15 Work From Home Interview Questions You Need to Know How to Answer
It grants me the perfect level of in-person social interaction; there are always people around I can talk about hockey or the weather with. When I started working remotely for Khan Academy, I rented an office at WeWork. It ticked a bunch of boxes, but ultimately it wasn’t the right fit. It was also kinda dreary—they keep their lights dim, so there’s a perpetual 7pm vibe. Despite having all-glass walls, my office wasn’t anywhere near natural light. The office I was renting was small enough that if I stood in the center, I could just about touch all 4 walls without moving.
If you end up in a situation where you simply can’t attend the interview, make sure that you have a way to reach the interviewer, explain the situation, and ask them to postpone the interview. If your headphones aren’t working, for example, or your microphone is too quiet, you’ll be wasting both your and the interviewer’s time. Sign up for a free Dice profile, add your resume, discover great career insights and set your tech career in motion.
How do you prioritize tasks?
The last thing they want to do is bring on a new remote team member who will disrupt that. So answer “yes” with enthusiasm and then discuss how you’ve applied a detail-oriented approach to past work (or academic work if you have no professional experience to point toward). For example, a customer service representative should talk about how they stay organized within a day. But you should always aim to sound like you have a proven process in place, and that you’re confident in your ability to structure your day and handle the most important tasks on time.
When it comes to frequency, the interviewer isn’t necessarily looking for a higher one. What they want to understand is your ability to see the necessity of meetings to decide the frequency. The best way to answer this question is to base your answer on the field you’re in. In a brick and mortar setting, you have the water cooler, the cafeteria, your colleagues work desk, and other places to talk with different people.
Tell me about your favorite/least favorite job.
Just like your systems for scheduling, the way you keep track of files and other information is really important. So, you can just drop virtual files on your coworker’s virtual desk if you need to share work from home experience info with them. But the files need to be named and organized clearly so you’re not spreading “digital clutter” or losing track of data. It’s important because it determines how you’ll fit into the team.
Employers need to ask these questions to make sure you can be productive in an unstructured work environment void of any direct supervision. Learn about the key differences between remote-first and remotely-friendly companies. Hiring managers want to know that you’re time zone conscious and understand how to work asynchronously. When you’re working in a distributed team, you’re going to run into situations where you don’t know how to do something you’ve been tasked to do. While that’s normal, it’s important that you can demonstrate that you know how to self-educate or ask for additional help where needed.
Do you have any experience working remotely?
When asked this question during your remote interview, don’t say an unrealistic “I won’t face any challenges while working from home.” We all face challenges, whether working from an office or home. Be realistic with your answer, but also provide an idea of how you’ll combat this challenge. This enables the interviewer to see that you can overcome the challenge and won’t become a deterrent in the long term. If you don’t have a home office setup yet, you can let the interviewer know that you’re planning to set it up soon. Don’t let them think like you’re okay merging your personal and professional life.
It’s not a deal breaker if you haven’t, but you’ll need to demonstrate that you have the ability to work remotely in other ways, such as freelancing experience or working on side projects. You don’t want to risk becoming distracted or having someone walk in during the virtual interviews. If you have kids, send them to a friend’s house or hire a babysitter for a few hours. If you have pets, make sure they’ll be quiet and well-behaved, or move them to another part of the house — unless you want your cat to walk across your computer. If you have a spouse or other family members, send them out for some errands. Whatever you do, you’ll want to eliminate any distractions for a few hours so you can prepare for and complete the online interview.
— Highlight the Advantages for the Employer
Employers want to know about the logistics because in a remote job, when you can’t waltz into a coworker’s office to sort something out, little things – like how you communicate problems – make a big difference. You’ll also have to field questions on how you’re going to handle the logistics of working outside the office, from working with your team members to managing your workload and communicating with your boss. We put together a comprehensive resource hub for all things remote work. This mega guide on remote work has guidance on getting started working remotely, from finding a job to setting up your workspace. I like to stick to set working hours and when it’s time to get off work, I simply close my work laptop, put my phone on silent, and focus on other things. Even if your communication skills are on-point, you still have to make sure that you overcommunicate with your coworkers.
