Remote Interviewing Done Right with Brenna Loury of Doist

The remote interview is still a HUGE challenge for a lot of companies. Especially for those of you who are lacking a formalized process. 

Simply evaluating skills and heavily relying on “vibe” to influence decisions is producing even worse results in this work from home environment.  

Too much is able to remain hidden because video is limiting on the non-verbal cues that happen in the interaction. 

Assumptions, bias and misinformation have become the new plague in today’s interview.

Today is about nailing your video interviews to ensure the strongest hire!

Our guest today: Brenna Loury, Head of Marketing for Doist.

Brenna Loury knows that the road to success isn’t a path you find — it’s a trail you blaze. 

Fueled by her unorthodox marketing efforts, Brenna left her PR firm and joined Doist full-time in 2014. She handles everything from overall marketing strategy, to HR duties, to writing website copy. She’s helped expand Doist’s remote-first team from 5 to 92 employees in over 30 countries, and her grassroots marketing strategies have helped bring the company over 25 million users globally.…And everyone is remote!

Today we discuss:

Why the Video Interview is so challenging today

How to master the video interview

Challenge today?

Not meeting in person

Touch points have gone away

Video interviews - change in format

Onboarding

Hire based on core values

Why is this important to the company?

98% employee retention rate

Benefited the business 

People are happy and the quality of work 

Willingness to go above and beyond

Rick’s Nuggets

Limited view of subject

Uncomfortable/unnatural interaction

Breeding ground for assumptions & unconscious bias

How do we build into your company?

Same interview process across the company

Structure

Hiring committee (3 people) 

1 hour interview

Add insight question for people who submit a resume

Cultural Interview - team manager

What are the challenges that Doist’s products are trying to solve that most excite you? (did they do their homework?)

How might you improve our landing pages/XYZ? (can they be radically candid?)

Tell me about a time in your personal life or at work when you had to be very detail oriented.

Tell me about a time when you completed a project 100% on your own. How did you get started and what was the outcome? (can they work autonomously?)

What’s the last good book that you read? (interests/life outside of work)

Favorite apps on your phone? (interests/life outside of work)

Technical- person assigned (senior people)

Judging the skills 

Can you tell me about a company that you think does a great job at product marketing?

What are the advantages/disadvantages of using CSS preprocessors?

 Test Project

Pay people to do the work

Examples:

Create a week-long social media plan

Write a blog post about a product update

Create a Hacker News style reader

Cultural Final - leader/executive

Covers 5 core values: Mastery, Independence, Communication, Ambition & Balance, Impact

Behavioral questions:

What’s the difference between someone who’s good in your field versus someone who’s outstanding?

Tell me about a time when you disagreed with a team member. How did you approach that situation?

Tell me about a time that you went above and beyond what was expected? What motivated you to do so?

Rick’s Nuggets

Phone Screen / Discovery Call

Pain, Desire, Impact

Key Takeaways:

Prioritize hiring for cultural fit – some technical skills can be learned later on the job

Do everything you can to cultivate an environment that values trust over tracking

Links:

Website: https://doist.com/

Blog: https://blog.doist.com/ 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/doist, https://twitter.com/brennakL 

Relevant blog posts: 

https://blog.doist.com/trust-remote-workplace/

https://blog.doist.com/remote-onboarding/ 

This show is proudly sponsored by Criteria Crop: https://www.criteriacorp.com/