The Value of Meeting Face to Face

Over the course of the last two weeks, I communicated with 49 bilingual [Spanish+ English] candidates both online and offline, 12 of which were interested in a client’s staff vacancy, and resulting in meeting 4 individuals in back-to-back meetings. Ultimately, I submitted 4 bilingual candidates forward. A lot can be learned from meeting face to face and the value is incredible. First, we learn from the opposite end, that is how the receiving end sees the picture, to gain a complete 360 picture. The candidate learns more precisely from an independent and external source about the position. A birds eye view. In turn, we learn about the interest of the candidate. The candidate in turn learns about us.

The value of meeting face to face provide us the opportunity to share information and insight, gain a fresher perspective and build trust. Recently, I was going through Trust Agents by co-authors Chris Brogan and Julien Smith, which reminded me that in a world of interconnectivity, the online must be supported by offline relationships. Meeting face to face with bilingual [Spanish+ English] talent provided us an opportunity to build trust offline so that when our emails fire back and forth and names pop up on our screens and we receive requests to connect online or fans subscribe to BilingualHire Facebook we have already established a mutual level of respect for each others work. I often believe more can get accomplished in meeting someone face to face versus email or some other level of online communication because it eliminates the waiting, guessing and internet fail periods. While this may not always be possible, nor everyone will be willing to invest time in a meeting face to face, this method is always preferable in building long-term relationships and getting right to the situation at hand. Sometimes, especially if I know the candidate really well, a phone call will suffice. Let’s continue meeting face to face shall we?

David Molina is the co-founder/CEO of BilingualHire, Inc. He can be reached on his cell at: +1-503-708-4614, email: david@bilingualhireco.com or on Twitter.