Networking and events are a great way to meet new people – and find new opportunities. Everyone is in the same industry, and you can talk about experience, availability, and interest in a position. Job conversations can move quickly. But what if you’re not from the same country as the company you connect with? The hiring process can halt right there.

That would have been a problem for Jeremy Austin when he met the team at Aterlo. Fortunately, Aterlo already had heard about Outposts.

Meet Aterlo

Aterlo Networks launched in Waterloo, Ontario in 2014. Fun fact: the company name, Aterlo, is actually Waterloo without the W and O.

Founded by Gerrit Nagelhout, Dan Siemon and Scot Loach, Aterlo’s Preseem product helps local and regional internet service providers understand and improve the subscriber experience. Aterlo’s goal is to empower companies to find and solve network issues quickly, improve internet quality, and meet the growing demand for reliable and fast internet access.

A bonus? Doing all this while also lowering support costs.

With a focus on rural areas, most of their revenue comes from the U.S. So, the Canadian-based team was already thinking about expanding their team into the U.S.

Meet Jeremy

“We met Jeremy at some trade shows,” said Dan Siemon, Aterlo co-founder and Chief Product Officer. “When we eventually realized we needed help with the product management side of the business, we remembered him. He would have been a great fit. Not only were his skills and personality perfect for our team, but he was able to give us that connection into the U.S. market. Building relationships where our customers are is super important.”

Aterlo wasn’t about to let international hiring stop them from hiring him. That connection was made, so they needed a solution.

Opening the door to international hiring with Outposts

“We heard about Outposts just through word of mouth at Communitech,” said Siemon. “When we decided to hire Jeremy, we knew we needed a way to get it done. With the border complexity, it would have probably been too much for us to do on our own as a small company.”

Knowing that a third-party program to simplify the international hiring process was available opened up the door to possibility.

“Outposts gave us the confidence to at least open the conversation and see where it was all going to land after that. Hiring in the U.S. gets complex really fast,” said Siemon. “For the right person that you know is going to have a big impact, like Jeremy, it makes sense to use something like Outposts.”

Simplicity: For companies and employees

That sense of simplicity wasn’t just felt at Aterlo, either. Throughout the hiring and onboarding process, Jeremy’s experience was also incredibly smooth.

“The entire process was and continues to be painless. “I really don't interact with Outposts very often, because it’s really just simple. It was not a great deal of paperwork on my side, mainly the normal paperwork needed when you get a new job. I go to the Aterlo HR team for most things, but Outposts was there to support me.”

Support in the unexpected

“I did have an experience coming over the border, just post COVID, when I was stopped,” said Jeremy. “They were asking a lot of questions and trying to wrap their heads around the fact that I work for a company in the US but the rest of my company is in Canada.”

Outposts was able to provide documentation that both eased future travel and simplified getting a Nexus pass for him.

In fact, having an American allowed Aterlo to attend some U.S.-based trade shows during the pandemic when Canadians couldn’t travel.

“It was an unusual experience, but you never know what could happen,” said Siemon. “It wouldn’t have been possible for us to go there, but we were able to keep those connections going with Jeremy.”

Endless possibility for international hiring

Today, Aterlo has two employees hired and managed through Outposts. But that doesn’t mean they’ll stop there.

“We have customers in New Zealand and Australia and a few other places too,” said Siemon. “Who knows where we’ll need to hire in the future. Knowing how easy of an experience it was both for us and for Jeremy, we’d for sure use Outposts again.”