Source | business.linkedin.com | Laura Hilgers
Of all the things that have changed over this last year, you can add to the list: interview questions. In the past, recruiters asked candidates about their skills, work ethic, and ability to get along with others at the office. But now that so many roles have switched to 100% remote, you need to revise your interview questions too.
Even as vaccines roll out and life returns to some semblance of normal, remote work is here to stay. According to an Upwork survey in the U.S., one in four employees will continue to work remotely in 2021.
So, how can you gauge whether someone will be a successful remote employee? To help you be the best judge, we’ve assembled a list of 10 interview questions — mostly focused on the soft skills needed to work from home — to ask any candidate for a remote job.
1. Have you worked remotely in the past?
Before 2020, many if not most candidates would have answered “no” to this question. But 51% of the workforce did their job remotely at the height of the pandemic restrictions last year, so a lot more people have experienced remote work now. It’s still important to ask this question, though, because the idea of working from home — curling up on the couch in your jammies with a computer on your lap — can be quite different from the reality.
2. If you have worked remotely, what were some of the challenges you faced?
This will give you a good sense of how well a candidate has handled the challenges of remote work, such as loneliness, lack of connection, or difficulty in getting information quickly. By asking this, you can determine whether a candidate understands the realities of remote work and whether they have strategies in place to do it successfully. If, for example, they tell you that they deal with the loneliness by trying to meet a friend for lunch — or scheduling a video lunch with a coworker — once a week, that’s a strong indication that they’re good at developing coping strategies.
