According to Jones, the key here is to have a detailed, thoughtful answer (complete with specific examples) prepared. That should be fairly easy for people who’ve worked remotely in the past, but if you haven’t, don’t sweat it. “Sometimes people get tripped up when they are asked a question about a situation they’ve never been in—and remote work is new to a lot of folks,” Jones says. “If this happens, communicate what you would do if you encountered XYZ situation in a remote role; sometimes the thought process is more valuable than the actual answer. »
Make sure you have the candidate’s number and email handy so you can easily connect. The phone won’t be ideal, and you may decide to just call and reschedule remote interview meaning the interview for another day. But better to start or postpone the conversation than allow a tech snafu to raise stress and frustration levels.
Leverage Video
How you prepare the guest will depend on the their level of experience. If they are new to this type of interview they will need to be well briefed. It is a difficult and unnatural situation and not everyone will cope. Yasmine advises this for any candidate to help deal with the mental stresses of the interview experience. Gaby Suarez, a senior technical recruiter at Remote, recommends candidates look for everything they can find about the company, both on its website and on external sources.
You may be the one being interviewed, but it’s also an opportunity for you to ask questions of the interviewer. Asking the right questions can really demonstrate your interest in the role. A top with an interesting print might help to convey your creativity or dynamism. A tidy knit pullover or a nice cotton shirt will demonstrate that you have considered your appearance during a remote interview. Remember that your interviewer is expecting professionalism even though you are not in a physical office.
How to Interview For Remote Candidates
When you’re part of a distributed team, you’re pretty likely to run into situations where you don’t feel 100% clear about what you’ve been tasked with. And while that’s normal and totally understandable, it’ll be important for you to demonstrate that you know how to navigate these gray areas. “Managers want to be confident that you will be able to find the right people and information to engage with for a deliverable without having them right in front of you,” Jones says. If you have experience working remotely in the past, be prepared to detail when, where, and how you were able to succeed in that role. When the remote interview is over, thank the candidate for their time, and tell them what’s going to happen next in the process and when they can expect to hear from you. When the camera’s on, hide the platform’s self-view feature so the candidate takes up the entire screen and your full attention.