interview questions for remote workers
Simply pop into a coworker’s or supervisor’s office and ask your question. Each of these areas are often the most challenging aspects of remote work, so it's essential to gauge their level of comfort with these in the interview. Remote work requires excellent communication skills and a high level of comfort with technology. Interview skills. What if it’s an emergency? Asking what communication platforms they use and why they use them will help you better understand how they communicate and collaborate with their team. Why are these questions important? If your candidate is interviewing for an entry-level position and has little to no industry experience, ask for references from volunteer positions, teachers, academic advisors, or supervisors from any part-time jobs. Do they stick only with email? For example, if someone talks about how they are more productive working from home, or they like the idea of working without geographical limitations, they are framing their answer in a way that talks about the professional advantages of remote work. Email is great for some types of communication, but not others. According to a 2018 report by Global Workplace Analytics, the remote workforce “has grown by 140% since 2005” and is still growing rapidly. These interview questions will set remote workers apart. And, if they have some experience working with a distributed team (even if the applicant has never worked remotely), ask how they handled the inevitable issues that arise. Here’s our complete list of video (or phone) interview questions to ask remote workers. A low signal-to-noise ratio is key for effective, efficient remote work. However, just because you have remote staff doesn’t mean you understand their world. Without a manager nearby (or breezing past their desk), it’s easy for people to get distracted or lose their drive. Distractions are a fact of life for any worker, but they’re different for remote employees than the ones people face in an office setting. As a remote team, your staff won’t have easy access to tech support, so what happens when their computer crashes or the virtual meeting won’t work? However, it’s the new hire that will adjust the most. Get in the remote mindset. However, there are some specific areas you need to cover in order to ensure whether a candidate is a suitable fit for your remote workforce. One often overlooked but important aspect of remote work is that some people need the office atmosphere and the presence of colleagues to do their best work. Ask how they plan on dealing with that. 7 Interview Questions to Ask a Remote Worker. If employees and managers are used to using facetime as part of performance evaluation, a sudden shift to remote working … This helps demonstrate that they are career-oriented and (hopefully) a loyal and stellar employee. If they already work from home, ask about their home office setup. Have you ever worked remotely before? How will they get the answers they need? Additionally, you may encounter telecommuting-specific questions no matter the career field you're telecommuting in. By starting with the broad question, you’ll be able to hone in on a more remote-specific follow-up question. The interview process for hiring new employees to work remotely is no different than hiring in-office workers. The first interview question is “Could you tell me about a time you got tough feedback from a boss?” Another characteristic of successful remote … Here is some question that covers everything and useful for you during your interview. These answers will help you determine whether or not they are truly flexible and can mesh well with your existing team. Have You Ever Worked Remotely? Requested URL: www.thepennyhoarder.com/make-money/career/remote-job-interview-questions/, User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/83.0.4103.116 Safari/537.36. While the company can create opportunities for casual engagement (like a virtual office lunch), the fact is most communications on a remote team are rarely—if ever—accidental. However, answers like these indicate that a candidate is more motivated by personal gain than professional growth. Even with the right skills, ensuring that a candidate is a strong fit for remote work is tough. In order to comply with the internationally applicable GDPR - and other regulations, no IP address or user account originating in your geographic location will be accepted. Ask about the technology they have access to and how they have access to it. For a hybrid position, ask if the candidate is going to invest in a home office, or use the kitchen table. EQ is a major driver of success for all employees, but remote workers need even more of it. Interview questions for remote workers. Stories help us connect, they make the information more memorable. 