I sat down with James Lloyd, CTO over at Redox, a Carex Strategic Partner. We had a great discussion about what it takes to find and keep great talent on a remote team and now want to share the love with all of you.
First up, we’ll take a look at Redox’s lessons learned when searching for awesome team members. Stay tuned for part 2 on retaining their world-class team.
If you’re unfamiliar with Redox, they’re a health-tech company who’ve been around for 4 years. They currently have about 70 employees and over half of them work outside of the Madison office headquarters. Redox’s culture of innovation, learning, fun and authenticity creates a thriving environment where employees are encouraged to creatively solve problems, explore new challenges, and have open, honest conversations.
Maintaining the company’s unique culture is a top priority for the leadership team and hiring and retaining employees that jive together is a crucial component.
When it comes to finding great people across the country, a few key principles contribute to Redox’s success.
They screen for values first
- Redox’s culture and values are evident when reading their website, marketing materials, and job postings. If applicants are still interested after doing their research and going through the online application process, then they’re off to a solid start.
Redox prioritizes values fit over skills knowledge
- After trying a few different approaches, James learned that screening for culture early in the interview process makes everything else smoother. If you screen for skills first but the person doesn’t hit the mark on values, you might find yourself trying to compromise your values. Skills can be learned, but someone who isn’t a fit from the start likely won’t be a fit later.
They standardize their interview process for all candidates
- Yep, even the local ones so there’s an even playing field. Redox’s interview process for their engineering team is done completely virtually so that everyone has a similar experience.
Another vital component to Redox’s success is to set clear expectations. Expectations are shared about the role, team, and company throughout the interview process so candidates know exactly what they’re walking into should they come onboard.
How values-forward is your company? Are there portions of your hiring process that can highlight values more clearly?
As always, Carex is here to help you continue to grow your team with amazing people who are a fit for your company’s unique culture. If you’re a new company or have struggled to find the right technical leadership, James is also a Carex consultant committed to helping startups be efficient and smart. Contact Carex at info@carexconsultinggroup.com to learn more about James Lloyd and our other powerhouses and the value they can bring to your team.