As a remote-friendly employer, you know it isn’t all coffee shops and beach views. Working remotely means working, which means getting the job done and being productive all day, every workday.

But sometimes, applicants apply for roles because they are remote, not because it’s the right job for them. Even with the right skills and experiences, not every candidate is cut out for remote work life. So, here are interview questions to ask candidates to help you (and them!) figure out if remote work is the right fit.

12 Questions to Ask Remote Workers During Interviews

1. Have you ever worked remotely? What were some of the challenges you faced, and how did you tackle them?

Ask if the candidate has remote work experience, even if it was only occasionally. Then, ask what kinds of challenges they faced and how they handled them.

As a remote employer, you know that remote work isn’t as rosy as the stock photos make it seem. Someone who has worked remotely before probably knows this. More importantly, they should know the challenges of remote work and have strategies for handling them.

Conversely, if the candidate says there were no challenges, it’s a safe bet to think they aren’t being honest or don’t have enough remote work experience to face the challenges that come with remote work.

2. Why do you want to work from home?

If the candidate says they’ve never worked from home, dig into why they want to switch to remote work to help you better understand their motivation for applying.

Some candidates are attracted to the idea of working from home but don’t understand the reality of it. First-time remote workers might be shocked by the transition. Likewise, if someone wants to be home to care for aging parents or children, it may affect the hours they can keep or the distractions they face. That won’t necessarily disqualify them, but it is something to explore during the interview.

It also gives you insight into who they are as an employee. For example, if someone talks about how they are more productive working from home, or they like the idea of working without geographical limitations, they are framing their answer in a way that talks about the professional advantages of remote work. This helps demonstrate that they are career-oriented and (hopefully) a loyal and stellar employee.

On the other hand, if the candidate talks about how they want to work in their pajamas or that they don’t like having a boss breathing down their neck, they’ve framed the answer in a more personal way. There’s nothing wrong with personal reasons for pursuing remote work. But answers like these could indicate that a candidate is more motivated by personal gain than professional growth. This, in turn, might be a warning sign that this candidate will not be a great addition to your team.

3. What challenges do you think you’ll face working remotely, and how will you deal with them?

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People that haven’t worked remotely before haven’t experienced the unique challenges of remote work. If all someone can come up with is, “Which pair of fuzzy slippers to wear,” then they haven’t thought through all of the potential problems that can crop up when you work remotely.

New remote workers should have something a little more realistic. “I’m worried about feeling isolated, but I’m going to join a sculpting class,” tells you that the person has identified the problem and has a plan in place for dealing with it. This also shows that the person is a forward thinker and anticipates and heads off problems before they spiral out of control.

4. Have you worked with a distributed team? How did it go? (Or, how will you deal with the challenges?)

When you work in an office, you can usually get the answer you need when you need it. Simply pop into a coworker’s or supervisor’s office and ask your question. If that person is in a meeting, no big deal. Swing by later and get the answer then.

When the team is remote, though, it’s not so easy to get an answer when you need it. There’s no “office” to pop into, and not everyone works the same hours. If your team is distributed across as many as 24 time zones, it may be a full working day before a question is answered.

New remote workers need a plan when their supervisor is 12 time zones away. How will they get the answers they need? What if it’s an emergency? Finding out how they will deal with the situation will give you insight into their problem-solving skills.

5. Where do you prefer to work?

Ask how and where the candidate plans on working. If they already work from home, ask about their home office setup. Does the candidate already have everything they need to be productive? Is it relatively distraction-free? Conduct a video interview and encourage the candidate to participate from that home office to get a sneak peek of their setup.

Keep in mind that not everyone works best in a traditional office setup—some people prefer the couch, the backyard, or the public library. If they like working from the coffee shop, do they have a way to connect to your office server privately, or are they relying on a public internet connection? Reiterate any home-office requirements, like a wired internet connection, a private area for calls, or anything else you specified in the job posting.

Not having a “home office” should not disqualify someone from the job. However, understanding how and where an applicant works best helps you understand them as a potential employee.

A first-time remote worker may not have a home office set up yet, so ask what their plans are. If it’s a hybrid position, ask the applicant if they will invest in a home office or use the kitchen table. The answers will help you see if the candidate has thought through all of the particulars of remote and hybrid work.

6. How would you rate your tech skills?

No matter what kind of hardware and software you provide employees, they have to be comfortable using and troubleshooting it on their own. As a remote team, your staff won’t have easy access to tech support, so what happens when their computer crashes or the virtual meeting won’t work?

