a team. For me, that will that example will give me confidence. Okay. That person can lead a project. And what I call project, project can be many many things, and I will explain to you in a minute what I mean by project and what it means at.
Alex [00:20:24]:
And so, for example, I would ask question like, okay. When you’re stuck in the middle of the project, what do you do? If the straight answer is, I just asked my manager, doesn’t really show a lot of autonomy here. You know? So really trying To understand and, or I will always take the example of, okay, when you have your own project, how do you deliver it? Were you able to deliver the product on time. When you had an issue, what did you do? Who did you ask? How did you communicate? Did you documented it? You know? That that is for me, a way to to test the autonomy of of the person. And and to come back of what I just say now about project. For example, at at JobGetter, we have a lot of project. We have huge project, who are being led by the CEO or or the CMO or by myself, but, also, we have a smaller project. And at job gather, anyone can lead a project.
Alex [00:21:24]:
Anyone. That mean, if you are here for a week and you are a junior, you can lead a project.
Luis [00:21:29]:
Yeah.
Alex [00:21:30]:
And when you lead of a project, you are being judged by your capacity to deliver the project. If you need help, you have the right to ask the CEO something if the CEO is the right person to talk to. You have the right to talk to the CMO. You have the right to talk to anyone in the company even if, let’s say, you are the most junior one and the most recent one in the company. You all you have the the, the the responsibility to deliver that project. And Why are we doing this? First of all, we try to have a, you know, a really flat organization, and we don’t want the founders or the managers To lead everything. Because depending on what the product is, you know, some people, some general people can actually lead that product, and You’re really helping them to grow as a person. You’re really helping them to become accountable, And you’re really helping them to develop their autonomy.
Luis [00:22:35]:
Yeah. Okay. So so that’s that’s very interesting. So let’s dive a bit more into the mechanics, Right. Of that first off, you know, I’m I’m sure there’s this most people need a certain level of deprogramming to arrive at the company as a junior And take ownership, right, take leadership of a project. So how do you facilitate that? Right. How do you, I’m sure that the junior doesn’t just arrive in the company and decide, I’m going to start the project. Right? So how does that how do you facilitate that? How do you push them to take the initiative, so to say?
Alex [00:23:13]:
No. Of course. Of course. You’re completely right. Someone junior, you know, who just arrived won’t say, oh, I’m gonna lead that project.
Luis [00:23:19]:
Yeah. Exactly.
Alex [00:23:20]:
But what happened is We are basically giving them the project at the beginning. And, you know, the reaction is funny. It’s usually, wow. Are you sure? That’s me. You know? I never had that before. Yes. Yeah. You are the one.
Alex [00:23:32]:
So I always, you know, realize something. When you trust someone
Luis [00:23:38]:
Mhmm.
Alex [00:23:40]:
You receive trust back, first of all. Yeah. When you give responsibility to someone, especially to someone who’s not expecting that responsibility, You will get so much in return. So it’s in in a way, it’s give first, and you will get something in return. Okay? Something could be, you know, trust, could be loyalty in a company, could be many, many good things. Okay? And so, Of course, we will just push these people, and we will just talk to them, and we will just explain why we think they are the best person to lead that project. Okay. Of course, the person can be scared.
Alex [00:24:17]:
The person can be not ready, of course, but we’re also here to support them, To really make them feel that they have the right they need, and they have to Talk to the right person, whether the person is a cofounder or manager doesn’t matter. Yeah. Doesn’t matter the title. Is you have to do the project, and we will just work on a plan with them. Okay. How do you think you will just do the project? They can come to us for you know, with with questions. And, of course, it’s also the responsibility of everyone in the company to receive That person properly, if the person comes to you, you know, you have to treat that person with respect and really make them understand That yes. That is actually good that it come to you.
Alex [00:25:06]:
You know? Of course, if you treat them with, like, why are you bothering me? I’m a cofounder. I don’t wanna talk to you. Of course, that will not work. So Everyone has a part to play in this, you know, way of working.
Luis [00:25:17]:
Yeah.
Alex [00:25:18]:
And then you have to give the person the right tools. Okay. Well, the doesn’t matter at all. So, of course, it could depend on the product, but you have to give the person the right tools. And with that, Really quickly, you will see how the people take ownership of the product, Possibility? Of course, in some cases, it might not work, and that’s when you can realize maybe the hire was not good. Maybe that person is not A good fit for for us, for a full remote company, because the person likes this or not. But also you could be, okay. The person likes that and that.
Alex [00:25:55]:
That’s my responsibility to train that person and to make sure that person improves. You know? So it’s really, the responsibility of the whole company to make sure the person feel comfortable enough to lead that project and to deliver that project.
