What city do you live in?

Recruiters often ask this question when they want to check whether a candidate’s time zone matches the team’s working hours. Suppose it’s -5 in their city, while your team is at +3. That’s an eight-hour difference. But why does it matter what city they live in?

What if the candidate named a city but is planning to move away from it? Or they constantly travel and live in different time zones. And what if their life isn’t tied to a time zone at all?

The mistake is asking the candidate for their time zone instead of stating yours. It doesn’t matter what city they live in today or where they’ll live in a month. If you need them to work at specific times of day, just ask whether they’re willing to work those hours.

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