10. How many interviews is one too many in a hiring process?

Good morning, afternoon, or evening wherever you are!

Welcome to another week of #wearedistributed’s newsletter.

This week is a little different because we won’t be including any Top Global Jobs of the Week (You can check the job board for the latest jobs), but every other segment will remain the same. This means another Global Employment Advocate, Global Term of the Week, Green Flags for Job Seekers, and our picks for the best-Distributed Tool and Company of the Week.

Last week, we gave you a peak behind the curtain at our stats, high-level strategy stats we want you to know, and our upcoming plans and strategies. You can read (or re-read) last week’s newsletter here.

Let’s dive in.

Global Employment Advocate of the Week

A leader with experience in recruitment and people operations across tech startups, Chris Keane is our Global Employment Advocate of the Week. 🎉

Chris is a D&I (Diversity & Inclusion) advocate who has made D&I a priority in his career. He is also a digital nomad who talks about the future of work and the importance of work-life balance.

If you're a prospective global employee, Chris has some important info for you. In one of his posts, Chris talks about one of the benefits of remote work, social mobility.

Chris also sheds light on how a 4-day work week and global hiring are just the beginning of the #futureofwork. The future of work we are working towards will empower people with real freedom and the ability to thrive personally and professionally.

As #wearedistributed is also working hard towards a global workforce where workers can thrive, we appreciate Chris for spotlighting the new way global employees should live and work. 🚀

Workplace Callout

A post on the Denver Reddit has noted that the way a local Subway pays their employees has changed, and what they’re doing might be illegal.

A sign was posted on a Subway window in Lakewood that reads “Hello :) Subway has changed the way we get paid. We are now considered tipped employees and get paid the state minimum. We now mostly rely on tips to survive. We receive 50% on credit card tips and 100% cash.”

By the way, the Colorado state minimum as of now is $13.65.

As the top commenter noticed, ​​” C.R.S. 8-4-103(6) prohibits an employer from a claim to, right of ownership in, or control over an employee's gratuities (tips), deductions of credit card processing fees from an employee's gratuities are impermissible,” which we went ahead and double checked here. This means that it’s illegal for them to only receive 50% of credit card tips.

Yikes if this is true, but no official statements have been made.

A little more background: To be considered a tipped employee, you must regularly make more than $30 a month in tips according to the FLSA. It’s also been noted that fast food employees are not tipped and can’t accept tips. A recent article for Mashed did a write-up on why they can’t accept tips but in Colorado that may be changing.

A new bill proposes that fast food workers are allowed to take tips, but the way those tips are to be divided and how much goes towards the actual employee is up for question.

As seen in another Mashed article, the question of whether or not Subway employees should receive tips is already a hot debate. Not to mention, tipping culture itself is already a topic of conversation.

Since people have become resentful of tipping coupled with the fact that this franchise could be taking 50% of its employee's credit card tips, we don’t see it going well for the workers at this particular Subway if this story is true.

Green Flags for Job Seekers

An easy and streamlined hiring process is a definite green flag for job seekers. There are a few reasons why recruiters need to keep the hiring process as short and easy as possible, lest they want excellent candidates to drop out early.

An example of a good hiring process:

• 2 interviews for entry-level, as any more seems a bit excessive

• Assessments that don’t take up too much of an applicant’s time, it’s even better if they’re paid assessments

• Quick turnaround times between each step, ideally less than a week

• Personally tailored candidate feedback if they don’t get the position

Examples of red flags within a hiring process

• 3-4 interviews for entry-level seems like a lot of work for both parties, especially if you don’t get the job

• Being ghosted during any step of the process (not even a ‘thank-you-for-your-time’ email, really?)

• Assessments that are unpaid and require a lot of time and skill

• Too many pre-interview questions that can be answered in a cover letter or resume

• A long and drawn-out hiring process that takes months to complete

Distributed Company of the Week

Voted as one of Inc.'s Best Workplaces in 2022, Customer.io is our Distributed Company of the Week. 🥳

As a globally distributed company across 32 countries, the team ( which includes 83 dogs, 61 cats, 3 turtles, 2 chinchillas, 2 guinea pigs, 1 rabbit, and 1 bearded dragon) at Customer-io is diversified which means everyone is respected, valued, and celebrated.

Customer.io’s core values are empathy, transparency, responsibility, and awkwardness (in a unique and inclusive of course.) We value companies with great values especially when it is shown in their people-first practices such as public salaries, clear job descriptions, and transparent interview process!

Have we talked about their excellent benefits setup? 👇🏼

• 100% medical, dental, vision, and supplemental insurance premiums for you AND your family

• $200 per month for your healthy living needs like gym and massage

• 20 vacation days plus sick days and holidays

• 401k plan

• 12 weeks of parental leave

• $2,000 per year for learning and development 

That’s not all! You can see the full list of benefits on their career page. We also want to add that Customer.io is also rated 4.5/5 by 33 past and present employees.

Distributed Tool of the Week

This week we’re highlighting JobScan, an ATS (Applicant Tracking System) resume checker and job search tool that’ll help you feel less like you’re sending your resume into the void when job searching.

Most employers use ATS to wade through the tons of resumes they receive so if your resume doesn’t match with the keywords the ATS is designed to detect, your resume won’t even get in front of employers.

JobScan even offers a couple of extra features like LinkedIn profile optimization, a resume builder, resume and cover letter optimization and templates to use.

Here’s how it works:

First, you input your resume and copy and paste the job description you’re interested in. JobScan uses AI and machine learning technology to look over your resume, looking specifically at things like skills and keywords, and gives you a score for how well it matches, with the goal being 80% or higher.

After scanning to see how well your resume matches, it will give personalized suggestions on how to get a better match.

What’s even better is that their first plan is free. They’ve got 3 plans: the second plan costs $89.95 every three months and the third plan costs $49.95 every month, with benefits increasing with each plan.

Global Employment Term of the Week

Ready to learn something new?

The global term of the week is Job Sharing

This is a job arrangement where two or more part-time/contract employees fill one position. The job responsibilities are split between the individuals, with responsibility for the success of the total job.

That’s it for this week!

As much as we enjoy putting this together, we hope you enjoy reading our entries as our goal is for the #wearedistributed newsletter to be your first stop for global employment news, workplace issues and so much more.

Are you searching for global roles in candidate-centric and people-first companies? Visit our global job board.

Know anyone who might enjoy reading this? Do not hesitate to share.

Is there anything you would like to see in future newsletters or do you have an idea for our future content series? Let us know in our Community Requests group. 🔥

About this newsletter…

#wearedistributed is a community-driven newsletter, sharing behind the scenes look at the future of work, through the lens of distributed workers. Not yet subscribed? No worries. You can check out the full archive, or sign up below: