When interviewing people for hybrid jobs—partial in-office, partial remote—you’ll want to ask the right types of questions. As a hiring manager, your interview questions can help you pinpoint which applicants would likely thrive in a hybrid role, and which might do better either in a fully remote or fully office-based role.
Consider the 10 questions below when screening hybrid job applicants:
1. Have you worked in a remote or hybrid role before?
While in many industries the answer to this question is most likely “yes,” since the COVID-19 pandemic created a remote working world, there may still be some candidates who have never worked remotely. It’s important to know this since a remote work “newbie” may have an unrealistic vision of what working from home or in a hybrid role really entails, and it isn’t right for everyone.
2. If you haven’t worked in a remote or hybrid role before, what makes you want to do so now?
The motives behind a candidate’s desire to work in a remote or hybrid setting can give you, as an employer, insight into their priorities, goals, and work style—particularly if they have never worked from home before. Their answer may reveal personal responsibilities that they have to juggle from home that could affect their availability and diminish their focus. If that’s the case, be sure to talk through their plan for prioritizing their job duties during the workday.
3. If you have worked in a remote or hybrid role before, what was the biggest challenge that you faced, and how did you overcome it?
It’s important to determine what an interviewee considered difficult about remote or hybrid work to assess whether your company’s setup will help or hinder them. Also, listen closely for the problem-solving skills they used to overcome their identified challenge since that will provide a window into how they will handle other types of work-related obstacles.
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4. Have you ever worked with a distributed team? If so, how would you describe your experience? If not, how do you think you’ll like it?
Just because someone has worked from home themselves doesn’t mean that they have worked with others who are also remote or juggling a hybrid schedule. If they’ve never been on a distributed team before, be sure to outline the challenges involved to see how they respond. Also, listen for an emphasis on collaboration and communication in their answer.
5. What’s your ideal schedule in a hybrid role—how often would you prefer to work at home and be in the office, or do you prefer to work strictly remotely?
This is a logistical question that will help you begin to envision how the individual would fit in with your hybrid team. There’s no right answer here, just information gathering, and this question can also help you understand the candidate’s preferences in terms of remote and in-office time.
6. Do you have a home office set up yet?
While it’s certainly not expected that a candidate be wired for remote work in advance, it’s helpful to know if they already have what they need, or if they will be starting from scratch to set up their home office. Determine from their answer if they have the technical requirements necessary to work effectively remotely.
7. How comfortable are you with technology? How do you feel about videoconferences?
Candidates who have never worked remotely might not realize just how important it is to be tech-savvy. Listen for a high comfort level with technology and the willingness to embrace new tools to connect with those in the office. Also, determine their feelings about Zoom meetings or other videoconferencing, particularly if you frequently utilize those channels of communication, since that will be a primary way to connect from home with office-based staff.
8. Since a hybrid work environment involves some team members in the office and some working remotely (or a combo of both), how will you ensure effective communication with your colleagues and supervisor?
Communication is the heart of an effective hybrid team, so any new team member should have a strong answer about their communication style and preferences. If you don’t hear an effective strategy shared, ask whether regular communication with the office when working remotely is a priority that they feel comfortable managing on top of their job deliverables.
9. What’s your remote work style, and how do you think it can benefit your team?
Someone who hasn’t worked remotely before might be challenged to think about what they expect their remote work style to be. Listen for comments that reveal a conscientious team player who cares about teamwork even when working alone from home.
10. How well do you stay focused, and what strategies do you use to get back on track if you’re distracted?
Alongside communication, focus is of vital importance to succeed in a remote or hybrid role. Explore what types of distractions the candidate may face at home and how they explain their ability to stay focused when their attention is divided by competing for personal and professional priorities.
The Right Questions
When hiring for a hybrid role, it’s important to target interview questions in the right direction. Asking the 10 questions above can reveal whether someone is truly a fit for the unique requirements of working partly from home and partly in an office.
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