5 Interview Questions For Remote Workers

Hiring remote workers can have many benefits. 

You can draw from a larger talent pool, it gives you an edge in the competition for talent  and you can save money on office space.

However, remote work isn’t for everyone.

Here are some questions you can ask to make sure a candidate is a good fit for remote work and your organization:

Have you worked remote previously?  How did you like it?

Remote work is alone work. Have they worked as their own little island before and been o.k.?  If so, you can put this concern aside. If not, it would be wise to dig deeper about whether or not someone is ready to work in isolation. 

What’s your workspace like?

There’s quite a few possibilities–from a dedicated office, to the corner of the bedroom to the kitchen counter.  

We’re looking for either evidence that this person already has a functioning space or has thought about it.  The kitchen island might have worked in a pinch during the pandemic but is it sustainable for the years ahead?  

What’s the appeal of remote work to you?

Avoiding heinous traffic, having more time for family, accessing career options beyond their geography–those are all reasons that are good to hear.

If their answer is a vague reference to work-life balance or flexibility then you should dig deeper. We’re trying to flush out anyone who wants to double dip on your opportunity and others, wants to be free of oversight or anything else that isn’t above board. 

Are you available to travel?

Most of our clients who hire remote workers do a one week, in-person training for new, remote hires.  Some also like to fly people out for company parties, all-hands meetings and other occasions. 

While most people are fine with this, I talk with some candidates who can’t travel because of child care, pet care or other challenges.  

Have you given any thought to your long-term career goals?

This question should be asked of all candidates (remote or otherwise) because it gives you a sense of their ambitions and allows you to estimate their potential tenure as your employee.

Can their career goals be accomplished at your company? In the case of a remote employee, can they advance while remote?  If they’re gunning for upward movement but the next position up requires in-person, this might not be the role for them.

Employee Retention Starts With Smart Hiring

“Can they do the job for us?” is the central question the hiring process has traditionally focused on. Does the candidate have skills and experience with x, y or z? 

Yet when an employee quits or is terminated, how often is their departure related to this qualifying skill or experience?  Rarely.

As a recruiter I ask every candidate why they’re considering a new role (and quitting their current one). It’s almost always related to something they’re not getting from their employer–advancement opportunities, support or a certain nuance of company culture.

So if we want to increase employee tenure, our hiring process needs to ask “Are we the right employer for this candidate?”  

Yes, we still need to vet our candidates for hard skills. But we need to devote equal bandwidth to determining those intangible things that make individual candidates happy and productive.  And we need to thoughtfully consider whether our organization possesses those things.

Here’s a few strategies you can use to accomplish this:

Dig into their work history.  For organizations that they spent the greatest amount of time at, ask “It looks like you stayed at Acme a while. What did you like about it?”  For every job in their recent past, you need to dig into the reasons they left it.  “You weren’t feeling supported?”  Dig deeper.  “What was missing?”

Ask what they’re looking for. This can be as simple as asking them the top 5 things they want at their next job and company.  Practice curiosity with the answers.  If they mention work-life balance, ask them what that means to them.  If they mention company culture, ask them to explain what that looks like.  

Uncover long term career goals.  What are they hoping to learn and do in the future?  Are they looking for a particular title?  Do they have long-term commitment to their industry and field?

Once you have this information you need to ask whether your company can meet their needs.  Is your culture a match?  Can you provide the mentorship and/or growth they’re desiring?  If you have any concerns, be sure to clear them with the candidate before proceeding.

If hiring for retention is important to you, here’s 3 reasons why you might consider a 3rd party recruitment partner:

1. Candidates tend to be more open and honest with third party recruiters. More is revealed to a third party than the company that’s hiring.

2. Recruiters offer an outside perspective on your company and whether it’s a good match for the candidate.  

3. Good recruiters back their placement with a replacement guarantee. Matchmaking questions weigh  heavy on us and it’s in our best interest to get them right. 

Feel free to contact me with any recruitment or retention questions.

How To Hire The Right Person Every Time

The goal of all hiring interviews is to answer these two questions: Is this person capable of doing the job? Are they the right personality fit for this company?  

Sounds pretty simple, right? But companies frequently miss the mark.

Problems occur when hiring teams fail to clearly define what attributes they’re looking for in a hire. Or if they’ve defined the attributes, they fail to rigorously screen applicants for them.

What’s the solution? Use a simple tool called a scorecard to define your hiring criteria and assess candidates. Here’s how to make it:

Define Your Mission

Write what you’re trying to accomplish by filling this position. It should be stated in measurable outcomes. This is not a list of tasks. You want someone who is mission-driven rather than task-driven. 

Example

The Director of Operations is responsible for managing day to day operations, enabling 25% year over year growth for the company. The Director will do this by:

• Streamlining processes

• expanding distribution channels 4 times over the next two years.

• Evaluating and recalibrating the management team.

Identify Goals

Identify 5 goals you’d like this person to achieve. It’s helpful to indicate the timeframes that you wish for these things to occur.

Example

Month 1--becomes familiar with all functions and personnel of the company.

Month 2--creates an ideal org chart and process mapping.

Month 3--begins implementing process and personnel improvements.

Month 6--utilizes improved processes and output. Begins to expand distribution relationships.

Month 12--continues to make improvements to processes, personnel and distribution.

Identify Five Key Competencies And Skills

Though you might have a long list of desired skills, you need to pick out the five most important. It would be a deal-breaker if they were lacking any of these.  

Example

• 5 or more years experience in similar positions.

• Trained and experienced in lean manufacturing principles.

• Bachelor’s degree or higher in business, food engineering or related field.

• Previously established relationships with food distributors.

• 5+ years experience managing a manufacturing operations team.

Establish Five Desired Personal Qualities

These could be related to the role, to the company’s values or the company’s culture. There should be 5. These are deal-breakers if they don’t have them:

Examples

• Decisive

• Honest

• Empathetic

• Strong leader

• Collaborative

How To Use The Scorecard

Now that you’ve defined your criteria with a scorecard, use it to guide every stage of the hiring process. Use it to:

• Write an accurate job description.

• Build a pipeline of candidates.

• Write interview questions that assess whether your candidate meets the criteria.

Most importantly, use the scorecard as a focusing lens during the interview process. Interview days can be busy and chaotic. It can be easy to get distracted or pulled off on a tangent. Use your scorecard to stay on track, focus your observations, ask the right questions and hire the right person.

Not excited about this task? We’d be happy to hire the right person for you. Reach out to me to find out how our firm can help you.