10 Interview Questions For a Remote Worker To Choose The Right Team Member

The search for specialists is over. You have reviewed their CVs and portfolios, and now, it is time to arrange an interview with each of them. Of course, you want to select the ones that can effectively work on remote position. That’s why you need to know the interview questions for a remote worker.

A remote position is pretty different from an in-house position. In-house employees visit their working places based on their schedule.

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That’s why remote workers should have some features that are not a must for in-house workers. Hence, along with the questions about their qualifications, knowledge, experience, you should also check if those special features are available. So, you should know what remote software developer interview questions are and ask them.

Common challenges of remote work

Remote workers have a wonderful opportunity to work from home. However, they face challenges that are not so common to in-house employees. You should consider them when composing interview questions for a remote worker.

Maintaining engagement and stay focused on work

The opportunity to work from home makes remote workers relaxed. Nobody is controlling the work process constantly. That’s why sometimes, the focus on work is lost.

If one works from home, he-she needs own ways to deal with this challenge. In some cases, a meditation session works. Some people prefer starting their day with some sports activities, and similar.

Dealing with distractions

A home is full of distracting factors. Sometimes, a call distracts from the work. Sometimes, a friend or a relative passes by. Handling distractions is complicated but possible.

Establishing clear limits is helpful. A remote worker should make clear to all the family members that he/she works even though he/she is at home. Hence, the working hours should be respected. A friend would not drop into the office to talk. Hence, a remote worker has a right to demand the same attitude if he/she works from home.

Keeping the morale up

Sometimes, a remote worker might feel isolated and not motivated enough. By “motivated” we mean those positive feedbacks that are needed so much to move on. Usually, if a remote employee performs well, he/she doesn’t get any feedback.

If one feels that your morale is down, the person should ask for feedback. It is motivating to hear from a supervisor that the specialist is managing well or that he has completed this project stage perfectly.

Finding creative alternative

If a remote worker is concentrated on the project too much, it leads to tiredness.

To avoid it, one should try something different. Usually, it is recommended to select something creative to switch the brain to a different activity. This activity might be connected with the main profession or not, but it shall help the brain to have some rest and do something else.

Managing time and projects

Remote work is comfortable but time management becomes a problem. Time-management skills are a must, as well as self-discipline.

There are special tools and apps that help to solve the issue of time and project management.

When you are preparing interview questions for a remote worker, do not forget to ask how the person is managing these challenges. It is crucial to determine whether a person can be useful for the company.

10 soft-skills questions for a remote worker

It is needed to find out about the applicant’s skills and features and determine whether the person is suitable for the remote position.

Do you have any experience in a remote position? What is your favourite thing about working remotely? What were the biggest challenges you had to overcome?

These questions help you to find out several things about the applicant. First of all, you get to know about the specialist`s experience as a remote worker. You can check for which clients the specialist has worked and if his/her experience is relevant to the position in your company.

Further, you can see if the employee is reliable enough. If the applicant can tell in detail about the projects he/she has completed, about the challenges and how they have been solved, you can be sure that the person is reliable. Moreover, it means that the person is able to solve the issues.  

Here, you can ask about the worst experience. This question will help you to determine what the employee values in working relationships are and check whether it is fine for your company.

Are you able to work on your own?

Self-management skills are crucial for any remote developer. A manager cannot check the work progress each second. A candidate should be able to collect the information needed to work on the project, to report on the project progress promptly, and to perform the deliverables within the deadline. It is crucial for remote work on the project.

Have you ever worked with calendar and task management apps? Give some examples.

There are plenty of apps to manage the workflow and communicate with other team members. Those are:

• Calendars;
• Task management apps;
• Time management and tracking apps;
• Collaboration apps;
• Email;
• Messengers, and similar.

All these applications can differ from one company to another. It is not a must to know about all of them. However, the applicant shall have an idea of what you are talking about.

You have an urgent issue to solve but all the team is offline. How would you handle the problem?

There is no right answer to this question. It all depends on the situation and the project. Here, you want to check if the developer is able to take responsibilities and manage the things that can be managed. It doesn’t matter how organized the team is, things might happen. A remote worker should be able to move on with the problem solving until it is possible.

Do you troubleshoot problems independently? How do you do it?

Any remote worker shall be able to handle problems independently. In most cases, each hour matters for the timely delivery of the project. it is important to make sure the developer will look for a solution instead of waiting until his/her supervisor is available to offer a solution.

Can you remember a problem that you faced when working on a previous project? What problem was it? Did you manage to solve it?

Even the best remote workers have problems and challenges. Here, your task is to determine whether a person can solve problems efficiently and learn from them.

If a specialist can describe the problem, explain why it has evolved and how it has been solved, it means that the employer knows how to handle issues and learns to avoid them in the future. It is one of the crucial features because the success of a project depends on it directly.

How would you start the work on this project?

This question will help you to check whether the remote worker has the skills needed to work on the specific project. There is no need to make a detailed plan with all the steps and procedures. But if the expert can specify the first steps he/she is going to take, there are chances that this is the right person.

How do you usually plan your working day?

Here, a specific answer is expected. A remote worker would start the day with reading mails and notifications in case if urgent fixes are needed. Then, the tasks should be prioritized based on their urgency, and a working day starts.

During which working hours are you available?

Employees can be distributed all over the world. Hence, it is important to know when they are available and if their working hours are convenient for the company. As if they can adjust their availability time when the company needs it.

What is your strategy to get over the problem when you get stuck?

This question also doesn’t have a universal response. Your main task is to find out whether the specialist has some solutions that he/she normally uses and check problem-solving skills.

Ways to check the developer hard skills remotely

No interview questions for a remote workers can help you to determine if their technical skills are suitable. You as a recruiter should know that there are special tools to do so.

Technical assessment tools help you to save time and money by selecting the most suitable candidates.

The most common technical assessment tools are:

CoderPad

The main advantage of CodePad is its integration with the major recruitment software solutions. Schedule your interview, test all the needed skills of a specialist, record the interview for reviewing by the team.

Codingame

Codingame allows not only testing but also comparing with all the previous candidates based on the score they got during the testing.

CodeInterview

This cloud-based tool with flexible payment plans provides a code editor and allows creating question libraries and code snippets.

Testdome

Here, you can select predefined tests or create your own ones. The tool prevents any cheating options (copy-paste protection, etc.) for fair results.

HackerRank

The live coding environment of HackerRank allows checking how the candidate handles the issue in real-time mode. Use the already available tests or create your own challenges.

Type12

Type12 allows to pre-configure your technologies set for each interview and precisely assess the skills of each developer.

Summary, or how to choose the right remote software developer

Technical recruitment is a complex process that requires knowledge, skills, and patience. A recruiter shall know and use all the possible resources to make the best hiring decision.

A good recruiter always remembers that technical skills themselves are not enough for a good remote worker. Make sure to include in your job interview questions that determine the candidate’s motivation level, self-discipline and problem-solving skills.

And if you are looking for the best place to hire software developers, you are in the right one. Relevant Software is here to help your business grow through remote collaboration with software developers. We are ready. Are you?