9 Questions Every Employer Should Ask During a Virtual Interview

You're business is blossoming and it is time to get a shiny new virtual employee or contractor.

Congratulations!

While this is an exciting time for you and your company, if you're not prepared, you may hire an employee that is ill fitting.

Instead of hiring and regretting your new hire, do a proper virtual interview or multiple virtual interviews as needed.

Not sure what to say?

Continue reading this article to get the 9 questions every employer needs to ask when they are doing virtual interviews.

Must-Ask Questions for Your Virtual Interview

If you want to save your company money then make sure you make the right decision when you're hiring. The only way you can make a good hiring decision is to ask the right questions and know when an answer is honest.

1. Why Does This Position Interest You?

As you're interviewing your potential new employee, you need to see if they are interested in the position for more than money.

While money is a good motivator for some, it doesn't keep everyone at a job. See what type of answer they give you and if you think it is a good enough reason they would want to stay with your company.

2. What Experience Do You Have Related to This Position?

While you might be willing to train someone for the position, if you can find someone with related experience -- bonus!

3. Where Do You See Yourself in 3-5 Years?

Asking someone where they see themselves in 3-5 years will give you an idea of whether they want to continue advancing in the company or if your position is merely a stepping stone.

If someone sees themselves advancing in the company, you are likely to have less of an attrition rate than someone that wants to go into a different field within the next 5 years.

4. How Did You Get to Where You Are Now?

Understanding your potential new hire's journey may unearth some helpful skills. You will also get an idea of how they feel about previous employers.

If a potential hire has a negative and complaining attitude, they may be more trouble than they are worth.

5. What Are Your Hobbies Outside of Work?

Even though this potential new hire works remotely, you want to get to know them and have ideas for future promotions.

What they enjoy doing outside of work will also give you an idea of if they fit in with your culture or not.

6. What Means of Communication Is Your Favourite?

Getting an idea of the best way to communicate with your new hire is important. If they don't like speaking on the phone but their job requires being on the phone, this is likely a hurtle they won't jump.

On the other hand, if they enjoy text and email and that is how your team communicates then this could be a great fit. There are many apps that allow teams to easily and quickly communicate without the need for video or audio calls.

7. Have You Had Experience Hiring & Firing?

If you want to hire someone to hire and fire, you need to know if they can do it. If they say they have hired and fired in the past, ask them how it went.

Did the new hire turn out to be an asset to the company? Did the firing result in a company-wide mess? Or was it successful and amicable?

8. What Do You Do If You Need Further Clarification but I'm Not Available?

In some situations, you may give tasks before you go on a vacation or simply are not accessible throughout the day.

You want to make sure that work isn't going to halt because of a missing piece of information.

Find out how the person would plan to deal with it. If you need to make changes to how things should happen in case this happens, this is a good time to discuss their comfort level should that happen. 

9. What Do You Do When You Have a Tight Deadline?

If your business consists of tight deadlines and high stress, you need to ensure this potential new hire is able to handle it.

Give them various scenarios and see how they would handle them. For instance if there is a tight deadline but their friends offer a free night out of the town instead of getting work done.

Maybe you want to make sure they have childcare options in case their kids are home sick from school.

You need to see how dependable they are and if they can deny themselves some entertainment and engagements when the clock is ticking. Making sure they understand the importance of deadlines and will continue to stick to them is essential.

Rocking Your Virtual Interview

While everyone thinks about how stressful interviewing is for the potential employee, we understand it can be stressful for those interviewing as well.

Now you have some great questions that can be tools for your next interview. You may choose to do a few questions in one interview and then ask other questions in a second round of interviews for the final contenders.

Get a Fancy New Address

You've rocked your virtual interview process and now have team members that are perfectly aligned with your organisation.

You can't have your home address as your business headquarters. You need to have a respected address.

We can help you. Look into our membership page and look at our virtual office solutions.