Without your boss walking by and the office manager checking your timesheet, it’s up to YOU to get your work done. That means you need to be an absolute pro at managing your time, prioritizing tasks, and communicating with your boss and coworkers. 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. Don’t get me wrong – jobs like those have done their part in making it possible for more of us to earn a living without driving to a traditional office every day.
Any time a job is fully-remote, you can expect the interviewer early in the conversation to ask your thoughts on working remotely. When bosses can’t see their employees, they have to be doubly aware of how they’re getting on. It’s easy to see if your employee is uncomfortable or ill if you can watch them hobble from their chair to the copier, but, if you’re communicating digitally, it’s not so simple. Sara shows she is covered when it comes to taking care of both her physical and mental health. So, take an honest look at what your natural rhythm is and how you’re most productive before you answer this question.
How would you recreate the important team building aspects of a job at home?
Are you ready to change your work style, tools, apps, workspace, attitude, communication style, and more to adapt to remote work for the long term? Follow it up with an example of how you dealt with a big change in a professional setting before. This one is usually asked to understand your seriousness towards a work-from-home job. An ideal answer would be a “yes.’’ You can describe your workspace at home for the interviewer to be assured that you’re not going to be working from your bed. While you have all the freedom to work on your bed or couch, doing so tends to blur the lines between your home and work life.
- Here’s how to answer it strategically, plus sample answers to help you prepare.
- Sara shows she is covered when it comes to taking care of both her physical and mental health.
- For example, personal tasks can end up interfering with your work.
- However, things like not being able to disconnect after working hours because of the virtual nature of the work can become problematic for some.
- So, before you inform her about your designer’s flu, get in touch with your other designer and see if she can step in.
- It can be, but it doesn’t have to be; the key here is communication.
- At the very least, don’t mention your slacker aspirations in the interview.
Employers don’t just care about hard work and productivity; they want ethical and honest workers, too. The last thing they want to do is bring on a new remote team member who will disrupt that. So in your interview, be ready to talk about one of your most challenging projects and how you overcame the major hurdles. 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).
How Do You Stay Productive and Focused?
Stating that you’re “looking for a remote job” is a dealbreaker, according to Brown. To land your dream position, you need to show that you are capable of being productive and committed to being remote permanently. In other words, working from an ad hoc space won’t necessarily work for the long term; you’ll need to show that you’ve created an environment that’s distraction-free.
You can also talk about how virtual conversations with coworkers during breaks will be a good option for you to collaborate and co-motivate during important projects. That means they want to know what makes you work best from home and why. Explain describe your experience working remotely why you think you are more productive in a remote setting than you are in the office. To help you assemble a well-stocked, organized toolbox, here’s a comprehensive list of tools for remote teams (and one for remote software developers).