Answers to Common Interview Questions for Telecommuters
Since the interview is just as important as having a killer resume/cover letter; you will want to make sure it goes as well as possible. One way to do that is to be prepared to answer some of the questions they will throw at you. Each employer is looking for something different that meets their own company’s needs, but there are some questions that most tend to ask in the interview. Here are some answers to common interview questions that you might be asked during a telecommuting interview.
Do you have a home office set up?
Don’t just give them a yes/no answer. Tell
them what you have as far as a computer,
printer etc. Also, if it’s a position that
you would be required to have a noise-free
environment for; make sure they know that as
well. This will show them that you’re on the
ball and ready to go if they decide to hire
you.
Why do you want to work from home?
In a lot of cases, people want to work from
home because they want to be with their
children. That’s a perfectly understandable
reason, but not to an employer. Give them
reasons that show you’re serious about the
job and don’t see the telecommuting part as
the main benefit of their employment. Better
answers would be that you can achieve a much
better work performance without the
distractions of the office environment.
Do you follow directions well?
Don’t give a simple yes/no answer to this.
The reason most telecommuting employers ask
this is because they don’t get the benefit
of daily face to face contacts where they
can keep tabs on how the work is coming.
They want to know that you can do your work
and do it properly, so they don’t have to
‘watch over your shoulder’ to make sure it’s
done right.
Are you familiar with (certain) computer
programs?
The programs they will ask about will depend
on the job requirements. They usually ask if
you are familiar with email programs, so
they know that the completed work will be
emailed properly to them by the designated
deadline. The other programs, they may ask
about, are so they know that they don’t have
to teach you how to run them. (Like MS Word
or Excel)
Do you have any other skills?
There will be certain skills and
qualifications they are expecting the person
they hire to already have. What they want to
know here is what else can you do that they
might benefit from? For example, you may be
interviewing for a customer service type
position, but you also have accounting
skills that they may want to use in the
future.
The rest of the questions they’ll probably
ask will be more specific to the type of
position you’re interviewing for. Make sure
to answer them honestly and to the best of
your knowledge. Lying about your skills and
qualifications will only come back to haunt
you later, so be honest right up front.
Next: Phone Interviews Part 1
Our Must Have Resource
