When Karim Akhlal started his company Recrout in 2015, he had to look beyond the borders: he needed a good developer, but interviews in the Netherlands led nowhere. Through connections, he found his current lead developer, with whom he has now worked for seven years—he from Hoofddorp, she from Mauritius. They have never met in person, although he is confident it will happen someday. Akhlal says: “She’s coming to Europe soon, so there might be an opportunity. But I wouldn’t mind a trip to Mauritius either.”
The rest of his team is located in the Netherlands, Ukraine, and India. Together, they develop intelligent, data-driven recruitment software based on personality and competencies—“and not on something as meaningless as a CV.” Soon, two more colleagues will join in the Netherlands for sales and marketing. “With them, I prefer to work from the office because it’s just easier—not for control, but to motivate each other and create flow.”
No matter how happy he is with his current team—all dedicated freelancers—he has experienced firsthand that things don’t always run smoothly. “You want to trust people, but sometimes they don’t do what’s expected or don’t deliver the quality you’d hope for. I’ve had to learn to let people go more easily—if it doesn’t work out during the probation period, I quickly start looking for the next candidate. If you don’t have to limit yourself to the Netherlands, it’s much easier to find someone.”
He still prefers to stay roughly within the same time zone. Akhlal says: “A one- or two-hour difference really doesn’t matter, but if you’re half a day or even a full day ahead or behind, you lose time. If something goes wrong, it takes a long time to solve it together. And the contact stays more superficial, because you end up constantly emailing past each other and never get the chance to have a proper Skype or chat session.” And that’s a level of distance from your team you really can’t afford.
