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What 18 Hours of Travel Taught Me About Talent
Last week, I spent more time in airports, taxis and hotel lobbies than I did in my own home.
A trip from the depths of Donegal, Ireland to Wrocław, Poland (for an offsite with the airSlate talent team) somehow turned into 18 hours of travel. One way.
Most people would write that off as a nightmare.
But honestly? It gave me space to think – and reminded me of a few things I often see in hiring teams too.
1. Showing up still matters
We’ve all got Google Hangouts, Slack, Zoom, Notion, Confluence.
But none of those things replace being in the room when a team’s having constructive conversations.
In-person time builds trust faster. You hear the stuff that doesn’t make it into project updates. You can look someone in the eye and say, “What do you actually think?”
Same with hiring.
You can automate all you want – but if your hiring manager won’t make time for a real conversation with a recruiter, the process will always break.
2. Time to think is underrated
18 hours of travel gave me thinking time I rarely get.
No distractions. Minimal slack messages. Just a lot of mental white space.
I ended up mapping out ideas I’d been too busy to prioritise – hiring bottlenecks, DEI prompts, ways to streamline feedback loops, etc.
We often try to fix hiring on the fly. But some of the best solutions come when you step out of the chaos and reflect.
3. Preparation is everything
When you’ve travelled for almost a full day, the last thing you want is a chaotic agenda or a “let’s wing it” session.
Thankfully, this trip wasn’t like that. The offsite was structured. Thought had gone into the sessions. People came prepared.
And that made the time together valuable – not just performative.
Same thing in hiring:
If your interviews are vague, your scorecards don’t exist, and your feedback loop is broken… it doesn’t matter how “friendly” the process is. It’s still a mess.
4. Exhaustion kills clarity
By the time I got back, I was wrecked. I had lost track of time zones and eaten more junk food on the go than any person should in a year (although we did have a team meal at the fantastic Lwia Brama on one of the nights).
And I realised: this is what it feels like for a candidate going through a dragged-out process.
Multiple interviews. Hanging around between stages. Trying to figure out the next steps.
It wears people down.
Hiring should energise great candidates – not drain them!
Final thought
I went to Wrocław to help a team improve how they hire.
But somewhere between my house, the airport(s), the office, the hotel and a bunch of other places, I got a fresh reminder of why this work matters.
Hiring isn’t just process. It’s human.
It needs structure, intention, empathy – and sometimes, a forward thinking mindset.
Need help improving your hiring journey?
Let’s talk about how we can reduce your time to hire and increase your offer acceptance rates – while delivering a candidate experience that sets you apart.
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