Luis [00:26:12]:
Interesting. So let me set up an example because I I want to talk about how and this may be, This may be culturally or it may be through tools or processes, but how does that affect workload and how do you Manage it. Let me give me an example, you know, from my area, from marketing. Right? Let’s say that I have, you know, 3 juniors that are taking, you know, hold of 3 different Marketing projects could be, let’s say, num number 1, establish a newsletter and send it in etcetera. Number 2, Let’s say Facebook ads, and number 3, redesigning the website. Three different people, 3 different projects. Right? You know, obviously, 1 is a web designer, 1 is an email specialist, and and the other 1 is, an ads person. They don’t necessarily all know copywriting, so all of them are going to go to the copywriter for help.
Luis [00:27:05]:
Right? At the same time, How do I stop my copywriter from becoming overwhelmed and from giving more importance or less into importance to 1 to 1 project, right, to to keep that respect, right, with the juniors?
Alex [00:27:18]:
Yeah. In that example, we don’t have, you know, that many people in marketing, but it’s a really good example. You know, Also so it’s, so the copywriter, of course, should welcome these people and and and and He’s here to also help these people. However, the copywriter has its own project, its own calendar of priorities, And that’s also the task of the copywriter to say, look, guys. Yeah. I will help you. However, this week, I’m full, so you’re gonna wait for next week. You know? So it’s it’s it’s not because you lead a project that you become a dictator and you’d say, you guys, you’re gonna work for me tomorrow.
Alex [00:27:55]:
You know? Exactly. It’s it’s so I think And and also, you know, using that example, the copywriter is taking ownership of, you know, its own role, And the copywriter has the ownership of his or her calendar, and the copywriter has the right to say, guys, this week, I just Can’t do it. So that’s the way I work. I use a publication calendar, for example. So tell me what you want. Tell me why you want it, And we will check together when I will help you. You know? And, so that that’s what I’m saying. Yeah.
Alex [00:28:32]:
Someone leading a project doesn’t matter the scenario to the person. It’s it’s a teamwork. You know? And and the whole company, we really try to To to build a company with that mindset where everyone is important. Okay? But, you know so everyone is important, but everyone also has their own priorities. And everyone has the right to say no, But everyone should help other people. You know? So we come back to communication. Of course, you should come to the copywriter, say, Hey. You know, Luis, I want this for tomorrow.
Alex [00:29:08]:
That will probably not work. However, if you say, Luis, let me know By the end of the week, when you have 10 minutes, I wanna talk to you about that. And you talk, you explain, and you both Find a time to actually, you know, work on that project. I can guarantee that will work.
Luis [00:29:27]:
Yeah. Alright. So so that that’s a that’s a Pretty good, process. You did mention, you know, your calendar. And before we started recording, you were talking a bit About, you know, how you are organizing your your your days these days. You seem correct me if I’m wrong, but but you seem to have a A very flexible approach, you know, to to to to work, which she feels very healthy. Right? And and so I wanted to ask you a bit. How do you Take this flexible approach for yourself.
Luis [00:29:58]:
Right? How do you manage? What is your typical how do you organize your typical week and your typical day, let’s say?
Alex [00:30:06]:
So we have a rule, a job together. Everything everything should be in a calendar. Okay. Because everything is open at JobGetter. All documents, all the calendars of everyone, you can you can check what the CEO calendar is. Nothing is hidden from the team, so everything should be put in your calendar. Let’s say you get on a plane tomorrow, between 3 and 5 o’clock, you just put them in calendar. I’m getting on a plane.
Alex [00:30:34]:
Why? Because all the people, We know that you are not available because if you don’t put it and I can have the right to put a a meeting to you. You know? And if you accept the meeting And then you can’t turn up because you’re on a plane. That that is your fault. That is not it because you didn’t put it. So everything should be in the calendar. So for me, what I do for example, 1 week, I have my daughter, 1 week, I don’t. So the week I have my daughter, every morning, 8:30 to 9:30 is blocked because that’s the time I’m gonna, you know, drop her at school. And again in the evening, 4:30 to 5:30 is blocked.
Alex [00:31:09]:
So no one, clients, colleagues, no one can put me in meetings at a time, and people know that I’m, You know, I’m I’m actually gonna, you know, look after my daughter and take her to school. For me, what I try to do, I work on a sales part. And sometime I mean, sometime no. Every week, every day, I need some times just focus time, deep work, Where I’m at a contacting company looking for, you know, whatever, I would just block some times in my calendar. I usually call it deep walk or or or time or whatever. Then, again, people know that time don’t disturb me. I’m busy. Okay.
