Dave Hughson has spent his career helping companies think bigger about where — and how — they hire. With stops at Globalization Partners and TriNet, before landing at RemoFirst, Dave has spent years at the front lines of how companies hire, scale, and build teams across borders.
As Chief Revenue Officer at RemoFirst, a global Employer of Record platform operating in 180+ countries, he's seen firsthand what holds small businesses back from accessing world-class talent. We sat down with Dave to talk about global hiring myths, remote culture, AI literacy, and why connecting people across borders might be one of the most genuinely hopeful things happening in the world of work.
The Biggest Misconception About Employer of Record
Many HR and people leaders are still getting acquainted with Employer of Record, and Dave thinks the most damaging myth is that it's not for them.
"There's still a misconception that the idea of building global teams is something that is reserved for large enterprises — organizations that are many thousands of employees or that have billions of dollars in valuation or revenue," Dave explained. But the reality, he argues, is the opposite. Small and scaling organizations may actually have the most to gain.
Whether it's a co-founder, a first engineer, or the person who'll run your customer success org — that person might not be in your city, or even your country. EOR makes that hire possible. As Dave put it: "Employer of Record kind of levels the playing field for small businesses to be able to access that talent."
If you've been assuming global hiring is someone else's strategy, Dave wants you to reconsider.
Building Culture When Your Team Spans the Globe
RemoFirst operates across 180+ countries. So how do you actually build a cohesive team when your people are, literally, everywhere?
For Dave, it comes down to two things: radical transparency, and genuine human connection.
On the transparency side, he's deliberate about making sure every person on the team understands how their role connects to the bigger organizational goals. That means being honest not just about wins, but about where things aren't going as planned. "Not being afraid to put in writing or put in communication inside the organization about where we're failing or where we're not meeting our expectations — that to me is a critical component of it." Transparency when it’s easy, but especially when it’s incredibly difficult, should be the standard.
But structure alone isn't enough. Dave also emphasized the softer side: "You can't start every single call jumping right into whatever the objective is that day. You've got to spend a little bit of time to say, 'How was your weekend? What's going on in your world?'" Lead with humanity, because your colleagues aren’t robots. Nurturing those relationships are important .
Transparency builds trust. Humanity keeps it warm.
AI Literacy Is Table Stakes
"In 2026, if you're not proactively talking about how you use AI at work or in your daily life, you will be evaluated differently than the people you're competing against." Dave has hired hundreds of people since ChatGPT launched and says he's seeing the same missed opportunity play out across roles from product, finance, sales, to customer success, from VP to entry-level.
But what does "AI literacy" actually mean when he's sitting across from a candidate?
It's not about whether someone led an AI initiative at their last company. It's something more fundamental: curiosity and willingness to try. What he wants to see is whether a candidate can clearly articulate how they're embracing these tools, how AI changes how they work day to day, and whether they understand the impact it will have on the businesses they want to be part of.
"It scares me to think about somebody on our team who might be hesitant to even just start trying it," he said. "Show me that you are aware of the power of these tools and that you have at least some willingness to test them. I don't care if it's like building grocery lists or thinking about what you have going on on your schedule this week. I just want to see that there's some literacy there."
The level of expertise is almost beside the point. What Dave is really scanning for is openness — the kind of intellectual curiosity that signals someone will grow, adapt, and lean into change rather than resist it. That quality, he believes, is what separates people who will thrive in this moment from those who will struggle.
The Leader's Responsibility: Don't Gatekeep AI
If AI literacy matters for hiring, it matters just as much for the people already on your team. So what do leaders owe employees who feel left behind or intimidated by these tools?
Dave's answer: Share everything, openly, and don't hoard the wins.
"The more we can share how we're leveraging AI internally, even in our personal lives, and not gatekeep that information, but show people literally how you prompted the AI tool to create this new process," the more the whole team levels up together.
At RemoFirst, when someone figures out an innovative AI use case, the goal isn't to give that one person credit and move on. It's to train the rest of the team on what they did and how they did it. "Not say, 'let's hide that in the corner and give that one individual credit,' but train the rest of the team on the tools they're leveraging."
And when it comes to access, RemoFirst is putting resources behind it: investing in AI tool subscriptions for the team rather than leaving individuals to figure it out on their own.
The message to leaders is clear — upskilling is your organization’s responsibility, too.
What Gives Dave Hope About the Future of Work
To close, we asked Dave a big question: What gives him hope?
Working with clients across every industry (from large AI organizations to the Boys & Girls Club of Philadelphia), Dave has seen what global hiring can actually do for people, not just for businesses. "Connecting people together from different parts of the world for work can actually genuinely improve relationships across borders," he said. "I think it makes me a better person from learning from all of my colleagues from across these diverse geographies."
It's not a talking point for him. It's something he experiences daily, in the variety of clients RemoFirst serves and the colleagues he works alongside. "I have so much fun with it and it's so unique and interesting on a day-to-day basis that I wish every company would take more of that approach."
If the future of work is one where geography matters less, and where more people have access to opportunity — and more teams have access to talent — Dave thinks that's genuinely worth working toward.
This blog is part of the Work Made Human podcast series, where we talk to the people shaping the future of leadership, hiring, and culture. Clips from this conversation with Dave will be released weekly over the next five weeks. Check back as new content is added!
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