Remote work was already on the rise before the pandemic. In fact, the number of people that work from home has increased 140% since 2005. The pandemic has only accelerated the change to a more remote work force. In a recent study from PwC, 78% of CEOs agree that remote collaboration is here to stay. Of course, remote employees need to be able to stay productive and keep performing. When it comes time to hire a remote worker, use these questions to ensure you hire the right candidate.

To start, it’s important to get an idea of the candidate’s experience working remotely. An experienced remote worker won’t have as tough of a learning curve as someone that is working from home for the first time.

Remote work brings its own obstacles and challenges. It’s important to understand how a candidate has faced those challenges in the past and how they were able to overcome and avoid those obstacles in the future.

One of the greatest challenges working from home are the distractions that one encounters. From children, to pets, to television, to social media, a remote worker is faced with distractions almost every moment of every day. How does the candidate minimize distractions? Or how does the candidate react to being distracted?

The line between work life and personal life becomes blurred when someone works from home. Work-life balance is an important factor in mental health and employee burnout. How does the candidate separate work and personal life?

The question evaluates the candidate’s self-awareness. It causes them to think about what attributes the ideal remote worker has and if they possess those same attributes. Look for the way they relate those ideal attributes to the attributes they say they possess.

Clear communication is what makes remote work and collaboration possible. It’s important that they have experience using the software or platforms that your company uses so their onboarding is seamless.

Organization skills and personal accountability are important attributes to have in a remote employee. Ask the candidate about how they structure their work day and how they stay on schedule when no manager is looking over their shoulder.

Working remotely is a great perk. Ask them why they love working from home and what is greatest benefit they see from working from home. This question can show what’s most important to the candidate.

Now that you know what questions to ask remote workers, are you ready to hire one? Our recruiters can help! Click the button below and we will reach out to see how we can help!