1. From eight company leaders and hiring managers who hire and work with remote teams, here are some common remote job interview questions. Interviewing remote workers is much different than hiring for a traditional, on-site position. Working remotely requires employees to be very self-motivated. Remote work is gaining in prevalence for a good reason. Or, are they relying on a public internet connection? Adding a new team member to any kind of team requires an adjustment from everyone. Asking the questions now will help you see if the candidate has thought through all of the particulars of remote work. When you work in an office, you can usually get the answer you need when you need it. TIP It’s also important that remote workers communicate effectively via multiple mediums: email, chat, talking live, slide decks, etc. Experience is not always necessary, but it is a big plus. What is your daily routine? Did they sit back and wait for an answer? Dominic Price. They can opt for a nuts-and-bolts interview which focuses solely on the candidate’s qualifications. Is it someplace that is relatively free of distractions? Does the candidate already have everything a remote worker needs to be productive? You as a recruiter should know that there are special tools to do so. Swing by later and get the answer then. Remote work comes with a lot of self-disciplined solitary time. Whether you depend on the old-school Ivy Lee Method or rely on an app to keep you on track , be sure to have a plan in place, put it into practice, and articulate it well when asked. Or did they actively pursue the answer? This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks. Keep in mind, though, that not everyone works best in a traditional office set up — some people like the couch, the backyard, or the public library. If someone wants to work remotely but can’t—or won’t—deal with the inevitable tech hiccups that will come their way, they could lose hours of productivity while they wait for technical support. A version of this article was published on March 12, 2019. The first question is obvious, but nearly every hiring manager I heard from mentioned it: … You can also gauge whether they are set up with the basic equipment and connectivity to work from home seamlessly. On culture and wellbeing. Whatever it is, try to find out what they do now that can help them “turn off” when they make the switch to fully remote employee. Is this person highly disciplined and self-motivated? It has a huge number of benefits for both companies and employees. Ask how the candidate will communicate with the team and ask how comfortable they are using different communication platforms. And, consider joining FlexJobs to access exclusive benefits and features. Conversely, if the candidate says there were no challenges, you can bet that they aren’t being honest or didn’t work remotely enough to face the challenges that come with remote work. By: Sarah Archer. With remote work growing, it's important to know what to ask in an interview for a remote candidate. If you work in an office, you have a set of typical … — and receive a coupon for up to 30% off of FlexJobs! Chat rooms are great for collaborative projects, but maybe not so much for personal ones. No matter what kind of hardware and software you provide employees, they have to be comfortable using it and troubleshooting it on their own. Meeting candidates by video will allow you to see how they present themselves. Not having a “home office” should not disqualify someone from the job. For the most part, interviewing a remote employee is similar to an in-office employee. Remote workers don’t have the ability to stop by their manager’s office and pose their questions. 9 interview questions successful remote workers will ace. As a thank you for signing up, you will also receive a promo code for up to 30% off of a FlexJobs subscription that you can use anytime you sign up for our full service! The Best and Worst Remote Interview Questions Interviewers have a huge choice when it comes to the types of job interview questions they can ask. On the other hand, if the candidate talks about how they want to work in their pajamas or that they don’t like having a boss breathing down their neck, they’ve framed the answer in a more personal way. This also shows that the person is a forward thinker and anticipates and heads off problems before they spiral out of control. If all someone can come up with is, “Which pair of fuzzy slippers to wear,” then they haven’t thought through all of the potential problems that can crop up when you work remotely. Asking for an example will give you some insight into how the candidate operates. If so, why? New remote workers should have something a little more realistic. It also gives you insight into who they are as an employee. How did they get their questions answered? For example, if a candidate says that they love the company’s team-building opportunities, or their favorite activity is the 10 AM coffee cart, dig a little deeper and see why the candidate is interested in remote work. When the candidate has worked remotely, even if it was only once in a blue moon, follow-up with, “What were some of the challenges you faced when you worked remotely?’” As a remote employer, you know that remote work isn’t as rosy as the stock photos make it seem. Ask the Right Interview Questions for Remote Workers Now that you know the qualities you should be looking for, here are various questions that’ll help you test for those qualities in candidates. Recruit top talent, attend virtual job fairs, and more! This has led to many Millennials, for example, seeking remote work exclusively. Your name and email will always be kept private, and you can always unsubscribe at anytime! 6 Useful Remote Job Interview Questions. After reviewing resumes and narrowing your list of candidates, your next step is to set up video interviews. Interview Questions To Expect . Even with the right skills and experiences, not every candidate is cut out for the remote work life. There’s nothing wrong with personal reasons for pursuing remote work. Again, preparing for this sort of interview question for remote workers isn’t just about acing the interview. Office server privately their team see if the candidate will not be a warning sign this... 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