Transitioning to remote work will require more than your typical interviewing questions. There are two considerations when prepping to take a remote position interview to increase your chances of finding the right candidate: leveling-up your tools and asking some necessary questions.
“Selecting the right person for the job is obviously the goal, but how the job gets done has definitely changed” –Jeff Haden, Inc. Magazine.
Transitioning to remote working is a lucrative deal. With your team arranged in a setting that maximizes cost effectiveness and flexibility, you’d be happy to take the challenge of moving your team online. On the other hand, the challenge doesn’t stop there.
Remote work is not everyone’s cup of tea, and being able to make the distinction between candidates will require more than your typical interviewing checklist. As a virtual team ourselves, we’ve had to prep our way with specific tools and methods beyond the traditional segment of interview questions and recruitment tactics. For instance, questions on whether or not someone is a ‘team player’ (remember?), might definitely need to be tweaked further.
Here's how.
There are two considerations when prepping to take a good remote position interview to increase your chances in finding the right candidate:
Leveling-up your tools
Whether you’re a tech savvy as an executive or not, having certain tools will be able to maximize what you can get out of an interview. As John Boitnott in his article on JotForm puts it, tech tools will facilitate the remote interview process and therefore make it easier for the candidate as well as for the recruiter. We have tweaked some of the Boitnott’s suggestions, based on own experience expanding as a virtual team:
Candidate pre-assessment tools
Before even going to the interview, pre-assessment tools can inform you more on the quality of the candidate. These tools are primarily test assessments measuring behavioral factors, risk aversion factors, cognitive strengths—among others, in a potential candidate.
Some of the Boitnott’s top picks in this regard are Pymetrics, Harver, eSkill.
Note: Today’s freelancing platforms make the hiring process much easier and, for the most part, diminish the need for pre-assessment tools. If you’re hiring from a freelancing platform, the main tools to use are basically advanced search features. Take Upwork, for instance; the platform has extensive features that allow to filter your preferences based on skills and expertise you’re mostly interested in, which allow you to find a great pool of freelancers according to your need.
Interview scheduling tools
Every minute used in back-and-forth emails about time slots for the remote job interview, could be used to research and acquire more talented candidates for team expansion. This is why interview scheduling tools have become the norm throughout the remote job interview process. A top pick in this regard is Calendly.
Video-conferencing tools
To ensure (or even allow) quality communication in a remote interview, videoconferencing tools are a must. The videoconferencing tools are especially the go-to options if webcam is a must for your interview. The very tried-and-true ones in these regard are Zoom and Google Meet.
Note: With the overuse of generic videoconferencing tools, we have noticed that candidates respond better to virtual office spaces. Because these tools present actual office simulations beyond simple videoconferencing, hiring through these software tools has proved to make candidates considerably more comfortable and had bred a more organic candidate-recruiter communication. Our top pic for an affordable, yet resourceful office simulation is Todayly.
Asking some necessary questions
Inc. Magazine went a step above and asked actual LinkedIn connections on the type of questions they’re keen on asking when recruiting a remote work job candidate. Here are the types of questions picked by Inc. to ask in the remote work job interview, which in effect capture important factors for your decision:
How does the candidate stay structured and organizing work in remote work? As a remote team ourselves we are aware of how lack of organization or experience with remote work can hinder productivity. Whereas virtual teams commend the flexibility that remote work brings, a special level of structure and organization is a must.
How does the candidate keep the team connected and engaged virtually? The author designates this key question for executive or managerial candidates. When coupled with the question of how the candidate has met results within deadlines in a collaborative project with a remote team, this question will essentially depict to what extent would the candidate be cut-out for an executive role in a virtual office.
What five things do candidates have in their workspace and why? A good command of basic tech devices and video-conferencing tools is fundamental for remote work. The author of the question specifically tries to reveal to what extent is the candidate equipped with these fundamentals, starting from electronic devices, to basic communications tools.
With the right tools and tips, remote work can accelerate your productivity like never before. Subscribe to Todayly blog to have the upper hand!
