These days, more engineering professionals are transitioning than ever before are transitioning to remote work. Remote work offers plenty of advantages like the ability to cut out your daily commute and transition more quickly from work to home at the end of the day. But it also comes with its own unique set of challenges, and hiring managers want to be sure they’re connecting the right people with remote work when conducting the hiring process.
During the interview phase, hiring managers are gearing their questions to find out not only if you have the skills to perform the basic job function, but if you can perform well remotely. In this post from the technical recruiters at One Tech Engineering, we’ll cover some of the most common remote job interview questions and how to respond. To get started on your remote engineering career, contact our technical recruiters today!
Unique Challenges Require Specific Skills
If you’ve spent any amount of time working remotely, you know that remote work requires employees to draw on a different set of soft skills than working in an office setting would. Essentially, these differences come down to differences in work style. To meet these demands, technical recruiters and interviewers are looking for the skills to perform at a high level while outside an office setting.
To work successfully from home, you need to be able to meet deadlines independently, attend online meetings regularly, and maintain regular communication and collaboration. Technical recruiters are also looking for employees who can establish a rapport and build trust via digital communication, a unique challenge in the modern age. That’s why the remote interview provides an ideal setting to demonstrate your remote communication capabilities. Body language, listening, and tone can all be essential to this process.
Here are a few common questions you may encounter during the interview process:
1. What remote software are you familiar with and what level of familiarity do you have?
Employers are relying heavily on remote communication platforms like Zoom, Google Docs, and Trello. List the types of technologies you’ve used and discuss how your past use of these tools may relate to the job skills found in the job listing you’re applying for.
2. What time management and organization strategies do you use?
Staying on top of your work through effective time management is essential when working remotely. Share all of the strategies you use to stay on top of your schedule and prioritize your responsibilities.
3. Talk about when you’ve adapted to change in the past.
The ability to adapt is crucial when working remotely. This situational interview question offers an opportunity to share a past work experience with the hiring team. Explain the situation fully, then discuss the task you faced as part of that situation. Finally, break down the actions you took and the outcome of those actions.
4. What is your past remote experience?
If you’re applying for your first remote experience, don’t think of this question as a dealbreaker. Hiring managers simply want to understand how familiar you are with remote working. They’ve seen plenty of employees make the switch for the first time this past year. Draw on a past experience where you had to work from home like coordinating a Facebook event or managing a social media campaign. Next, break down the strategies you used to work remotely for this project.
Contact Our Technical Recruiters MN
Are you looking for remote work with a benefits package? Talk to our technical recruiters at One Tech in Minnesota. To speak to a member of our team, call us at 952.884.9199, or contact us to discuss your remote work skills today!