Alex [00:31:47]:
So clients are used currently. So, you know, to my clients, potential clients, I would just send them my calendar, and they can just book a time whenever they want. They will see that time is not available. Yeah. Also always want to keep some free time because, of course, you can’t always plan Perfectly. You you die. Sometimes you have unexpected a call, a meeting unexpected. So usually in the afternoon, I would just keep it a bit more free.
Alex [00:32:13]:
I will still work on on project. I will work with colleagues, but I keep it free. One thing that we do, also, we use discounts, internally. You know, it’s it’s a bit like it’s a bit like Slack.
Luis [00:32:26]:
Yeah. I know. I know. I know. So I prefer it to Slack, but but it’s not, You know, it it’s not corporate enough for most people I deal with. Right? Yeah. But I’ve been using team. Because it it usually it started as a gaming app, And I’m a a big gamer, so I I I use the beginning.
Alex [00:32:43]:
You know what? The tech team choose Discord. That’s coming from the from the tech. So what we do also on, on Discord, we have rooms like a voice room. Yeah. 1 room is called Madrid, because I live in Madrid. One room is called Brussels because Juan is in Brussels. So And we have room. And if, for example, you are working, but you’re not on the phone and you are open to talk to people, you can just be in a room.
Alex [00:33:05]:
And let’s say, I see the in the Brussels room, I see Juan. I can just go to the room, and, hey, Juan, and I have something to tell him. I I just wanna have someone to talk to. So we also have open rooms, and I think it’s quite nice. Some teams are using it more than others. For me, I’m I’m a lot on the phone, so I can’t really use it that much. Mhmm. So we also try to create bonding between between people using voice room on a on the on on this call.
Luis [00:33:32]:
Yeah. That that the those those rooms are really nice. Right? That that they are. Okay. So, but we we were talking about your your usually. So you’re a heavy calendar user. What what are the and what are the tools, Right. That you apart from the calendar, obviously, what are your remote work tools that you can’t live without, right, that that that are a core part, of your remote work life?
Alex [00:33:58]:
For me, Calendly, it’s probably the best tool, Calendly. I mean, I work in sales, so I do a lot of meetings. Calendly is the the number one tool.
Luis [00:34:07]:
Laura, apparently, sorry to interrupt, but people are very divided. The Calendly seems very Isev, up to me. I know a a nontrivial amount of people that feel disrespected and hate it when you send them a calendar link. Has that happened to you?
Alex [00:34:27]:
Not really. I mean, I can understand, but come on. I just I really I I haven’t made the compilation of You You
Luis [00:34:34]:
know, sending a calendar is is just giving me work. It’s treating me like your secretary. And I’m like, I have the opposite. I’m I’m giving you access to my time. Right?
Alex [00:34:43]:
Exactly. That’s the way I see it.
Luis [00:34:45]:
My time.
Alex [00:34:46]:
Right? I mean, to be fair, maybe I’ve been lucky. I have really haven’t had the feedback deep feedback yet, you know, to myself, for me, it’s like, you know, even if sometime I’m actually coming to a prospect and I say, oh, can I talk to you? I will send the Calendly. I find it so easy. I I just choose the time that I’m able to talk to you. And instead of doing back and forth, can you do Monday at 8 But 11 no. I can do 11 oh, I can do let’s make it easy. And maybe because I work in sales, so I’m I’m I’m you know, the people I talk to are maybe more used to the tool, but for me, I just find it so so easy. I’m just saving hours Yeah.
Alex [00:35:26]:
With Cananda. So I love Cananda. So we use this call, let’s say, for internal communication. We don’t use emails. Internally, Emails are forbidden. We never use emails, which is really good. I really recommend that. Internally, we do donate emails.
Alex [00:35:43]:
We use
Luis [00:35:44]:
I want you sorry to interrupt again, but, you know, this is a kind that kind of conversation. You don’t use emails. What happens When you want to surface an email that you get from a third party. Right? Let let’s say that you get an email
Alex [00:35:56]:
from a client.
Luis [00:35:57]:
Okay.
Alex [00:35:57]:
That’s the exception. Yeah. Of course. If you receive an email with a PDF attached, you know, you
Luis [00:36:02]:
And you want to just that email with with, let’s say, your VP.
Alex [00:36:05]:
Yeah. Right. Normally, for me, personally, what I would do is, let’s say, for example, raise an attachment. I would just download the attachment and send it to Discord. I find it so much easier to just because on Discord, then it is on email. You know?
Luis [00:36:16]:
Yeah.
