Sourcing
Choose between local and remote talent pools from the work
Choose a talent pool after deciding where the work can be done well. Examine physical dependencies, collaboration rhythm, customer needs, management capability, time overlap, and access to information. Compare local, distributed, and hybrid options with their operating costs. Once decided, state the arrangement precisely and source only where the company can genuinely employ and support people.
On this page
Identify real location dependencies
List work requiring equipment, secure facilities, physical service, or recurring customer presence. Separate it from activities merely performed in an office today. Ask how often presence matters and whether duties can be grouped. A role with one monthly workshop differs from a role operating a site daily, and the sourcing boundary should reflect that difference.
Assess distributed operating readiness
Review documentation, meeting habits, decision visibility, manager experience, and support across locations. Remote hiring expands possible backgrounds but does not repair an organisation that makes every decision informally in one room. Name the time overlap required and the reason for it. Consider onboarding access and peer connection, not only steady-state individual output.
Compare candidate and team tradeoffs
A local pool can support frequent in-person work and simpler scheduling while narrowing reach and increasing commute considerations. A remote pool can widen access and support location flexibility while requiring stronger written coordination and deliberate inclusion. Hybrid arrangements can combine benefits but become confusing when office expectations vary by manager.
Set a truthful boundary
Confirm the locations, arrangements, and support the organisation has approved before advertising. Do not call a role remote if regular travel to one office is effectively required. Seek appropriate internal or professional guidance for employment setup questions rather than making assumptions from candidate location alone.
- Physical dependency and frequency
- Required collaboration overlap
- Manager and onboarding readiness
- Approved hiring locations
Compare two role designs
Illustrative example: a training designer runs quarterly in-person workshops but creates materials independently. The team considers a city-only search and a distributed search with planned travel. Because workshops are predictable and travel is approved, it chooses the second option, states the quarterly requirement, and designs remote reviews. Candidates can assess the travel honestly instead of discovering it after several interviews.
Review inclusion in practice
After hiring across locations, inspect who receives context, stretch work, feedback, and visibility. A wider pool does not create inclusion if headquarters colleagues dominate decisions. Establish written pre-reads, remote-accessible meetings, and equal paths to managers. Feed what you learn back into future role briefs so sourcing promises match the everyday operating experience. Include operating cost in the review: planned travel, equipment support, manager overlap, and coordination time may be worthwhile, but they must have owners. Hidden costs tend to reappear later as pressure to narrow the pool without revisiting the original work decision. Revisit the location boundary only with this evidence.
Next step
Complete a location-dependency and distributed-readiness check for one role, then rewrite the sourcing boundary and candidate message from the decision.