Recruiterbox is a pioneer in the world of streamlining hiring, dedicated to small to mid-cap organizations. At RB, I’m one of the two employees in a hybrid role combining sales and support. Even though I live right outside Chicago, our team is distributed throughout the globe and my efforts are concentrated in the eastern hemisphere (Europe, Middle East & Africa, Asia, and Australia). Though i have been in the organization only for a few months, I’ve gotten to chat with some pretty cool people working at UN Agencies, the Government of Australia, software startups in Germany, recruitment firms in the UK, boutique agencies in South Africa, schools in Vietnam, and even bigger-name organizations like The Onion, Zomato, and housing.com. As you can see, being remote doesn’t deprive me from communicating with people around the world for work.
My only other employers who allowed remote work were Groupon and a non-profit called OpenTheBooks.com, a project of American Transparency. I occasionally worked remotely at Groupon but I really got a feel for it at American Transparency where our main tasks involved sifting through excel spreadsheets for data analysis. I noticed my productivity was so much higher when I was able to take my dog for a run in the middle of the day. I found I churned out more work than ever when I managed my own deadlines. After leaving Groupon I weaned myself off of Keurig coffee cups and started brewing my own cardamom tea with raw honey.
I used to be an English teacher at public schools in the Republic of Georgia and summer camps in Italy. I’ve also studied abroad in Central America and Europe. What can I say, I love to work and travel. But after starting full-time work, I didn’t have as many opportunities to do so. However, in my four months at Recruiterbox, I’ve had a chance to explore Napa Valley, San Francisco and Yosemite National Park; the Upper Peninsula and central Michigan; Milwaukee; and Las Vegas. I even spent a couple weeks at my college town in Champaign-Urbana. Next, I plan to work in India for several months.
Given these benefits of working remotely listed above, one might call me an evangelist for remote work. I’m actually not so sure about it. Despite its many pros, working remotely isn’t exactly a bed of roses. The abundance of distractions are the primary reason employers shouldn’t transition into a remote workforce en masse. There are passive distractions like the latest TV shows, enthralling books, and delicious food in the fridge. There are also active distractions such as when friends come over, or your dog wants to go for a walk.
It’s fairly easy to overcome these challenges though, because the whole concept of remote work spurs greater self-awareness and shows how you can optimize your environment.
While it doesn’t really come up at a software company like Recruiterbox, because we are always on Slack chat, (literally always. no idea what we would do without Slack) I can see how other companies that are not so immersed in the world of technology could have lower productivity without immediate access to the people needed to complete projects. I have 2-3 daily video calls with everyone else on my team so we get to bounce ideas off of each other and check in with our CEO, Raj, on these calls to make sure that we build our own unique processes to keep us on our A-game.
So what does it take to work remotely? Well, it goes without saying that you need to be loyal to your company and invested in its mission. It’s important to be great at communicating expectations and managing deadlines, both for yourself and for your role in the team. Basically, if you’re built to be a project manager with military like diligence, consider yourself to be a self-motivated peak perf, and have access to a great internet connection, you’re likely a good candidate for remote work.

Original: http://inside.recruiterbox.com/rise-of-the-remote-worker/