In our last article, we gave you 4 Tips on Writing a Great Job Post to help you attract some great candidates for your job.

Next you’ll want to narrow your list of candidates down, and then you’ll want to make sure you ask the right questions to confidently hire the best professional for the job.

Here are some great questions to consider asking potential hires:

• What interests you about this job?
• What other virtual jobs have you held and what were your responsibilities?
• What did you like and dislike about this job(s)?
• How do you structure your work day?
• How do you handle disruptions?
• What do you like and dislike about working virtually?
• How do your skills and experience fit this job?
• What makes you think you are the best candidate for this job?
• What is your top tip for having a successful virtual working relationship?
• How would you describe yourself in 5 words?

If you want to get more in depth, the Book, “Who”, authors Geoff Smart and Randy Street outline a thorough process for hiring “A” players. The process may be overkill for some smaller remote roles but the basics of the process provide a solid foundation for selecting the right candidate. 

The interview questions Smart and Street recommend are easy and conversational. They recommend an initial phone interview asking the following questions:

1. What are your career goals? 
2. What are you really good at professionally? 
3. What are you not good at or interested in doing professionally? 
4. Who were your last five bosses, and how will they each rate your performance on a 1–10 scale when we talk to them? 

Each of those questions should be followed up with “tell me more”, “how” and/or “what” to dig deeper to gain more insight about the candidate and their performance, work ethic and skill level. Other tools and resources are available on their website. 

After you’ve interviewed the candidate make sure to contact at least 3 of her references to see what they have to say about her and her past work.

Once you’ve asked these questions and talked to their references decide which candidate:

• Has the skills you are looking for or is a quick learner willing to be trained,
• Is confident, reliable and trustworthy,
• Is Independent, self-starter, and doesn’t have to be micro-managed,
• Meets deadlines and stays on task,
• Is a great communicator both verbally and in writing.

Hiring a great remote employee or contractor doesn’t have to be difficult. Putting in a small amount of time up front and being intentional about the process will help you and your hires have a much more productive, satisfying and successful outcome!

And don’t forget we offer, our personal “VIP Concierge Service” which was created for busy entrepreneurs and small business owners, like you, who need to hire help but don’t have the time or desire to go through the time-consuming process.

With our full service Concierge service, our HR Specialists will do it all for you start to finish and present you with the top candidate(s).