Alex [00:36:16]:
And on email, you always end up with a 1000000 people on cc who just have nothing to do with it. Let’s take you to the private channel of Discord. You just talk to it to the right person, and it’s much easier. And to be fair, we we’ve done no emails rule from day 1, and it’s working very well. We use so we don’t use Notion, but we use, ClickUp for Project management.
Luis [00:36:41]:
Oh,
Alex [00:36:41]:
yeah. And inside ClickUp, you have something similar to Notion, which is, I think it’s called ClickUp Docs, I think, so it’s, yeah, similar is where we put all the documentation. We are Using the the Google Suites, so all the meetings that we do are from, Google Meet. So when we do Meetings for the whole company, it’s everyone on Google Meet. When it’s a one to 1 meeting, we usually use Discord because it just just, easier. I use for me on the site, I use AirCall for, you know, making calls. For example, we try not to use Too many tools because, you know, what I really realize is people Tend to justify the, lack lack of of of, you know, completion of task Oh, because I did not have that tool or I think that that that that that that’s a really easy excuse. You don’t need many tool.
Alex [00:37:46]:
Yeah. You just you you need the tool to communicate. You need a tool to have to follow your projects, like a project management tool. That’s that that’s the main thing. Of course, then, you know, the product team will tools like Miro. I use specific sales tool, and then you have some specific tools per team. But as a company, ClickUp and Discord and the Google Suite. That’s about it.
Luis [00:38:12]:
Yeah. And you can do pretty much I mean, you should be it’s more efficient Probably if you if you use, you know, a proper CRM tool. But between Google Docs and ClickUp, you can arrange a CRM solution. Right?
Alex [00:38:24]:
I mean, I I use HubSpot But for sales, for example. You know? So then we have, of course, specific tools per team. Yeah. And, and the guys in tech will use Jira, for example. But, really, as an overall company, the only tool we use, all of us, Discord, Google Suite, and, and ClickUp.
Luis [00:38:44]:
Yeah. That makes a lot of sense. That makes a lot of sense. Okay. So, what about books? What books do you gift to people. Or if you don’t give books, what what books do you recommend? Right? Strongly recommended reading to people who join your company.
Alex [00:39:02]:
It is today something we haven’t really done to either give books or recommend people to read books.
Luis [00:39:09]:
Okay.
Alex [00:39:10]:
Of course, it’s it could depends on the team. For example, for me, the sales team Mhmm. You know, there’s a book I always recommend To salespeople is the book from Dale Carnegie, and I think it’s called how to make friends or something like this. You know? But, again, we love
Luis [00:39:27]:
top recommendation in this podcast. Right?
Alex [00:39:30]:
Oh, yeah. I mean, I love this book. You know? I I read this book 3 times. My
Luis [00:39:36]:
copy is destroyed. Right? Just just like it’s it’s just, like, completely destroyed from how many times I’ve gone through it and made notes and etcetera.
Alex [00:39:45]:
Yeah. So I think, of course, if you work in product, I read a book recently. He he was the, the guy who actually launched the iPhone, at Apple. I don’t remember the name of the book now, but his book has been released maybe a year ago. And, so so, of course, depending on the team you actually work on, you have specific books. It is true that we we, the only, let’s say, documentation that we we ask people to read is the internal documentation on How the company is actually working. You know? How do we sell? How do we build the product? How do we do that? And did that. You know? Yeah.
Luis [00:40:22]:
What about for yourself? Right? Because you you clearly, you have very strong, opinions, and they seem to be working out, you know, about how to run the company, and your company is Run-in a very different way, right, than most companies. I think it’s fair to say, though, you know, hopefully, more companies will move towards, you know, more and more flexibility and things like that. What books or people have influenced you in that journey?
Alex [00:40:47]:
So, maybe 2 years ago, I was reading almost a book a week. Lately, I haven’t been reading that many books, for you know, I haven’t Maybe taking the time to to read more books. One thing, and that’s a personal opinion. Mhmm. Books, especially American books, usually 300 pages, but could be 5 pages. I just really have the feeling that you know? They use 300 pages to say something that could be said in 5 pages.
Luis [00:41:20]:
Yeah.
Alex [00:41:21]:
So I’m gonna be bored of of these books. We’re just saying the same things over and over. Yeah. What I do a lot is talk to people. My objective, lately, I have to admit I haven’t been that good at that, but, you know, I’m really trying to talk to 1 person per week who I just don’t know. So how do I do that? Using LinkedIn, I would just,
Luis [00:41:46]:
Yeah.
Alex [00:41:46]:
Find people. So, of course, for me, I would just I have someone working in sales. I guess someone, like a like an entrepreneur, like a founder, or someone in the remote industry. Okay? And they would just easily add the person on LinkedIn, Tell the person, look. I like what you’re doing. I’ve been following you for a while, whatever message you wanna say. Yeah. I’ve got nothing to sell.
