Did you know that you can buy a house without ever meeting a real estate agent, mortgage broker or lawyer? Or that you don’t even have to be present at the closing? You’ll still have to do every step of the process twice, of course. With real estate, that’s par for the course. But the technology allows your agent to always find you for that last bit of information, even if it’s minutes before you close.

When it comes to recruiting creative candidates for a nationwide job search, we’re finding the same thing. Of course, our preference is to meet a candidate in person—you know, to make sure they’re up on the latest fashions, etc. But technology and the evolution of business have allowed us, when necessary, to alter our approach and still get the same positive outcome.

One thing we’re doing at smartdept. inc. to make a small world even smaller is simply communicating more often. The job market is opening up, and as a result the opportunities are coming and going quickly. Heightening the communication is not only the correct approach; it allows us to learn more about the people we represent, faster.

We also use tonal language (technical term) rather than body language to determine a person’s comfort level with a particular work-related subject. “Should I messenger over my portfolio?” you used to say. No thanks, we’ll check it out online and (like always) discuss it with you at length. It’s not a perfect science, but recruiting from a distance works at smartdept. inc. because we’re still focused on creating great relationships and moving them forward in a positive direction.

Challenges? Of course! When you don’t have an opportunity to meet face to face, you have to create additional ways to connect with a candidate. So, we make sure our new friends know about our blog, newsletter and other social media outlets. That way they can stay in the loop. Our methods are showing positive results, too! One of our wayward recruits liked the process well enough to drop in at our Chicago office while she was on vacation. Yup, she came all the way from North Carolina to visit little old us.

Says our National Creative Consultant, Leah Bye. “Recruiting from afar is becoming more accepted—and if done well, can be just as effective.” Leah has been with smartdept. inc. for a couple years now and (along with her support staff) has been working diligently on our behalf to connect those long distance dots.

NOTE: Candidates who live close by will still have to brush those teeth, make a snap decision about those parachute pants and come on in (we insist).