Building Human Connections During Social Distancing

A few days ago I was sitting behind my desk in my home office, working remote as I’ve been doing for well over 10 years, and the subject line caught my attention immediately: 

We’re going to be okay.

The message was from a longtime friend and trusted mentor, someone whose opinion I respect greatly. Sandwiched in there between countless emails about emergency procedures, this simple and clear message of hope stood out. As I read the full email I was comforted to know that I wasn’t the only one feeling a sense of uncertainty in regards to my professional life—but even more so comforted by the knowledge that I wasn’t alone in feeling optimistic about the future.

And I am optimistic, to be sure. At first glance, that might sound odd coming from someone whose job it is to seek out talented executives and facilitate extended interview processes. When I’ve done my job well, it means I have spent countless hours digging deep with my clients on what they need this executive to accomplish. I have worked to understand what motivates my candidates. And then, I’ve helped coordinate complex meetings and travel schedules.

So what happens when nobody is traveling? When nobody’s going into the office? 

I’m not going to pretend the current situation doesn’t complicate hiring or any other aspect of running a business, but I’m optimistic because there’s so much about what it takes to succeed in executive recruitment in the outdoor industry that can be done working remote. When you take away the trappings of a standard interview process—the in-person interviews and weekend visits, the plane trips and board rooms—finding your brand’s next Freddie Mercury comes down to impactful messaging and genuine human connection.

Maybe that’s why the most popular content we’ve published this past year had very little to do with the technicalities of organizing in-person interviews. Our readers have been far more interested in content about building engaging candidate journeys and the importance of moving with determined speed to hold candidates’ interest. We’re fortunate enough to live in a time when we are able to work on that kind of fundamental hiring work wherever we happen to be.

In fact, not only can you continue working on your employer brand and your upcoming hires, but we’ve seen evidence that now may be an ideal time to do so. Just in the last two weeks, our response rates have been higher than ever before. People aren’t traveling right now. They aren’t commuting. They aren’t distracted by all the noise of the office.

In short, those top executive candidates your brand wants to hire in the coming weeks and months have more time on their hands right now than maybe any other time during their careers. What better time to pick up the phone and call someone you’re interested in? To update your job descriptions to stand out a little better? To hold interviews via video conference?

Ask yourself: What can I be doing right now to start building a real connection before eventually meeting up with candidates once we return to normal? At Highline Outdoor Group, building deep human connections remotely is what we’ve done every day for years up to this point, it’s what we’ll continue doing for the duration of this or any other crisis, and it’s something we know you can do, too.

Because it’s going to be okay. We’ll make it back into the office someday soon. Our businesses will continue to innovate and grow. So let’s start preparing for that right now.

—Tony O’Neill, President

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About the Author: Tony O’Neill is the Founder and President of Highline Outdoor Group — the purpose-driven executive search firm for forward- thinking outdoor industry and sporting goods companies and brands.

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