This article was published as part of the Denver Business Journal Leadership Trust, an invitation-only network of influential business leaders, experts, executives and entrepreneurs.
The past year has been strange, difficult, unbelievable – insert your adjective here. As an optimist, I am forever looking for the silver lining in any situation. Over the last year, I’ve been working with clients to help them navigate unexpected changes and have seen some surprising results. Here are a few of the benefits I’ve noticed:
1. Access to more diversity
Many companies discovered how going fully or even partially remote had the additional effect of increasing the diversity in their talent. By relieving yourself of the need to have your entire team in your vicinity, you open your organization to more inclusive hiring practices and access to previously unreachable, talented professionals.
2. A deeper pool of talent
In many cities across the country, there are some functional areas where the talent pool is very shallow. For example, in my experience connecting organizations with talent and talent with organizations, I’ve found it’s often difficult to find top-shelf digital marketing managers, digital designers and creative directors here in Colorado. If you are looking for incredible creatives, you will find ample talent, unsurprisingly, in the major markets. New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Atlanta have rich pools of highly gifted creative professionals. If you are looking to level up in this area, check out the talent in these cities.
3. The ability to serve your customers locally
We have a client in the software industry who sells to businesses all over the nation. This year they had the opportunity to grow their inside sales team, and we helped them with this effort. In the past, the chief revenue officer required everyone to be in the office. This year, since office work wasn’t possible, we decided to hire inside sales folks in four time zones. Not only did our client increase workday coverage without shift work, but they also expanded the cultural diversity across the nation. The act of selling in New York is much different than in St. Louis, and Dallas is different than San Francisco. As a result, the company was able to create intimacy with clients in different locations.
4. Access to evasive skill sets
Technical skills, like software engineering, are often clustered in locations based on the domain use of the language. For example, Python is heavily used in data and scientific domains, while you’ll find that Java is commonly leveraged in fintech and aerospace. Industries are also clustered, so it makes sense to seek top Java talent in Florida or cities like Chicago and Houston and to look for Python talent in Boston or San Diego. Again, with a remote team, you’re able to access larger pools to increase your probability of hiring top talent.
While this year has certainly been full of challenges, heartache and weirdness, many industries are viable and growing. If you’re in an industry that is currently hiring, now is the time to seize the opportunity to improve your team’s diversity, deepen your experience and tap into new markets. You’ll be even more resilient as we come out of this pandemic. Now get to it!
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