Alex [00:42:09]:
I just wanna share, I just wanna hear about you and your experience, and I do just wanna share mine. Do you have 15 minutes? Yeah. 95% of the people I’ve contacted say yes. 100% told me they like the experience. Almost all of them have never had people like me, you know, going to them just to talk. And the said, wow. That’s a great experience. And I’ve been learning so much on how to set up a sales team, How to, which mistakes not to do when you start a remote company? It could be a lot of different topics.
Alex [00:42:50]:
You know, you just need to find what’s interesting for you. Always try to bring value to these people because you can’t expect To get value, if you don’t give anything, you know, it should be an exchange. So let’s try to bring value whether it’s by sharing my experience. It could be introducing Someone to a person bringing value has a lot of different options. That at
Luis [00:43:10]:
all when you do the invitation, or or or do you
Alex [00:43:13]:
Yeah. Yeah. I I I just say, look. I I just wanna share experience. I hope I can bring you value. I hope you can bring value to me, and it’s just like an informal 15 minute chat. The 15 minutes usually turn into an hour, and I never had a bad call. They were always really interesting chats, and I’ve always learned something, and I and I hope I also brought something to the people.
Alex [00:43:37]:
Yeah. And these people, then a part of your network, you know, and who knows? Maybe they will ask you a favor in 6 months. Maybe you will ask them a favor, And that’s also a a way to to grow your network.
Luis [00:43:48]:
Yeah.
Alex [00:43:48]:
So I love doing this.
Luis [00:43:50]:
For the people that are listening to this and wish they could do it, but it feels like a lot of A lot lot of work. Right? There is an app, a service that does this, which is lunch club that automates most of I
Alex [00:44:01]:
know lunch club. Yeah.
Luis [00:44:03]:
Though, obviously, your approach is more personal and more directed, so you are likely having higher quality conversations. But, of course, To start, you know, if someone wants to start doing this, I really recommend lunch club, and then they can upgrade to your to your method.
Alex [00:44:18]:
Lunchclub, I was using Lunchclub. What you said is sometime, you’ll always talk to interesting people, but sometime, the people are really far away from From your field. You know?
Luis [00:44:28]:
Yeah.
Alex [00:44:29]:
If tomorrow I’m talking to someone, maybe someone really interesting but working in the fashion industry, I’m not sure I can really bring something. So that’s why I’ve stopped lunch club, and that’s why I’m doing it myself on LinkedIn. And, yes, it’s a bit of work, But come on. That’s not that much. And what you get in exchange
Luis [00:44:49]:
Yeah.
Alex [00:44:49]:
Is amazing.
Luis [00:44:50]:
So you’re on
Alex [00:44:50]:
Alex now. Great.
Luis [00:44:53]:
Yeah. Nice. Nice. That that I think that’s a great, place to end up, and I want to be respectful of your time, but it it’s been a a a great conversation. Thank you so much for for doing this. And I now I want you to tell people, right, about job gather, right, about, You know, how can they find job getter? Why and who should apply? And and and, also, you know, where can they continue to reach out to you to continue the conversation? Maybe schedule a 15 minutes, Right. Of course.
Alex [00:45:22]:
Good to
Luis [00:45:22]:
have a talk.
Alex [00:45:23]:
I’ll say yes. If they come to me to talk, I’ll say yes. So for me, I’m really just using LinkedIn. So, Alex Hernandez, on LinkedIn, just add me. I will accept you. Ask me a question. Talk to me. I will reply to you.
Alex [00:45:37]:
And job gather, we are a job search engine purely dedicated to remote, really real remote Positions, at the moment, we have around 140,000 full remote position listed. Doesn’t matter where you live in the world. You just start what you’re looking for, the country you live in, and you will find, job postings. And we are adding around 10,000 remote job posting new remote job postings every day, so it’s always being updated.
Luis [00:46:13]:
Nice.
Alex [00:46:13]:
We hope to reach 200,000, remote job posting by December, and we really wanna be Become the reference of, remote jobs, in the world.
Luis [00:46:24]:
Awesome. Awesome. That that’s a great that’s a great goal. Alright, Alex. Thank Thank you so much for coming. Thank you for being part of the show. It was an absolute pleasure.
Alex [00:46:34]:
Thank you, Luis. I had a great time, and I hope, you know, people enjoyed the talk as well. Thank you.
Luis [00:46:39]:
Yeah. Me me too. And, I hope to see you here next week as well, listeners. This was the Distant Job A podcast your podcast about building and leading awesome remote teams. See you next week.