If they talk about how they hate dealing with new technology or can’t stand updating their computer, dig into this a little more. If someone wants to work remotely but can’t—or won’t—deal with the inevitable tech hiccups that will come their way, they could lose hours of productivity while they wait for technical support. Not every tech problem can be solved by an employee, but they should be comfortable with handling the easier tech problems that will occur.

7. How do you communicate with a remote team?

Remote employees should be comfortable using a wide range of communication platforms. Email is great for some types of communication but not others. Chat rooms are perfect for collaborative projects but maybe not for personal ones. Asking what communication platforms they use and why they use them will help you better understand how they communicate and collaborate with their team.

Ask how they handled (or will handle) the communication issues that can arise on a remote team. Even if they’ve never worked remotely, asking about their communication style and preferences can help you determine if this person will be the right fit for your team.

How do they get their questions answered? Sitting back and waiting or actively pursuing the answer? Were they persistent without being obnoxious? There are right and wrong ways to communicate with a distributed team, and how an applicant got the answer will help you determine if that person understands the difference.

8. How do you stay focused on your tasks?

Distractions are a fact of life for any worker, but the types of distractions you face in an office are different when you work remotely. There could be a noisy roommate, living on a busy street, or a pile of laundry in the next room.

Asking candidates how they stay focused on tasks no matter where they work will give you some insight into how they might handle distractions as a remote employee. By starting with the broad question, you’ll be able to hone in on a more remote-specific follow-up question.

For example, if the candidate says, “In the office, I use noise-canceling headphones to block out noisy coworkers,” you can follow up with, “Will you face that same distraction when you work remotely? Do you think the same strategy will work, or will you need to do something different?”

Follow-up questions that focus on remote-specific distractions will help you learn more about the candidate’s work environment. And it will also help you see if the candidate has thought about (and can deal with) the unique distractions remote workers encounter.

9. What do you like and dislike about working in an office?

One often overlooked but important aspect of remote work is that some people need the office atmosphere and the presence of colleagues to do their best work. Unfortunately, not everyone thinks about this before transitioning to remote work.

Ask if the candidate has plans for socializing outside of work. Or, talk about how your company sets up virtual office lunches and coffee chats. Ask how the applicant feels about this or if they have any experience with virtual hangouts.

And be on the lookout for red flags. For example, if a candidate says that they love the company’s team-building opportunities, or their favorite activity is the 10:00 a.m. coffee cart, dig a little deeper and see why the candidate is interested in remote work. You may find that they never thought about the lack of face-to-face socialization and may discover that remote work isn’t right for them.

10. What’s the most challenging project you ever designed and executed?

Working remotely requires employees to be very self-motivated. Without a manager nearby (or breezing past their desk), it’s easy for people to get distracted or lose their drive. The answer will speak to the candidate’s motivation and ability to get the job done when there’s nothing motivating them except themselves.

11. Tell me about a risk you took and failed. What did you learn?

Adding a new team member to any team requires an adjustment from everyone. But the new hire will adjust the most. Applicants have to be flexible, open to suggestions, willing to experiment and try new things, and able to learn from their mistakes.

Asking for an example will give you insight into how the candidate operates. Do they have one way and one way only of doing things? Do they learn and grow from their mistakes? Are they willing to admit they made a mistake? These answers will help you determine whether or not they are truly flexible and can mesh well with your existing team.

12. How do you switch off from work?

No matter where you work, remote work sometimes blurs the line between work and personal life. When your office is five feet from your family room, it’s hard to ignore that unfinished project that will take “just a few minutes” to complete.

Ask how applicants plan to manage their days, take appropriate breaks, and stop working when it’s quitting time. Just as you need them to focus on tasks during their work hours, you also need them to have balanced lives if you want to avoid employee burnout.

Understanding how they switch out of work mode will help you better understand how they will do it when they are working for you. Whatever it is, try to find out what they do now to help them “turn off” when they make the switch to a fully remote employee.

The Right Questions

Asking the right questions of any applicant gives you insight into who they are as an employee. Hiring remote employees is no different. But asking remote-specific questions will help you figure out if they are the right remote employee for your team.

FlexJobs has more advice on building the best remote team possible, including how to create a remote work policy, how to show your remote employees that you appreciate them, and how to handle some of the common challenges remote managers face.